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INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY PUBLICATION NO. 13 



purge (Ipomaea, No. 286) is added to beans, to- 

 gether with half a lime; it is not clear whether the 

 leaf serves as a green or only as seasoning. This 

 dish seems to be unknown in Taj in, except among 

 families with strong Talaxca ties. 



Buds and flowers of the ( wild ? semicultivated ? ) 

 yucca (flor de pito, No. 230) are eaten when avail- 

 able. The petals are stripped from the blossoms 

 and are boiled ; they are drained two or three times 

 and reboiled in fresh water. They may be added 

 to mole sauce or to beans ; they may be eaten with 

 pulacles (p. 154) ; or they may be combined with 

 the dry paste of sesame seed, from which the oil 

 has been extracted. This latter mixture is shaped 

 into small balls, which are made into a soup, flav- 

 ored with wild tomato, coriander, and cebollina; 

 sometimes the balls, combined with shrimp and 

 goosefoot, are served as a soup. 



Few cultivated plants are prepared as vege- 

 tables. Although popular in many parts of Mex- 

 ico, squash blossoms are not utilized in Taj in. The 

 leaf and flower of the chipila (Crotalaria, No. 91) 

 are boiled, seasoned with a bit of goosefoot, and 

 eaten. As will be seen later, this particular dish 

 may be of important nutritive value (pp. 169- 

 170). The blossoms of a cultivated tree, also of 

 the legume family 83 (pichoco, Erythrina, No. 

 284), are made into a dish not unlike string beans 

 in appearance. The "head and vein" are removed, 

 and the remaining parts are boiled, being drained 

 one to three times, and reboiled, to remove the 

 bitter taste. The cooked blossom is served un- 

 adorned ; it is mixed with egg and fried ; or it is 

 added to beans, together with a bit of goosefoot 

 for seasoning. 



Shelled green beans sometimes are eaten (p. 

 157), but never the pod. Green peas, as a vegeta- 

 ble, have been mentioned previously (p. 158). 

 Tronchuda cabbage (No. 285) is far from popu- 

 lar, but once in a while the leaf is eaten green; 

 sometimes it is boiled and served with sesame oil ; 

 or it is fried with egg. During our stay, neigh- 

 boring Totonac youngsters sampled our food with 

 great relish, but drew the line at both beets and 

 carrots, with which they were unfamiliar. 



Fruits. — Fruits, cultivated and wild, native and 

 introduced, are both plentiful and varied but, on 



83 One woman had heard that the blossom of the muite (No. 

 123) was edible. This plant is of relatively recent introduction 

 and, as far as we know, is not eaten in Tajfn. 



the whole, little exploited. The Totonac have no 

 prejudice against fruits, merely a supreme disin- 

 terest. A sapote ckico bears heavily but nobody 

 bothers to harvest. If inquiry is made, the reply 

 is, "Oh, we leave the fruit for the youngsters." 

 Actually, Totonac diet could be greatly expanded 

 and improved, simply through more extensive 

 utilization of fruit products at hand. 



Native fruits include three cultivated hog plums 

 (Spondias, Nos. 290, 291, 292) . Two bear in June, 

 the third, in the fall. The fruit generally is eaten 

 raw but sometimes is boiled with brown sugar. 

 That of a wild relative (jobo, No. 186) is collected 

 occasionally. 



The cultivated papaya is utilized on a small 

 scale. The green fruit is peeled, soaked in a lime 

 solution, then cooked with brown sugar; ripe fruit 

 is eaten raw. Some affirm that the small fruit of 

 the wild form (No. 172) is boiled with brown or 

 white sugar to make a preserve ; others are dubious 

 of its utility. 



The pineapple is little grown and little used, 

 although vinegar is prepared by allowing the rind 

 to ferment in water for about a week. 



Several trees of the sapote family produce 

 edible fruit. These include the cultivated sapote 

 mumey (Calocarpum, No. 350) , the semicultivated 

 sapote mante (Pouteria, No. 220), and the wild 

 sapote chico (Achras, No. 191). The unidentified 

 sapote de calentura (No. 198) may also be of the 

 same family ; it is not cultivated, but from time to 

 time its fruits are collected. 



Several other fruit trees are called sapotes, 

 although they belong to distinct families. These 

 include the sapote prieto (D ios pyros, No. 125) and 

 the sapote domingo {Mammea, No. 127), both cul- 

 tivated. Once in a while, the fruit of the semi- 

 cultivated sapote cabello (Licania, No. 90) is gath- 

 ered; it may be sold in Papantla, where it is 

 popular for the offering to the dead on All Souls' 

 Day. 



Of the above fruits, only the hog plums, the 

 papaya, the sapote ckico, and the sapote cabello are 

 eaten with any frequency. In addition, there is a 

 long list of fruits below, which are b} 7 no means a 

 regular part of Totonac diet, but which are con- 

 sumed occasionally as tidbits. Sometimes adults 

 indulge, but children exhibit greater interest. 



a. The fruits of several legumes are utilized — either the 

 entire pod, the seed, or the pulp surrounding the latter. 

 Young pods of the semicultivated lelekes (Leucaena, No. 



