2.1 Culinary Heritage and its Significance
Heritage is associated with culture, legacy, and tradition. UNESCO, an organization that confirms the in-depth definition of heritage, stated that “heritage is the cultural legacy which we receive from the past, which we live in the present, and which we will pass on to future generations” (UNESCO, n.d.). Furthermore, the UMass Amherst Campus defined heritage as “the full range of our inherited traditions, monuments, objects, and culture. Most important, it is the range of contemporary activities, meanings, and behaviors that we draw from them” (Center for Heritage and Society, 2022) leaving the word ‘heritage’ as an amalgamation of both past events and its connotation to the ancestors involved.
According to the IGI Global, formerly known as Idea Group Incorporated, culinary heritage is a term that incorporates the origins of food-related activities of a certain society or cultural group. Integrating the definition of heritage with the term ‘culinary’ involves both food as a subject matter and its historical background, needed for future innovation. The culinary heritage in rural areas means the memory of an entire group and its roots (Bessière, 1998), while the culinary processes of a region represent who they are and who they were. Culinary heritage gives value to a place and to people, helps to distinguish one person from another, and leads to promoting and safeguarding the history of a place (Bessiere & Tibere, 2013). As a result, a tainted culinary culture may spread from tourist to tourist, eventually leading to the establishment of ethnic restaurants all over the world. Furthermore, restaurateurs in foreign countries make use of stereotypical ethnic theming (i.e. décor, music, costumes and other stimuli associated with the culture of the cuisine served) in the sole attempt to create an ‘authentic’ environment in restaurants (Ebster & Guist, 2005).
Ancestry connects people through food culture. Those who immigrated to a new nation brought with them culinary traditions and heritage. At the same time, travelers sought to experience cuisines outside their own countries (XYUandBEYOND, 2016). Although it may seem paradoxical, something as short-lived as food serves as a living record of the past. According to a book written by Maffei in 2012, food “constitutes a basic element of the culture of a people or of a community”. The passing down of dietary customs from one generation to the next helps to create one’s own identity and memories, as well as that of a communities. Therefore food can be considered an ICH due to its cultivation (Vadi, 2016). According to the Canadian Commission for UNESCO, traditions and living expressions that are passed on to generations are referred to as ICH. With this, ICH is defined as customs, ways of being, knowledge, and abilities that communities, groups, and in some cases, individuals acknowledge as part of their cultural heritage. This definition also includes the tools, artifacts, and spaces associated with these practices, representations, and expressions (The National Heritage Council of Namibia, n.d.). Even though it is vulnerable, ICH plays a crucial role in preserving cultural diversity in the face of accelerating globalization. The wealth of knowledge and skills passed on through ICH rather than the cultural manifestations itself, makes it important. This knowledge transmission has social and economic value for both minority and mainstream social groups within a state, and it is crucial for both developed and developing countries (UNESCO, n.d.).
According to Parasecoli (2019), from private foundations to governments from regional to national levels, many groups have supported the identification and preservation of culinary heritage. The objective is not just to preserve certain foods, behaviors, or goods because they are valuable as cultural artifacts; but to also recognize culinary heritage’s potential to drive rural development and tourism growth. The activities surrounding it are strongly related to other facets of public policy, ranging from education and health to nutrition and the export of agricultural products. In fact, the popularity of a region's culinary traditions may spur interest among domestic and international consumers in the region's specialties, even in the locations where those delicacies originated from (Parasecoli, 2019). Food demonstrates the significance that adds to its individuality and difference as a component of the people’s identity. These historical, artistic, social, and symbolic considerations have roles in defining food’s relevance. It is crucial to consider these since they add to the narrative and significance of the neighborhood and the development of food as a cultural artifact (Mercado & Andalecio, 2020). Hence, supporting culinary traditions and recognizing their role in forming individual and societal identities are key components of heritage. An understanding of the significance of heritage in people’s lives should be taken at the organizational, individual, policy, and educational levels. This should specifically consider the significance of food in relation to memory and the expression of identity, as well as various religious, political, and ethnic beliefs and customary eating practices (Kapelari et al., 2020).
2.2 Issues and Constraints on Culinary Heritage SignificanceCulinary heritage plays an important role in an individual’s life. It is so valuable that it becomes the reason why tourists travel to countries or provinces. As such, efforts must be made to protect culinary heritage because it is responsible for giving people a sense of belonging with its power to gather people (Cadiogan et al., 2021). Protection through safeguarding and creating laws for culinary heritage is needed because problems like natural and human-made hazards (Stovel, 1998) and globalization can pose threats to heritage itself (UNESCO, 2005).
