172 



THE LEVEL AND COST OF LIVING 



domestically) are important in the officials' cere- 

 monies, and the 38 chickens and 23 turkeys used 

 in a year must be added. 



(S2) Hens' eggs. — These are part of the normal 

 diet, but the diflferences probably depend partly 

 on taste, partly on wealth. That family 58 uses 

 so many is probably to be attributed to city- 

 cultivated taste. Wliy No. 39 uses so few eggs 

 I do not know. Family No. 1 reports using 3 

 dozen a week. Since two of the three families 

 of the sample kept fowl, it is close enough to being 

 representative to require no correction. 



{23-27) Fish and sea food. — Lake fish and crabs 

 are eaten during the year. They are usually 

 bought, but occasionally caught for home use. 

 The sample in this case is bad because No. 37 is 

 one of the few local Indians who do considerable 

 fishing. The result is that his consumption of fish 

 and crabs is far out of proportion to that of the 

 others. A correction must be made. Dried sea 

 fish and alligator meat are bought only 'for Holy 

 Week (the prohibition against meat during Lent 

 or on Friday is not kept, if known). The quantity 

 bought, to judge from the sample, probably 

 depends partly on taste, chiefly on wealth. Familj^ 

 1 reports buying 25 pounds of sea fish and 15 

 pounds of alligator, 8 times as much as the poor 

 family 58 of comparable size. The sample is 

 therefore defective, since it is accident that the 

 largest family happens to be poor, and the total 

 quantities must be raised. The use of shrimp, 

 which is bought at any time of the year, is probably 

 a matter of taste. Familj' 58 uses none, 49 a very 

 small quantity, and 37 much; No. 1 uses none. 

 It is as probable as not that the sample is repre- 

 sentative of the distribution of tastes. 



{28-32) Beef. — Beef is by far the favorite meat, 

 and the only one used (although in a minor way 

 in recent times) in ceremonial cooking. It is 

 bought in small quantities, bone and meat, and 

 usually cooked in soup. Pork is more expensive 

 than beef, and is used most usually in tamales. 

 Of the three sample families. No. 39 eats the 

 highest percentage of pork to beef. Family 1 

 reports using 104 pounds of pork to 468 pounds of 

 beef, an even higher percentage. At the opposite 

 extreme is familj' 49, using 35 times as much beef 

 as pork. I cannot explain why family 37 uses 

 relatively so little meat (even its high fish and 

 sea-food consumption cannot account for it) ; but, 

 again, there seems no reason not to accept the 



sample. To the total must be added only 45 

 pounds of beef used in ceremonies. Sausages of 

 pork meat seem to be bought by all families more 

 than is fresh pork; in the sample, those eating less 

 than their share of fresh meat seem to eat more 

 sausage (so, too, the rich and large No. 1 famdy 

 which consumes only 572 pounds of fresh meat in 

 a year, bought almost $15 worth of various pre- 

 served meats). Pork-blood sausages are evidently 

 much less popular, only 49 and 1 reporting their 

 use. Only the latter reported also the consump- 

 tion of longaniza, another kind of pork sausage; 

 but on the basis of the $2.40 worth he bought, one 

 can guess that the Indian community probably 

 consumed it to the value of some $25. Three 

 kinds of lard cracklings are obtainable, pinas, 

 chicharrones , and pressed chicharrones. The last- 

 mentioned have the fat squeezed out in some 

 special press, and are cheaper and less nourishing. 

 Families 37 and 49 reported consumption of only 

 pinas and chicharrones, but family No. 1 bought, 

 in addition to $7.80 worth of these, 10 pounds of 

 pressed chicharrones. Cracklings are bought usu- 

 ally as "snacks" in the market place, and doubt- 

 less the man of family 37 bought so many because 

 he is a frequent merchant, and a person who likes 

 "snacks." Family No. 1 has sons whose pockets 

 probably jingle with loose change. I think that 

 the total derived from the sample is, however, 

 probably fair. Family 1 is the only reporter of 

 the use of prepared pork ribs; this family's $6 

 worth probably can be translated into $60 in the 

 whole community. 



{33) Lard. — Lard is used much more typically 

 by Ladinos than by Indians, both for frying and 

 the cooking of beans. Family 58 clearly shows 

 outside influence in its use of lard, and allowance 

 is to be made for that in calculating the total lard 

 consumption. 



(54, 35) Tomatoes, huskcherries. — Tomatoes, or 

 instead the small wild huskcherries, are very 

 important in the diet, cooked, and especially with 

 meats. Why No. 37 reports the consumption of 

 so much tomato in comparison with the other 

 two families I cannot explain, although it may be 

 noted that his family's diet is heavilj^ weighted 

 on the side of vegetables and fruit. Even the 

 large, rich No. 1 family, wliich also feeds laborers, 

 consumed a little less (60 pounds of tomatoes, 40 

 pounds of huskcherries). I am inclined to think 



