I met a group of indigenous people in Northern Luzon known as the Aeta. The Aeta are appearance with a much darker complexion, somewhat short in stature, and generally what I heard lead a nomadic existence. For many centuries, the various Philippine governments have tried, with limited success, to integrate the Aeta into Filipino society. To this day, many groups of Aeta move from place to place, living off the land and living their lives, occasionally venturing into the lowlands in order to buy supplies or send their children to school.
Sometime, they would drop by our cafe selling fresh vegetables and we usually love the vegetable from the mountain produce also the yummy boiled peanuts: Anyone who has been in Singapore were familiar with hawker selling boiled peanuts inside a rattan steamer. I guess the Filipino they do it the same way. Moreover, the raw peanuts are very dirty they had to washed it many times rubbed with salt to remove extra dirt in the peanut shells’ crevices, and then washed again. They are placed in a pot containing sea salt, water, and a piece of pork fat and boiled for around 20 minutes. They are drained and served warm. Briny and soft, they are highly addictive simply nuts about it. They are getting fewer every year struggling to keep their unique language and culture alive, and it appears to be a losing battle as more family groups continue to further integrate into the larger Filipino society
