IN Batanes, the northernmost cluster of small islands in the Philippines, it is probably easier to get to Taiwan than to the rest of the archipelago. In fact, one can easily catch radio signals from Taiwan in these islands.

Batanes’ original natives, the Ivatans, were there before the country was colonized in the 1600’s, and have managed to retain their homegrown traits of resourcefulness, hospitality and honesty. With the recent influx of settlers, principally the Ilocanos and Tagalogs, the Ivatan population in the province has gone down to about 80 percent of its 18,000 inhabitants. But the culture and cuisine remains uniquely Ivatan.

Any discussion of Batanes invariably focuses on the weather, characterized by the frequent typhoons’ effect on its vegetation. A banana-class storm brings down banana trees, while a papaya-strength storm, topples papaya trees. The “true Batanes storm,” however, is of tropical cyclone proportions and can uproot full-grown hardwood trees. Which explains the squat stone houses in storm-whipped Sabtang island.

The weather in Batanes is temperamental. Adipamchi—a sudden change of weather, usually for the worse, can occur several times a week. Before the advent of reinforced concrete, inhabitants in rugged hillsides secured their huts from high winds by tying the roofs to holes bored on partially buried limestone rocks. Remnants of these anchor rocks are still around. Indeed, “the wind gets so strong that sometimes the cows fly,” the old folk will say with a wink.

Since root crops grow close to the ground, they are ideal for Batanes’ wind-swept, hilly terrain. The root crop varieties here include wakay (camote or sweet potato), uvi (a type of yam), dukay (tugi or lesser yam), and sudi (gabi or taro).

Rice is eaten only once a week, on Sundays. Dukay and sudi, peeled, sliced into large chunks and boiled with a pinch of salt, make the Batanes staple, tinaripan. On particularly trying days when the weather cuts off supplies from the mainland, families resort to a meal called “Up and Down,” a pairing of boiled camote tops and underground tubers.

Weddings, birthdays and other festive occasions deserve special “Yellow Rice,” boiled rice mixed with shallots, pork and turmeric. Turmeric (dilaw or yellow ginger) grows abundantly here. When dried and powdered, it becomes bright ochre. The fragrance and flavor of freshly ground turmeric is superlative and can easily rank with the best in India and Indonesia.

Venes or dried gabi stem is another staple. The Ivatans have a unique way of drying these stems. Tied together into bunches, each of which is sufficient for a single meal, the stems are hung on rafters over the stove and end up looking like substandard Manila hemp. On rainy days, the dried stems are soaked in water for a few hours and cooked with some pork for a thrifty meal. It is served with tinaripan (boiled yams) on drenched nights but is worthy of holding its own among fiesta dishes.

Pakpak lawin is a fern popular in Manila gardens. But its shoots called humahom, gathered from the wild, are added to beef nilaga (boiled) or fish soup as a substitute for pechay. Pakpak lawin shoots are by far a superior substitute with their crunchy texture and nutty flavor.

“Uved balls” are a popular fiesta dish. The heart of the banana root called uved is finely chopped and mixed with some ground pork or beef for flavor and shaped into ping pong-sized balls, before being boiled with green finger chili. When pressed for time, Ivatans eat the cooked uved as is on kabaya, the leathery, dark green leaves of a breadfruit variety commonly used as plates for picnics and fiestas.

Another Ivatan dish has peeled banana blossoms thinly sliced and sautéed with garlic, onions and ground pork. The Ivatan term for banana heart, by the way, is utut. So try to suppress your laughter when your host exclaims, “You should taste my wife’s utut, it’s the best!”

In Batanes, the season for dibang or flying fish is most awaited. The fish come in droves beginning January, with the bounty lasting through the summer months until July. With them come the arayu or dorado, dolphin fish or mahi-mahi, and other pelagic or open ocean swimming fish such as yellow fin tuna that all prey on the flying fish. The bulk of the catch is dried and kept in the larder for rainy days.

Small fish caught near the shore are available year round. They are salted and made into fish bagoong called yuyunu, which is used to flavor various steamed or boiled vegetables.

