The diet of the Mixtecs is based since pre-Hispanic times on the Mesoamerican food triangle, which is made up of beans, corn and squash. It is estimated that around a third of food resources came from the natural environment.
That is, they were dedicated to the collection of plants, fungi and hunting animals, although they also used the crop in their agricultural systems. The Mixtec land is located to the south of the Mexican Republic. It covers the western half of Oaxaca, although it extends towards Puebla and Guerrero.
Staples of the Mixtec
From wild plants to domesticated animals for their own consumption, the Mixtec regime was very varied.
Animals
Before the conquest, the Mixtecs consumed, among others, the following animals:
-Squirrels
-Armadillos
-Coatí
-Rabbit
-Chapulín
-Turkey
-Iguana
-Hare
-Raccoon
-Frog
-Dove
-Deer
In the case of the turkey, these were domesticated by the Mixtecs around 180 AD. After the colony, the list of the following animals for consumption grew. Added: chicken, pork, beef and lamb.
Minerals
The natural substances with chemical composition that are used in Mixtec culture are lime and salt.
Lime was used and is still used for the preparation of corn, by means of nixtamalization. Salt used to be exploited in the salt flats of that region.
Cultivated plants
Although the basic diet consisted of beans, corn and squash, other complementary plants such as chili, chayote, sweet potato, epazote, maguey, nopales and holy grass are added.
As for the fruits, they were supplied with:
-Avocado
-Capulin
-Plum
-Guaje
-Guava
-Mamey
-Nanche
-Papaya
-Tejocote
-Sapodilla
Today, families follow the following feeding tactics:
1-The cultivation of small areas of corn, beans and wheat, mainly.
2-The sowing in the plots of fruit trees and vegetables.
3-The collection of food plants, such as quelites, nopales, fungi and edible insects.
Among the plants that were introduced to the Mixtec diet after the 16th century are sugar cane, lime, lemon, banana, broad bean, and wheat.
Cooking
Mixtecs relate the cooking term according to humidity. Humidity is related to vegetation. Conversely, drought results in sterility.
This is how their food system is divided into dry and wet, raw and cooked, cold and hot. It is divided like this:
1-Raw food
2-Boiled food
3-Things cooked in the steam or oven for barbecue, and
4-The fried or roasted, but it is soft.
References
- UNAM (1990). «Change and continuity in the diet of Mixtecs», Esther Katz, Luis Alberto Vargas Guadarrama.
- ENGOV (2012) «Knowledge, power and food in the Mixtec Oaxaqueña: tasks for environmental governance», Kleiche-Dray, Mina, Lazos Chavero, Elena. library.clacso.edu.ar/clacso/engov/20140303092206/conocimientos_poder_alimentacion_mixteca.pdf
- UNAM (1990) "Food in Mexico during the First Years of the Colony", Femando Martínez Cortés
- INAH (1989). «History of Agriculture. Pre-Hispanic Mexico », Rojas Raniela, Teresa and William T. Sanders.
- National Commission for the Development of the Indigenous Peoples of Mexico (December 2003), «Mixtecos», Indigenous Peoples of Contemporary Mexico. gob.mx/cms/uploads/attachment/file/11727/mixtecos.pdf