Due to the high popularity of culinary heritage, it must be safeguarded because it is a bond that transports people through time and culture (Cadiogan et al., 2021). Safeguarding ICH is crucial to prevent it from fading from history. This is done by preserving the pure concept of ICH so that knowledge and skills are passed on to generations (Canadian Commission for UNESCO, 2019). The need to safeguard heritage arises from the problem of natural and human-made hazards. Natural hazards include flooding, fire, earthquakes, tsunamis, typhoons, and avalanches, while human-made hazards may include armed conflicts or wars (Stovel, 1998). A recent example of an event that can endanger ICH is the war in Ukraine, a human-made hazard. Due to the chaos, the country leaders of Ukraine requested to process the Ukrainian borscht - a beet-infused soup that may include fish, mushrooms, or sweet peppers - to have it enlisted on UNESCO’s list of “Intangible Cultural Heritage in Need of Urgent Safeguarding”. Borscht has existed for a long time in the traditions of Ukrainians, and because of that, every household has different ways of cooking it (Kuntz, 2022).
In an international conference on globalization and ICH co-organized by UNESCO in Tokyo, Japan in 2004, discussions focused on how globalization has given humanity advancements in technology, politics, economic, and social terms. Globalization aims to give humans an easier way of life and it may be in the form of communication, transportation, and various other ways. On the other hand, the negative impacts of globalization can endanger ICH. Globalization is the reason why ICH education is needed because it is challenging to transmit knowledge in an advancing community (UNESCO, 2005). The same problem is presented in Nor et al., (2012), wherein one of the issues that hindered Malaysian transmission of ICH is how the young generation of Malays prefer commercialized products rather than their traditional food. They added that modernity such as unlimited access to information affects the way younger generations of Malay perceive how they eat food (Nor et. al., 2012). Globalization also affected the research by Zocchi et al., (2021). They explained how safeguarding and promoting ICH in a modernized approach contradicts each other because modernity will try to innovate traditional heritage. Another example given through another research observed the beekeeping heritage in the forest of Kenya called the Ogiek Mau. In the study, they used ethno-biological technology to increase honey production. The use of modern beehive technology cut the link to the traditional way of beekeeping because it weakened the beekeepers’ link to their heritage (Zocchi et. al., 2021).
2.3 Overview on Bibliometrics and Culinary HeritageBibliometrics plays an important role in food anatomy. It is an analysis based on quantitative information of significant previous academic articles from the bibliographic database (Omerzel, 2016). It broadens the capacity of the past research and expands it into a significant quantity of useful information. The bibliometric methods are divided into three groups, namely, review studies, relational techniques, and evaluation techniques (Koseoglu et al., 2016). Review studies contain a systematic review, meta-analysis, and qualitative approach while relational techniques include citation analysis, bibliographic analysis, co-wording analysis, and co-authorship analysis. Evaluative techniques contain productivity measures, impact metrics, and hybrid metrics (Koseoglu et al., 2016).
Food and cuisine illustrate the main themes of destinations’ intangible heritage which can become an international brand (Horng & Tsai, 2012). Based on the common claims of the two academics’ articles, the Horng & Tsai bibliometrics is valuable to some food researchers and innovators because the analysis can help them distinguish the flaws and probable outcomes of the evolved dishes. However, despite a growing number of food and gastronomy studies in the hospitality and tourism disciplines, there is a need for analysis demonstrating how food and gastronomy research have evolved and have become an emerging research area (Björk and Kauppinen-Räisänen, 2016). These studies project into one ground and to a greater extent, speculation of studies in culinary through bibliometrics analysis contemplating food expansion.
Several articles, studies, and research about culinary heritage and its significance using the bibliometric approach abound. For instance, De Villa et al. (2022) were able to gather 608 recipes of Filipino kakanin, a local rice snack that is popular in the Philippines that can be eaten and consumed daily in-between meals. The native delicacies were grouped according to name, appearance, ingredients, preparation methods, and other factors. The research showed that the kakanin recipe has a sentimental meaning for the locals in different regions (De Villa et al., 2022). Similarly, in the study conducted by Sahin and Yilmaz (2021), 869 local food articles found through the Web of Sciences (WoS) database showed that for over five years, the tourism and hospitality discipline focused on local foods, and that the number of studies about local food increased and grew quickly. In contrast to the study of De Villa et al. (2022) and Sahin & Yilmaz (2021), Okumus, et al. (2018) focused on the development of research themes, methods, potential disciplinary, and collaborations, as well as the abundance of food and gastronomy researchers in the industry. The researchers discovered that 462 articles are related to food and gastronomy and these topics became more popular after 2000 (Okumus et al., 2018). A direct connection between the macro-level point-of-view articles and food tourism has been found. The research also showed that food tourism studies about Southeast Asia are clustered into one location, thus, more studies are encouraged in this field (Naruetharadhol & Gebsombut, 2020).
