Popenoe: Avocados as Food in Guatemala 



103 



a bit of tortilla held in the other. Maize 

 and avocados. Apparently this is a diet 

 which the Indian finds sustaining under 

 the most severe physical exertion, for 

 there is no harder work than that of 

 the cargador, who frequently carries a 

 hundred and fifty pounds on his back, 

 and thinks nothing of making a journey 

 of a hundred miles in five or six days. 

 And he likes this diet so well that he 

 makes no effort to improve it, even by 

 seasoning his avocados, although salt 

 is sometimes used. When he has no 

 tortilla to use as a spoon, he will scoop 

 out the avocado pulp with his right 

 index finger. 



While staying in Guatemala City, I 

 often found it necessary to purchase 

 large quantities of avocados in order to 

 obtain the seeds. These fruits we piled 

 in a corner of the patio, covering them 

 with straw to hasten ripening. Every 

 few days it was necessary to go over the 

 pile and pick out the ripe fruits. The 

 seeds were then removed, and the 

 halved fruits thrown to one side. Be- 

 fore we had progressed far with this 

 work, Jose inquired what we were going 

 to do with the pulp. I replied that he 

 could dispose of it as he chose, where- 

 upon he notified all the neighbors, and 

 thenceforth there was a constant pro- 

 cession of natives coming in through our 

 gate with baskets or boxes on their 

 heads, and going out with loads of 

 avocado pulp. This they took to their 

 homes, and as long as it lasted the^^ 

 needed no other food except the ubiqui- 

 tous tortilla. 



It must be admitted that the tortilla 

 is a highly sustaining article of diet, 

 even though it may be, as Charles 

 Macomb Flandrau happily puts it, a 

 melancholy form of nourishment. But 

 I do not recall having met a Guatemalan 

 who would voluntarily choose to make 

 a meal on tortillas alone, while I do re- 

 call having seen many who seemed quite 

 content with tortillas and avocados. 



Walking through the streeets of 

 Purula, a village in northern Guate- 

 mala, I chanced to see a fine avocado 

 tree standing behind the hut of an 

 Indian family. I entered the yard to 

 make inquiries, and was invited into 

 the house to inspect some of the fruits. 



It was a typical Indian hut, mud floor, 

 thatched roof, and sides made of poles 

 lashed together with lianas. A smoke- 

 covered pot of black beans was slowly 

 bubbling over a fire burning in the 

 middle of the floor, and the omni- 

 present kd or grinding stone, on which 

 maize is prepared for tortillas, stood to 

 one side. A few feet overhead, and 

 directly above the fire, a basket of 

 avocados was suspended from the 

 rafters. Their presence over the fire 

 may be explained by the statement 

 that it is a common practice to put 

 avocados in a warm place during the 

 ripening process. 



Maize, beans, and avocados. A 

 glance around the room showed no 

 other foodstuffs of any kind. Probably 

 meat would be purchased occasionally, 

 and a savory stew in which chile peppers, 

 squashes, and tomatoes appeared, would 

 be the result. But maize, beans and 

 avocados were the principal staples in 

 this household, just as they are in many 

 other Guatemalan homes. 



These incidents, typical of many ex- 

 perienced during a year's travel in 

 Guatemala, indicate the Indian's atti- 

 tude toward the avocado and the 

 manner in which he uses it. It is not 

 to be assumed, of course, that North 

 Americans will consume their avocados 

 in such a primitive manner as do the 

 Guatemalan Indians. It is not neces- 

 sary that they should do so. The fats 

 and the proteins and the carbohydrates 

 locked up in the fruit are just as avail- 

 able to those who eat a delicate avocado 

 salad as they are to the aborigine who 

 takes the unseasoned pulp with a scrap 

 of tortilla. 



CONSTITUENTS OF THE AVOCADO 



Thanks to the investigations of such 

 men as Professor Jaffa of the University 

 of California, we are gradually acquiring 

 knowledge regarding the various con- 

 stituents of the avocado, and the pro- 

 portions in which they occur. An in- 

 teresting table published by Jaffa in 

 Bulletin 254 of the Agricultural Experi- 

 ment Station at Berkeley shows that, 

 as a result of 28 analyses, including about 

 24 varieties, water was present in the 

 pulp or edible portion of the fruit in 



