MOCHE: A PERUVIAN COASTAL COMMUNITY— GI LI IN 



45 



or maize beer. The first and second of these items 

 in one form or another are characteristic of the whole 

 of Peru, and dishes prepared from raw fish are 

 found throughout the coast. Therefore, Moche is 

 to some extent representative of Peru as a whole in 

 a general way and unique primarily in details. 



Picante is a general term referring to what North 

 Americans might call "hot seasoning." It appears 

 in various forms, but its principal ingredients are 

 red and yellow peppers (the red are tlie hottest), 

 salt (bought in the stores in the form of rock salt), 

 black pepper (the berries are bought in the shops 

 and ground at home), onions, garlic, parsely, acafraji, 

 and citrus fruit juices, especially lime juice. Of all 

 these, the red and yellow peppers (aji Colorado and 

 a/i amarillo) are the most important, since they ap- 

 pear in practically all food preparations. All cooked 

 foods usually arc blended with picante during the 

 process of preparation, and raw fish (scvichc) is 

 "cooked" in citrus fruit juice and eaten with pepper. 

 A small side dish or gourd of picante sauce usually 

 stands on the table, in case one is not satisfied with 

 the flavoring of the dishes set before him. And, 

 just to make sure that one's gastric juices are suf- 

 ficiently stinuilated, one often holds a small green 

 pepper (unripe red pepper) in one hand to nibble 

 between mouthfuls, after dipping it generously into 

 a dish of salt and black pepper. This faithful devo- 

 tion to picante among the Mocheros has a certain 

 appearance of masochism. Many a time I have dined 

 with persons whose eyes were streaming with tears 

 and whose mouths were admittedly burning, but 

 who were apparently deriving huge pleasure from this 

 self-inflicted pain, "^-iy, ay, caramba. Pica fuertc. 

 no? Que bucno. Que rico." (Ouch, my goodness. 

 It stings sharply, doesn't it? IIow good. How ap- 

 petizing.) 



Raw fish is served in the form of sevichcs; in this 

 the fish is first "cooked" in lime juice, then covered 

 with cold picante sauce, and served with corn on 

 the cob, yuca, sweetpotato and often other vege- 

 tables, the whole garnislied with leaves of lettuce. 

 Crabs and shrimps are also eaten raw after similar 

 treatment, as well as being steamed or boiled. A 

 particularly charming custom is the "bocadita'' ; a 

 lady at the table, often the hostess, will pick up a 

 mity-uiuy (sea shrimp) and after sucking it deli- 

 cately will remove it from her mouth and insert it 

 between the lips of a gentleman, accompanying the 

 gesture with a kissing sound. This procedure may 

 be employed with any other tidbits, and after the 



chicha bowl has made tiie rounds a few times, the 

 morsel may be transferred directly from the mouth 

 of the lady to that of the gentleman. Only the more 

 sophisticated persons think it necessary to use table 

 forks or other implements for eating, and spoons are 

 used only for soup. Frequently a single mate 

 (calabash plate) is set in the middle of the table. 

 Each guest takes a piece of lettuce which he places 

 on the table before him, proceeding to lift the food 

 with his fingers from the central dish either directly 

 to his mouth or to the lettuce leaf at his place. 



Water, as water, is considered to be essential for 

 the irrigation of land, as useful in cooking vege- 

 tables and meats (although some cooks use only 

 chicha), and as pleasant for an occasional bath, if 

 convenient. But it is regarded as little short of 

 poisonous if used as a drink by man. No doubt this 

 is an eminently hygienic attitude, considering the fact 

 that many available supplii-s of the liquid are pos- 

 sibly contaminated. Tea made of ycrba liiiza and 

 also coffee are consumed by both children and adults, 

 usually for breakfast only (also milk, cocoa, and soda 

 water in comparatively small quantities by children). 

 Nevertheless, the principal drink for all persons 

 above the age of puberty is chicha, a maize beer. 



Three main meals are consimied by the Mocheros, 

 breakfast, lunch, and dinner or supper, but they are 

 interspersed witli lunches, called catisas ( verb, 

 caiiscar). Even when guests do not drop in or the 

 family does not go out, it is normal to enjoy at least 

 one causa during the morning and at least one during 

 the afternoon. A lunch of this sort may consist of 

 anything from a small bit of fish and a morsel of 

 yuca to a meal consisting of several dishes, and it is 

 always washed down with mature chicha, if it can 

 be obtained. A friend visiting a house is always 

 invited to sit down at the table in the arbor or in the 

 hack yard. Within a few minutes the lady of the 

 house sets out a causa, which may consist of no more 

 tlian a couple of boiled eggs, and the guest eats and 

 then is offered chicha. The ethnologist visiting a 

 numi)er of houses during a day finds this hospitality 

 agreeable, but also a burden upon his capacity. If 

 one comes uninvited, it is customary to offer money 

 to the hostess to pay for the chiclia and food, 

 although this will be refused if one is a coin padre of 

 the household or has elsewhere kept up his end of 

 the entertaining. In addition to household hospi- 

 tality of this sort, food and drink are obtainable upon 

 payment in many houses operated on a small-scale 

 commercial basis. Manv a housewife augments the 