The harvest of lobsters, plentiful in Batanes, is limited during the cold season (October to February), but divers tend to hang up their spear guns at this time due to the oppressively cold-water temperature.

Like the lobster, tatus or coconut crabs (Birgus latro), which look like hermit crabs on steroids, are also available year round. Tighter environmental laws, however, limit their harvest and consumption to the lowest level. Fishers of these crustaceans can only hawk them around town themselves. Coconut crabs and lobsters cannot be sold openly in the wet market as this constitutes commercial trade and is prohibited. Strict regulations govern the transport of these crustaceans between islands as well.

Fresh fish, including tuna and dorado and other species of reef fish are broiled over charcoal, fried or stuffed with dill weed (which grows abundantly all over the islands), or seasoned with ginger and sweet peppers and steamed.

Cuttlefish become plentiful from August until December. When in season, they come extra large, up to several kilos each. The skin and meat approximate the consistency of pork meat and fat. This is a cheap source of protein for the island folk, along with flying fish and hahay or halfbeak. Cuttlefish is roasted over charcoal, sliced and fried in batter as calamares. Or it is made into sisig the same way that pig’s cheeks and ears are diced and roasted to make this dish. A popular local cuttlefish dish is kananiz or cuttlefish picadillo.

Meat eaters should also find Batanes perfect, as its hilly terrain makes it ideal pasture for cows, carabaos and goats. Payaman, a system of maintaining communal pasturelands, has been in place even prior to the arrival of the Spaniards.

Batanes beef, from free-ranging cattle, is said to be the tastiest. Cows are slaughtered on Christmas, New Year’s Day and fiestas. The cows’ slaughter date is advertised on whiteboards on the street and orders for specific parts are accepted. Beef is cooked the usual way, as tapa, nilaga or bistek.

Pork is another sought after meat. Pigs are set out to pasture like cows but closer to their pens or their owners’ house. This allows the pigs to dig up root crops missed during the harvest, as well as to feed on earthworms and grubs. The quintessential Ivatan pork dish is the lunyis or Ivatan style pork adobo. Basically, it is just pork and salt using a cooking technique that renders the fat and gives the meat a mouth-watering reddish-brown color. Given that these animals get more exercise than commercially raised ones, they can give the jaws a good workout.

Gin is undoubtedly the Ivatans’ libation of choice. Minor squabbles break out all over town when continuous rains cut off supplies and stores are down to the last few bottles.

What appears to be the only locally produced firewater is palek from sugarcane. This wine is made by boiling the juice pressed from mature sugarcane and distilling it. This is then aged with yapo, natural yeast from the local blackwood tree. The concoction is a medium bodied wine with an interesting red color, pleasant and fruity and with a vinegar-tainted finish. It is marketed commercially in Batanes as minevaheng (meaning wine).

Of late, Batanes, once the byword for remoteness, has opened up to the world with twice daily domestic flights from Manila, tolerable wi-fi and cell phone signals, and even satellite cable TV. Such recent accessibility and the increasing tourist trade will likely influence the Ivatans’ simple provincial cookery, and vice versa. Already, there have been some culinary adaptations: the Christmas fruit salad of canned fruit cocktail and cream is given an Ivatan twist with the addition of boiled and cubed tugi, while the cream sauce in spaghetti carbonara has sliced cuttlefish!

The introduction of foreign dishes to a relatively pure food culture will surely generate interesting dishes and food tales. The first taho maker having arrived a few years ago began to hawk taho in customary large tin containers on a bamboo pole. “Tahoooo…,” the vendors (who were Tagalogs) would shout. Flustered, Batanes folk would come out because taho in the Ivatan dialect means “to brawl.”

Other changes are bound to affect Ivatan cuisine, so come to Batanes and savor its unique flavors. Quick, before the fastfood outlets blight the foodscape!

Many thanks to resource persons Ms. Lydia Roberto and Tita of Batanes Seaside Resort and Ms. Nelia Avanceña of Fundacion Pacita Abad.