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Jenks, Albert Ernest, 1869-1953

"The Bontoc Igorot"

A few mollusks are eaten
after being cooked. One, called kitan, I have seen eaten many times;
it is a snail-like animal, and after being boiled it is sucked into the
mouth after the apex of the shell has been bitten or broken off. Two
other animals said to be somewhat similar are called finga and lischug.
The carabao is killed by spearing and, though also eaten simply as
food, it is seldom killed except on ceremonial occasions, such as
marriages, funerals, the building of a dwelling, and peace and war
feasts whether actual events at the time or feasts in commemoration.
The chief occasion for eating carabao merely as a food is when an
animal is injured or ill at a time when no ceremonial event is at
hand. The animal is then killed and eaten. All is eaten that can be
masticated. The animal is neither skinned, singed, nor scraped. All is
cut up and cooked together -- hide, hair, hoofs, intestines, and head,
excepting the horns. Carabao is generally not salted in cooking, and
the use of salt in eating the flesh depends on the individual eater.
Sometimes large pieces of raw carabao meat are laid on high racks
near the dwelling and "dried" in the sun. There are several such
racks in Bontoc, and one can know a long distance from them whether
they hold "dried" meat.


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