Rice Culture

If you were to ask me which crop best represents the Philippines, I'd confidently say rice. With thousands of rice varieties, each boasting its own unique shapes, colors, and sizes. Rice is deeply ingrained in our daily lives across Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao. It serves as the canvas for numerous viands and is also the key ingredient in numerous delicacies and products ranging from kakanins to rice wines. From lugaw to silog, champorado to puto, biko to bibingka, pastil to nilutlot, rice holds a central place in our culinary heritage.

The majority of Filipinos consume rice three times a day (or sometimes even more) often pairing it seamlessly with various foods and even incorporating it into unconventional combinations such as rice with pansit or tapol rice in between breads. We are so in love with rice that we created a culture of “unli rice” - because for many of us, one cup of rice isn't enough.

Our language reflects the significance of rice with specific terms like palay for the plant pre-husking, bigas for milled rice, kanin for cooked rice, bahaw for leftovers, and tutong for toasted or burnt rice. This linguistic richness extends to texture and consistency descriptors like buhaghag for loose rice, malagkit for sticky rice, and malata for undercooked rice or rice with too much water, showcasing our nuanced appreciation for the grain. These terms are just from Tagalog; we have hundreds more across different Philippine languages.

Beyond language, rice permeates our traditions, rituals, chants, songs, poems, and festivals. The iconic Rice Terraces of the Philippine Cordilleras, the first site to be placed in the 'Cultural Landscape' category of UNESCO World Heritage Site, and the International Rice Research Institute further underscore its cultural and agricultural importance in the Philippines.

However, it's ironic that while rice has become one of the most crucial foods in the country, our rice farmers are among the most neglected sectors in our society. Farming has been in decline, with the average age of Filipino farmers now ranging from 55 to 59 years old. This decline can be attributed to various factors including climate change, lack of support, and policies prioritizing importation over local production.

We already know how hard it is to be a farmer. We learned from our classrooms that “Magtanim ay hindi biro,” and yet our system never compensates their hardships.