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INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY — PUBLICATION NO. 2 



baskets. Such foods as sugar, coffee, salt, lard, 

 fruits, vegetables, herbs, meat, fish, and manu- 

 factured foods such as bread are purchased in 

 small quantities and are kept in various covered 

 pottery or basket containers in the kitchen. 



Eating habits show considerable variability 

 as between families. They also change with 

 the season and the prevailing occupations. 

 Ordinarily three meals a day are eaten, at about 

 10 a. m., 2 p. ni., and 7 p. m. or an hour later. 

 Very poor people may eat only twice. The major 

 foods are tortillas and other maize dishes, meat 

 (or iish or cheese as substitutes), and green 

 plants. In addition to these common foods, 

 which may be prepared in various ways, there 

 are various occasional or seasonal foods eaten 

 as part of the regular diet, as well as foods 

 eaten only or primarily on the occasion of a 

 fiesta. 



Two types of morning meal exist. The most 

 common is a meal of tortillas and either meat 

 or greens. This is varied every 4 to 8 days 

 with some kind of atole. Some persons have 

 taken over the local Michoacan habit of a boiled 

 sweetpotato or a piece of bread and a glass of 

 milk eaten early in the morning, at 7 or 8 

 o'clock. Such people usually eat the midday 

 meal a little earlier in the day, between 12 and 

 1 o'clock. The midday meal is almost always 

 a beef stew with cabbage (curipo) eaten with 

 tortillas. Those who cannot afford meat, eat 

 some vegetable instead, often prepared with 

 milk and sometimes with cheese also. The 

 evening meal is usually the same as the mid- 

 day meal. Prepared food may be kept over 

 from one day to another. 



Some people may eat only two meals, at about 

 10 a, m. and 7 p. m. The morning meal may 

 consist of tortillas and beans or tortillas and 

 chile sauce, varied frequently with atole, al- 

 though no one would have atole daily. At 

 night beans may be eaten if available; if not, 

 boiled cabbage or curipo is eaten, depending 

 upon economic circumstances. Meat, eggs, fish, 

 and game are rarely eaten by really poor people. 

 Poor people often eat atapakua (squash blos- 

 soms and immature squash) with tortillas and 

 ground dried fish or cheese if they have a mid- 

 day meal. Between meals children or adults, 

 if they feel hungry and the foods are available, 



eat cooked chayotes, chilacayotes, or boiled 

 squash (sometimes with brown sugar). 



The following are the foods most commonly 

 eaten in Cheran : 



All seasons: Tortillas, curipo, tamales (kurundas 

 type), beans, beef or pork in brown mole, fish, cabbage, 

 chiles, onions, coffee, chocolate, lemons, bananas, 

 peanuts. 



January: Cherimoyas, zapoie netjro, oranges. 



February: Oranges. 



March: Chilacayote (a squash stored since October). 



April: Cherries, avocados, oranges. 



May: Mushi-ooms, iwpalcs (young leaves of the 

 prickly pear) , wheat breads, wheat, toi'tillas, avocados, 

 watermelons. 



June: Mushrooms, pears, peaches, avocados, cheese, 

 sugarcane. 



July: Cheese, immature squash, squash blossoms, 

 pears, peaches, sugarcane. 



August: Pears, peaches, green corn, sweet tamales 

 (ocepos), apples, cheese, sweetpotatoes, sugarcane, 

 broadbeans (hahas.) 



September: Pears, apples, crab apples (tcjocotc) , 

 cheese, sweetpotatoes, sugarcane, broadbeans, honey. 



October: Chayotes, chilacayotes, crab apples, honey, 

 sugarcane, guavas, oranges, papayas, broadbeans, 

 cheese. 



November: Chayotes, chilacayotes, broadbeans, 

 guavas, oranges, pumpkins, cheese. 



December: Cherimoyas, chayotes, some chilacayotes, 

 guavas, oranges. 



Some of these foods may be available in other 

 months, but the periods in the list represent the 

 times of greatest use. The list does not contain 

 a number of little-used foods. Except for a 

 few herbs, the maguey, and wild crab apple, 

 no wild vegetable foods are eaten in Cheran." 



MEAT FOODS 



Curipo is a stewed meat, almost always of 

 beef, usually containing cabbage, a few gara- 

 banzos (chickpeas) , and often a bit of carrot. 

 Salt and a considerable quantity of ground 

 dried chile are employed as seasoning. The 

 thin broth is served in the same dish. One or 

 two pieces of meat weighing about 2 ounces, 

 a little of the vegetables, and about a cup of 

 broth comprise the usual serving. Second 

 servings are not usually eaten either by guests 

 or in the privacy of the home. This food is 

 eaten on all fiesta occasions throughout the year 



^^ Some wild foods are reported by Sra. Rendon for La Canada. 

 Bitter prickly pear, tuna agria ( joconocostle) , is used as greens 

 in curipo and in making chile sauce (sindurakua) . La Canada 

 Tarascans say mulberry leaves (?), hojas de mora, are eaten by 

 the Sierra Tarascans "because of their poverty." 



