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Date Posted: 11/ 5/04 3:23pm
Author: Moderator
Subject: ATA-ATA


Here's an article for those visitors who are not Ilocanos or Ilocanos who are not familiar with this Ilocano delicacy called "ata-ata".
COURTESY OF THE MANILA TIMES

If Japanese savor raw fish, Ilocos devour 'ata-ata'
(July 21, 2003)

SAN FERNANDO CITY, La Union–The Ilocanos have always been vegetarians. Whatever edible vegetation is found in and out of their backyards is turned into food.

Take the lowly saluyot, for instance. Before it was widely introduced to Filipinos as an edible dinengdeng ingredient, people considered it a backyard weed. It grew relentlessly in every corner of an Ilocano backyard.

Ilocanos also relish raw food. If the Japanese and the Visayans savor raw fish, Ilocanos devour ata-ata, with an urge akin to biological instinct.

“Yang sushi-sushi at sashimi-sashimi, na yan wala yan sa ata-ata[Sushi and sashimi are nothing compared to ata-ata],” said a devoted ata-ata eater in San Fernando City as he dared, “Kumain nga sila ng ata-ata kung kaya nila [Let them eat ata-ata if they can].”

But what is ata-ata?

It is a recipe originally for the macho Ilocano, comprising a mixture of raw beef and liver, onions, leeks, salt, chili pepper and the special papait, a greenish bitter fluid contained in cows’ small intestines.

Other regions in the country mistake the pinapaitan for beef and entrails cooked in cow’s bile.

Staunch ata-ata eaters consider it almost a sacrilege when one uses cow’s bile to make it bitter. Purists among these eaters use the small intestines with bits of undigested grass.

First-timers always find ata-ata unsanitary. Aside from the quickly heated papait, eating raw beef and raw cow liver is frowned upon by most health buffs. But Ilocanos insist it always perks up one’s adrenalin particularly when one is suffering from a hangover from last night’s drinking spree.

Ata-ata is best eaten at breakfast. Eating it at nighttime is taboo.

A day in the life of an ata-ata eater starts at 4:00 a.m. as he goes straight to the slaughterhouse and orders as much as a kilo for one meal alone.

A kilo in San Fernando City costs P150 and the earlier this is bought the better, as the freshly slaughtered cow is best.

Then you ask for the pinapaitan. It is placed in the small intestines, which are tightly knotted at the end to prevent it from seeping.

The devout eater gets as many as three to four pouches of pinapaitan. Often, a latecomer has to make do with a small pouch containing a mixture of bile and water or pes-pes, juice extracted from undigested grass in the cow’s stomach.

Straight from this purchase, the eater washes the meat thoroughly and slices it as thinly as possible, across its grain. Over a small pot, he empties the contents of the small intestines and heats these very quickly.

When the liquid boils, he removes the pot immediately from the fire.

He slices onion leaves or leaks, onions, puts in salt and mono-sodium glutamate and mixes the heated papait with the meat.

He adds crushed chili peppers to the reddish fresh meat and eats it with rice, using his hands.

William Garcia, Jr., Northern Luzon Bureau

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