Based on the in-depth analysis, the kakanin study of De Villa et al. (2022) focuses more on using bibliometrics for advanced remote evolution of the Filipino rice cake. On the other hand, Sahin and Yilmaz (2021) plotted the foundation for further research on food articles while Okumus (2018) declared that the researchers in the culinary arts industry had been using the method since 2000.
The common topic among the various articles is the utilization of bibliometrics when dealing with research about culinary heritage. Doing a deep dive into culinary heritage can prove difficult if the topics chosen to feature a niche subject and destination. Culinary heritage is a big topic and further research is highly recommended (Sta. Maria, 2005). Fortunately, the number of research done with bibliography and culinary heritage continues to increase (Sahin & Yilmaz, 2021). While the use of bibliography in studies on the relationship between gastronomy and tourism is commonly discussed in the articles, the papers tackle different places, countries, or destinations. Since Filipino cuisine is heavily influenced by foreign cultures, attempting to find out more about the formation of Philippine cuisine seems redundant. Filipino cuisine has its own unique characteristics, and its essence should be recognized and preserved especially in today’s fast-paced world (Florendo, 2019).
2.4 Philippine Condiments
A condiment is defined as a food element that is intended to enhance the flavor of dishes. Its primary purpose is to add flavor to a dish to help create a dining experience that is unique to a community (Minnicks, 2022). As defined by Farrell in 1998, condiments are made from prepared ingredients that use one or more spices and are then served in small quantities alongside main dishes to complement the flavor of a dish. For Filipinos, condiments are partners of any meal, either eaten at home or in restaurants. It is the Philippine dipping sauce called sawsawan or Philippine condiments (Tayag, 2012). Orandain (2016), a reporter from CNN Philippines, wrote that “unity has never been our (Filipinos) strong point” when it comes to Philippine cuisine because many years of colonization left the Philippines with mixed cultures. This resonates also with the Philippine condiments because these were inherited from the colonizers. The writer also stated that sawsawan is not only limited to being used as a dipping sauce. Rather, it also adds texture and flavor to a dish when used as an ingredient (Orandain, 2016). The use of sawsawan, which includes dipping sauces, condiments, and relishes given in small dishes, and combined by the diner to suit the taste, is a distinct feature of Filipino cuisine (Fernandez, 2000). As described by Barreto et al. in a book written in 2016, sawsawan brings life to roasted, grilled, and boiled foods, brings color to the table, and enhances the enjoyment of dining. But how did the sawsawan make its way to Filipino dishes?
In a research article written by Fernandez (1998), she described the inherited cuisine as “indigenized cuisine” because Filipinos developed their culture from different races. But unlike their colonizers, Filipinos use the sawsawan to complement food rather than just eat the served dish as is (Fernandez, 1998). The sawsawan comes in many forms: a squeeze of a calamansi, bagoong paired with kare-kare, or even a mixture of toyo and suka as a side to whatever food is being served (Enriquez, 1986). According to Barreto et al. in 2016, patis, suka, calamansi, and toyo are the basics in Filipino cuisine, stating that “There are no strict rules as to what sawsawan should go with specific dishes.” The fondness of Filipinos for adding sawsawan to savory dishes balances with something sweet like atchara, ripe mango or banana; salty dishes like grilled fish or pork with sour ones like calamansi, kamias, or suka; or a sweet dish with something salty like bagoong alamang, itlog na maalat (salted egg), or patis (Barreto et al., 2016, p.18). Garlic, onion, and ginger are aromatics that enhance flavor. For a unique twist, fruits and juices, particularly the sour varieties, are also added to these simple sauces (Fernando, 1992, p. 56–57). In a book by Fernando in 1992, she listed a wide-ranging guide to sawsawan. Calamansi, kamias, tomatoes, chili, guava, ginger, mango, and dayap are all included in this handbook. Even the botanical components of wansuy (coriander leaf) and kinchay (Chinese parsley) are included, stating as well that various atchara or pickle relishes can be added to the sawsawan or served on their own as a flavor contrast to the main meal.