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INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY PUBLICATION NO. 6 



green, pink or red colors, which are sometimes 

 tied at the back of the neck. Young girls' heads 

 are sometimes shaved, as in many parts of Mex- 

 ico, in the belief that this makes the new hair 

 come in thick and luxurious. Older girls and 

 women frequently go to the chapel in Ojo de 

 Agua on the day of San Juan, June 24, to cut 

 their hair with a knife and thus promote a thick 

 growth, which is a sign of beauty. All men 

 wear their hair fairly short, cut either by the 

 town's only barber, Jesiis Huipe, or by barbers 

 in Patzcuaro and Quiroga on market days. Pre- 

 sumably access to regular barber shops explains 

 the lack of any full-time local barber. Tarascan 

 men tend to wear their hair a little longer than 

 do Mestizos. 



THE CULINARY ARTS 



In this section the techniques used in the prep- 

 aration of food, and the typical dishes of the 

 region are considered. Statistical data on quan- 

 tities of food, consumption, meal habits and 

 other similar items are discussed in the section 

 on the domestic economy (pp. 150-168). 



Compared with many, and perhaps most parts 

 of Mexico, Tzintzuntzan and the Tarascan area 

 in general are characterized by well-developed 

 culinary arts. The variety of available foods, 

 the number of herbs used in cooking, and the 

 varied recipes known are outstanding in every 

 sense of the word. Naturally, few housewives 

 have time to make every meal a gastronomic 

 delight, but when the occasion presents itself 

 — a wedding, death, or church fiesta, most can 

 turn out a meal that should be long remember- 

 ed. Curiously, the best cook in town is a man. 

 Jesus Peiia worked for a number of years as 

 sacristan, and while in association with the 

 priest he developed a taste for the better things 

 in life, including fine food. Being possessed of 

 a lively imagination and interest in all things, 

 he took up cooking as a hobby and soon became 

 a master. His talents were particularly valued 

 by the members of the expedition when outside 

 guests were to be fed, at which time he assisted 

 Carmen who normally cooked for us. One day 

 he gave me the list of herbs and condiments 

 which he considered essential for kitchen work: 

 mejorana (sweet marjoram) for all soups and 

 broths; oregano (wild marjoram) in beans and 



stews; comino (cumin) for stuffing chickens and 

 turkeys; tomillo (thyme) in all clear soups, 

 stews, and with broadbeans; pimiento and pi- 

 mentones (peppers) for mole sauce; silantro 

 (coriander) for fish stew and boiled beef; gin- 

 ger in mole; sesame seed to thicken mole. Gar- 

 lic goes in most stewed dishes and chiles, a half 

 dozen or more varieties, in almost anything. 



But Jesiis is not the only one who can cook, 

 and any fiesta — a pozole during Lent, a funer- 

 al, a wedding — quickly reveals that the Tzin- 

 tzuntzeiios recognize and appreciate fine food. 

 Though no attempt was made to write a Taras- 

 can cookbook a number of the most typical 

 recipes were recorded. 



MAIZE PREPARATION 



Maize is the basis for a bewildering variety 

 of foods. To make most of these, the hard 

 grains are soaked in warm water with lime {cal) 

 to soften, to produce nixtamxil. Nixtamal is 

 ground, usually at the electric mill, into dough 

 known as mosa. To make tortillas the masa is 

 passed once over the metate and patted into 

 the typical and well-known thin disks which are 

 toasted on the clay griddle, or comal. Tortillas 

 made for home consumption are quite large, 

 averaging 20 to 25 cm. in diameter. But for 

 guests they are made small and dainty, 12 to 

 18 cm. in diameter. Since about the same 

 amount of work goes into each size, it is time- 

 saving to make the larger ones. Usually the 

 housewife spends an hour or more making a 

 day's supply of tortillas each morning, placing 

 them in a round tascol basket of just the rieht 

 diameter to hold them wrapped in a napkin. 

 For subsequent meals these are heated on the 

 griddle. 



Tokeres (T. thokeri) are thick, sv/eetened or 

 salted tortillas made with maize which has 

 begun to mature but which is not yet complete- 

 ly hard. Unsoaked in lime or ash, it is ground 

 on a metate, and formed in the same manner as 

 ordinary tortillas. The sweet variety is flavor- 

 ed with brown sugar, cinnamon, and anise to 

 which baking soda is added. The salt variety 

 has nothing but a little salt added. Milk is often 

 served with tokeres. 



Pozole is a fiesta dish, so typical, in fact, that 

 many celebrations at which guests are fed are 

 called pozole after the main food. The dish is a 



