The Philippines is a country rich in heritage, culture, and diversity. With over a thousand islands, it is no surprise that the Philippines also has quite a number of dialects to go with its different cultures and ethnic groups. In the Philippines, there are eight major dialects.

The queen of Ilocano cuisine, the favorite vegetable dish of almost every Filipino I know, Ilocano or non-Ilocano, is pacbet. This dish clearly resembles the famous French vegetable dish, ratatouille, and is prepared in a hundred different ways.

Roast or broil the eggplants for about 15 to 20 minutes over high heat. When outer skin turns dark and burnt, peel it off.

The holidays give me happy food memories. I used to watch my late father-in-law dip crisp, chunky pieces of pork bagnet, the Ilocano lechon kawali, into fish bagoong (salty fermented fish dip) or else spicy sukang Iloko, vinegar filled with siling labuyo (bird's eye chilies). Papa liked bagnet this way. When he offered me some, I filled a plate with crisp bagnet, fish bagoong on top and paired it with white rice.

Ilocanos make up the 3rd largest ethnolinguistic group in the Philippines. Large populations are found in Ilocos Norte, Ilocos Sur, Cagayan, Abra, La Union, Nueva Vizcaya, Pangasinan, Tarlac, and Benguet. There is, in fact, a diaspora of Ilocanos; they are found all over the country, as far south as Mindanao.

I used to think that the only language we have here in the Philippines is Filipino. It may be our national language, but there are actually more languages here in our country than we know. Because there are more than seven thousand islands in the Philippines, it is no wonder why we have many languages which most of us consider as dialects. There is a difference between dialect and language, though. According to Dictionary.com, a language is used by people who are of the same community or nation.

Tinguian,” “Tinggianes,” “Tingues,” and “Tingians” all mean “mountain dwellers,” and refer to the people who, to avoid the advancing Christian Ilocano, withdrew into the Abra valley and the nearby highlands. Tinguian is used synonymously with the word “Itneg,” which is derived from “iti uneg,” which literally means “the interior,” or from the combination of the prefix “i-,” which indicates a place of origin, and the name of a major river and geographical area, “Tineg”.