UP study: Need for formal 'batchoy association' to protect Ilonggo culinary heritage

HERITAGE IN A BOWL Calls are made to promote and protect the Ilonggos’ culinary pride. —INQUIRER FILE PHOTO MANILA, Philippines — Savor—and protect it—while it’s hot. A study conducted by the University of the Philippines (UP) is calling for the creation of a formal organization dedicated to the promotion and protection of the pork soup dish La Paz batchoy as a homegrown intellectual property. A policy brief published by the UP Center for Integrative and Development Studies said the dish—named after the La Paz district of Iloilo City—deserves such level of attention as part of the Ilonggo culinary heritage. “A batchoy association will unify batchoy enterprises and put them in a better position to lobby for policies that will preserve and promote the batchoy industry,” Mary Rose Rebueno, a faculty member at UP Visayas, said in the brief. READ: Iloilo’s ‘batchoy’: Tradition vs innovation According to the study, owners of food establishments serving batchoy recently aired some concerns, like the absence of La Paz batchoy in the menu of concessionaires at Iloilo International Airport, the lack of a common service facility for noodle and meat processing, and the need for a more coordinated marketing effort for the dish. These concerns can be better addressed if such businesses are not as fragmented and there’s a unified organization capitalizing on the soup’s cultural and economic significance, it added. Even the very use of the name “La Paz batchoy” was raised as an issue. READ: The story behind the La Paz batchoy offers up questions about authenticity and its limits Some food products are given such branding even if they do not originate from the La Paz district, the study said, citing commercial soup manufacturers as among those “diluting its authenticity.” Rebueno urged stakeholders to work on securing geographical indication (GI) registration for La Paz batchoy, which would require a formal organization that can set production standards. “All these issues and challenges signify how important a batchoy association is so that Iloilo’s batchoy stakeholders can collectively address GI protection for batchoy, lobby for batchoy’s strategic presence in Iloilo ports, set quality standards for batchoy (which is also a requirement for GI), and be able to collaborate as batchoy enterprises towards having a common service facility and promote marketing for batchoy,” she wrote. A GI is a form of intellectual property tag given by the Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines to protect products whose qualities, reputation or characteristics are linked to their place of origin. It certifies that a product comes from a specific locality and meets established production standards. Only four Philippine products have obtained GI registration so far: the Guimaras mangoes; the Asin (salt) Tibuok from Alburquerque, Bohol; the Aklan piña fiber; and the T’nalak Tau Sebu textile woven by the T’boli people of Lake Sebu, South Cotabato. As an initial measure, Rebueno proposed the creation of a “Batchoy Core Group” under the Iloilo City Gastronomy Council. This first step can bring together both longtime and new batchoy establishments and relevant government agencies that can draft quality standards, coordinate research and training, and consolidate cultural narratives in preparation for a GI application. “Preserving Iloilo’s batchoy will entail coordinated governance, shared responsibility, and the commitment to safeguard Iloilo’s gastronomic legacy for future generations,” the study said. /cb