50 



INSTITUTE OF SOOAL ANTHROPOLOGY— PUBLICATION NO. y 



II 



Tlie foregoing is a list of the essential items used 

 in food and chiclia preparation and eating. To this 

 Hst, which is more or less aboriginal and characteristic 

 of the stabilized native-colonial culture, have been 

 added items of more recent introduction, e.g. : Gaso- 

 line cans as containers for liquids ; oil drums as water 

 containers and cooking utensils ; iron and enamelware 

 pots and pans of various types, of which the metal 

 frying pan is perhaps the most radical innovation 

 (there is considerable doubt that the aborigines of 

 this region fried food) ; tin cans and glass bottles of 

 all types and shapes ; glass tumblers ; china drinking 

 cups: knives, forks, and spoons of metal, for eating 

 and for handling the food on the fire. 



As with all other aspects of Moche material culture, 

 it is notable that most of the introductions are sub- 

 stitutions for less efficient older items, but that there 

 has been no tendency to adopt new-fangled mechan- 

 ical devices. For example, the primus stove would 

 be a useful item, and likewise the hand-cranked coffee 

 grinder. Both are within the economic means of 

 manv Mocheros. and. while there may be a family 

 here or there which possesses these contrivances, I 

 have n<jt seen them, nor have my informants located 

 any. 



The one mechanical improvement, involving the 

 principle of the wheel, which has had wide acceptance 

 in Mnche is the sewing macliine. 



MIDDAY IX A MOCHE HOUSEHOLD 



Before presenting more details it may be of interest 

 to set down a description of Moche kitchen manage- 

 ment and the noonday household events of a typical 

 menage as seen through the e\'es of a Xorth Ameri- 

 can woman, who is a good cook (in North America), 

 but not an ethnologist. The following notes have 

 been contributed by Helen Xorgord Gillin. They 

 cover a household in the pueblo. The sefiora men- 

 tioned is a pure Mochera. 



I arrived in Moclie at the house of Senora P. about 10 a. m. 

 According to our plan she was going to show me how to 

 prepare the meal which the two families were to enjoy 

 together about noon. She was all ready and had collected 

 in the kitchen: cahrito, yuca. potatoes (white and yellow), 

 beans, lemon, fish, and rice. 



Her kitchen is a large dirt-floored, mat-walled room at the 

 back of the house. A large door opens into the sala (main 

 room). A roof of mats covered the kitchen, but various 

 large uncovered patches in the roof and walls allowed ample 

 light to enter. In one corner was a good adobe stove. Under- 

 neath the top on which the fire was laid was a hollow space 

 used for storage of pots and pans, with a few rags put down 

 as a bed for the hairless "Chinese" dog she owns. She claims 



tlie dog was given to her by one of the Chinese in town and 

 that the Chinese eat these dogs. The top of the stove, made 

 of wood, but thickly covered with adobe, was used for mak- 

 ing the fire, and two ridges of adobe ran down each side from 

 the front to the back of the top. Stretched across these were 

 various pieces of old iron which held the pots over the fire. 

 In the wood supports of the mats of the wall beside the stove, 

 nails had been driven where the wooden cooking spoons were 

 hung. 



In front of the stove was a large flat-topped stone {batdn) 

 w'ith a stone grinder on it. A large old wooden table stood 

 against the farther end of the wall. In the comer next to 

 it was a wooden cupboard with doors on it in which were 

 stored dishes, food, etc. A wooden bench at the side of the 

 cupboard held a wash pan and a bar of soap. Toward the 

 opposite side of the room, as one enters it, was a long wooden 

 table covered with a wornout oilcloth. On either side were 

 benches, and three chairs were grouped around the ends. 

 This is the dining table and the place for drinking in this 

 house. In addition to the sala. two enclosures opened off the 

 kitchen, one a jioultry yard, and the other a small storage 

 room for chicha. The latter formed a small adobe addition 

 to the liouse proper. 



Afler the older daughter had pinned a large, much-patched 

 apron on me, I was first taught how to grind aji. The large 

 red pods are put on the grinding stone and the grinder 

 {mono) is moved rapidly and heavily over them, with a sort 

 of rocking motion. Also treated this way were onions and 

 garlic. The a/i was made into a sort of paste in this fashion. 

 Salt had been brought from the store in the form of large 

 crystals and these also were ground on the baton. Meanwhile 

 the cabnto was cut up into small pieces and placed in an 

 earthenware lot on the stove to boil in water seasoned with 

 ground salt. Later vegetables were mixed with it. When all 

 was ready the table with the oilcloth was set. 



A small drawer in the table held assorted knives, forks, 

 spoons, and two lavender napkins. A place was set for me 

 with knife, fork, spoon, and napkin. The younger daughter 

 took out of the corner cupboard five large spoons which she 

 cleaned by rubbing them with salt, then put them around the 

 table. Six soup plates were then produced from the cup- 

 board and wiped off with a dirty towel before the soup was 

 served in them. After the soup we had the cabrito, rice and 

 beans, very ficanlc. (For recipes, see below.) The two 

 daughters started to cat with us, then the sefiora's nephew 

 came in. and finally the senora sat down. While we were 

 eating, Sra. P.'s next-door neighbor and comadre came in. 

 Her husband, she said, was dying of a toothache and had the 

 left side of his face all swollen up. Naturally, it was a 

 neighborly gesture to relieve her of getting lunch while he 

 was ill. Sra. P. said that she would go over to put hot 

 compresses on his face after lunch. Meanwhile the comadre 

 sat down and partook of some nourishment with us, while 

 Sra. P. scolded her for not making her husband have his 

 toolh extracted. 



About 10 :30, while we were preparing the meal, Sra. P.'s 

 sister, a most attractive woman somewhat younger than 

 Sra. P., had dropped in with a friend to grind some rice on 

 the grinding stone, so that she could make j'el'idn de arroa, 

 which she promised to send over for our lunch, also. Now, 

 while we were eatuig. she came in with the pepidn in a large 



