166 



INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY — PUBLICATION NO. 13 



No. 16. 10-11 tortillas; 1 plate of mole (4 small pieces 

 of pork in chili sauce) ; 1 cup fermented atole. 



No. 20. 7-8 tortillas ; 1 plate beans ; coffee. 



No. 20. 8 tortillas ; 1 dish spaghetti ; coffee. 



No. 20. 8 tortillas ; 1 egg, served with wild tomatoes ; 

 coffee. 



No. 20. 9 tortillas ; 1 plate fried beans with chili sauce ; 

 coffee. 



No. 21. 18 tortillas; 1 serving of meat (kind not re- 

 corded ) ; 1 cup broth ; 1 cup atole ; coffee. 



No. 28. 8 tortillas with chili sauce; 1 plate spaghetti, 

 with small piece of chicken ; 1 cup coffee. 



No. 35. Plantains (fried? roasted?) ; coffee. 



No. 43. Tortillas ( not counted ) ; 1 plate beans ; coffee. 



No. 43. Tortillas (not counted) ; 2 eggs with chili sauce ; 

 coffee. 



No. 147. 12 tortillas ; 1 scrambled egg, with chili sauce ; 

 1 cup coffee. 



Supper 



No. 20. Bocoles (p. 154) (not counted), fried in lard 

 and salted ; chili sauce ; coffee. 



No. 20. 10 bocoles; coffee. 



No. 20. 1 plate beans ; coffee. 



No. 21. 10-12 tortillas ; enchiladas (not counted), served 

 with young squash, fried ; 1 helping rice ; coffee. 



No. 35. 1 plate beans ; coffee. 



No. 43. Tortillas (not counted) ; 1 plate beans ; coffee. 



No. 43. 1 plate beans ; chili sauce ; coffee. 



A man frequently carries his lunch — for exam- 

 ple, if he is working in a milpa far from the house 

 and does not come home at noon; if he lives far 

 from the /undo legal, and presents himself there 1 

 day a week for communal labor ; or if he goes on 

 any sort of hunting or fishing excursion. Most of 

 these lunches consist chiefly of enchiladas, which 

 are tortillas, brushed with chili sauce, and doubled 

 so that the flavored surface is on the inside. Here 

 follow some observations concerning lunches : 



No. 2. (2 meals, for 3 persons.) 40 tortillas; "many" 

 small cakes made of maize dough, green peas, and dried 

 fish ; 2 small tins of chile serrano, purchased at a store 

 along the road ; 1 bottle coffee. 



No. 3. 9 enchiladas ; a tenth remained, which the indi- 

 vidual finally ate, simply to be rid of it ; bottle coffee. 



No. 29. Enchiladas (not counted) ; 1 hard boiled egg; 

 bottle coffee. 



No. 36. 15 enchiladas. 



No. 131. "Stack" of enchiladas ; "several" bollitos 

 (p. 153). 



No. 147. 10 enchiladas; small amount (ca. 125 gm.) 

 jerked beef; chilis. 



Not recorded. 10-12 enchiladas; chilis; 2 hard-boiled 

 eggs. 



Not recorded. 12 enchiladas. 



Children who live far from the school also carry 

 their lunches. Most appear to consist of 10 to 12 



enchiladas. Within the fold of the tortilla, in ad- 

 dition to chili sauce, there may be a bean filling, 

 less frequently, one of boiled egg or meat. 



DIET 



CARBOHYDRATES 



Maize is the mainstay of the Totonac cuisine 

 and is, at the same time, an important source of 

 starch. At many meals, tortillas are the main 

 dish — sometimes, the only dish of solid food. One 

 of our friends claims to eat 18 to 20 tortillas in 

 the morning; a similar number at noon; and in 

 the evening, "very few," only 10 to 12. His esti- 

 mates are confirmed by his wife. Moreover, the 

 individual is the head of a family (No. 21) whose 

 tortillas generally are accompanied by other foods, 

 not infrequently b}^ eggs or meat. However, most 

 Totonac consume tortillas in greater moderation 

 (pp. 165-166). 



For 30 families, we have information concerning 

 the amount of maize prepared as nixtamal. Every 

 housewife knows how many cuartillos (3 liters) 

 of maize she steeps with lime and how many times 

 a week this operation is performed. The figures 

 give a rough measure of the maize consumed in 

 the form of tortillas, several kinds of corn gruel, 

 and a number of other maize dishes. They do not, 

 however, include a number of maize foods which 

 are not based on nixtamal — for example, the pop- 

 ular fermented gruel of purple corn. Perhaps 

 this error is offset by the fact that young chicks 

 are fed maize paste, prepared from nixtamal, and 

 that dogs and cats eat tortillas. It was quite 

 impossible to disentangle this animal consumption 

 from general household requirements. 



Obviously, the figures are only an approxima- 

 tion — not only for the reasons given above, but 

 also because local measures are somewhat elastic. 

 We bought five lots of white corn in Taj in, each 

 duly measured and pronounced to be a euartillo 

 (3 liters) . Later, the volume was checked with a 

 standard liter measure in Mexico City. One lot 

 was complete; two fell only slightly short; one 

 lacked almost a full liter; and the fifth lot, pur- 

 chased when the corn was relatively fresh, had 

 shrunk so in drying that only a bit over a liter 

 represented the original purchase, supposedly of 

 three. Accordingly, there is considerable latitude 

 in the original measure of a euartillo. 



