Mangan Taku! Cordillera’s culinary soul on display in Baguio

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Think of Mangan Taku as a gastronomic passport across six provinces: Abra, Apayao, Benguet, Ifugao, Kalinga, and Mountain Province — all smoking, simmering, and sizzling in one food festival

BAGUIO CITY, Philippines – If you find yourself at Burnham Park this week and wonder why the Rose Garden smells like your lola’s kitchen and a festival at the same time, congratulations, you’ve stumbled upon Mangan Taku, the Cordillera’s most delicious cultural showcase.

Now on its sixth year, Mangan Taku, which means “let us eat” in Kankanaey, is not your average food fair. It’s a curated celebration of Cordilleran identity, history, and resilience, served on plates and wrapped in banana leaves. 

SWEET. A tray of freshly steamed inanchila. A Kalinga delicacy made of sticky rice dough filled with coconut and muscovado.

Organized by the Department of Tourism–Cordillera (DOT-CAR), in partnership with the City Government of Baguio, the food fair runs from April 24 to 28 at the Rose Garden, Burnham Park. It’s part of the country’s observance of Filipino Food Month.

Taste tour of the highlands

Think of Mangan Taku as a gastronomic passport across six provinces: Abra, Apayao, Benguet, Ifugao, Kalinga, and Mountain Province. No need to drive through zigzag roads or cross rivers. The region’s culinary gems are all here, smoking, simmering, and sizzling.

You’ll find pinunog, a garlicky smoked sausage from Ifugao, best paired with tinawon rice, the slow-growing heirloom grain prized for its nutty aroma. 

From Apayao, there’s dinihuan anu (boiled and seasoned offal dish) and sinursur, a thick soup made from ground rice and freshwater snails or meat. 

SMOKED TO PERFECTION. Shiraz Smokehouse of Baguio serves up premium cuts infused with mountain wood aroma.

Mountain Province brings etag, the famed salted and smoked pork, and linapet, sticky rice dumplings wrapped in banana leaves, often filled with sweet beans or peanuts.

Kalinga’s vibrant flavors come through in inanchila, a chewy rice snack, and binungor, a spicy vegetable soup cooked with freshwater shellfish and agurong (river snails). 

From Abra, there’s abuos. Yes, those prized ant eggs sautéed in garlic. And Abra miki, the yellow egg noodle soup that’s comfort food in a bowl.

And what’s Cordillera food without kiniing and kinuday, smoked meat cuts from Benguet with a deep umami flavor only months of cold-air curing can create?

TOAST TO TRADITION. Various kinds of tapuey, the Cordillera’s signature rice wine, chill in stylish flasks, blending age-old fermentation with modern flair.

For the adventurous, there’s tapuey, a smooth rice wine often reserved for special occasions, but here, served to charm even the most reluctant “I-don’t-drink” types. 

Add fresh strawberries, camote desserts, peanut butter with actual crunch, honey mead, garlic atchara, and robust Cordillera coffee, and it’s a full-circle sensory experience.

More than food

“Mangan Taku isn’t just about filling bellies. It’s about feeding memory,” said DOT-CAR regional director Jovita Ganongan at the opening. 

“We’re here to honor the farmers, gatherers, mothers, grandmothers, and all those who’ve kept our culinary traditions alive.”

EARTHY. A fiery favorite from Kalinga, binungor simmers with wild vegetables, freshwater shellfish, and chili, offering a bold, earthy kick straight from the river to your bowl.

Indeed, the fair is a tribute to communities whose knowledge systems are often ignored, and whose contributions to food culture are finally being spotlighted.

There are cooking demos, fusion experiments (ever tried etag carbonara?), and live discussions on food sustainability, indigenous ingredients, and culinary tourism. 

The stalls are run mostly by small businesses, women cooperatives, and indigenous producers. This is farm-to-festival in its truest form.

Mayor Benjamin Magalon, who joined the festivities, emphasized the importance of cultural preservation through food. 

“This is our identity,” Magalong said. “We must not lose it to instant noodles and imported chains.”

RICH. Bold as the mountains it comes from, Kalinga Brew coffee delivers a rich, full-bodied taste with every sip, honoring the highland farmers behind each bean.

Not just a trend — a movement

Food historian and Philippine Culinary Heritage Movement co-founder Nina Daza Puyat also attended the launch. 

“Cordilleran cuisine deserves a bigger stage,” she said. “It’s rich, honest, and deeply rooted in place.”

And that’s exactly what Mangan Taku delivers. An invitation to eat, yes, but also to learn, reflect, and celebrate. In a time when everything’s becoming homogenized, this fair reminds us: authenticity still matters, especially when it tastes this good.

The event runs daily from 9 am to 9 pm until April 28. Whether you’re a foodie, a culture lover, or just someone looking for the best version of breakfast sausage you’ll ever have, Mangan Taku is worth the trip, and the extra rice. – Rappler.com