Nahuas of La Huasteca - Subsistence and Diet

Subsistence and Diet

To say that corn is fundamental to the Nahua would be an enormous understatement. It engulfs every aspect of their life. From the actual consumption of corn at every meal, to its political role in the community, there is no escaping its power and influence. Nahua men will actually spend the greater part of their lives farming, while women and children also play a role in land cultivation. With everyone in the community contributing, an occasional cyclical shortage is possible, but normally, food like corn, is copious.

To the Nahua, corn is known not only as a physical life sustainer, but also a spiritual sustainer. It is used at every meal and also feeds domesticated animals. It is the main source of income and is therefore an inevitable constituent in community *politics. Corn can be divided, by color, into four groups. White is superior for human consumption and is sold at the market. Yellow is resilient, thus grown in the dry season and is the corn of choice for domesticated animals. Black and red corns are grown in lesser amounts and are not preferred for eating.

Since the pre-Columbian period, the people of Amatlán have seen little change in their farming practices and thus, their diet. The Nahua use horticulture cycles of slash and burn agriculture in order to grow corn, amongst other staple food. All of the men in the community work the surrounding land with only a steel machete and a digging stick. Individual families also use milpa horticulture (cultivated fields) for the growing of their own choice.

Whereas the larger farming plots are utilized for staple crops, families can choose to grow herbs, flowers and fruit trees (mango, banana, plum, orange, lime) in their personal household garden. Although milpa gardens are labor intensive, the attention that is put into them often generates high revenue. Sections of the larger plots are segmented for squash, chiles, yucca, amaranth, melons, tomato, herbs and onion. Sugarcane and coffee are grown as commercial crops to be sold at the market.

Domesticated animals are free to roam about the land. Families rarely eat pigs because they are components of income. Pigs are sold at the market along with meat and eggs that are produced from turkeys, chickens and ducks. The elite and wealthy families in the community can be determined by the number of cattle that they are raising. Cattle are costly to purchase and maintain, but are the height of economic activity.

Nahua subsistence strategies also include hunting, gathering and fishing. Gathering is done by women and children and is restricted to times of food shortage. They gather wild products and firewood from the surrounding forest. Hunting, done only by men, is presently a rare practice. Due to deforestation from slash and burn agriculture and an ever-growing human population, animals have migrated south. In the past, hunted animals were commonly deer and pig. Now, animals are limited to the smaller game of rabbit and birds. Compared to hunting and gathering, fishing plays a more important role in the Nahua diet. Men and boys use commercial nylon nets to catch fish, crayfish, and shrimp-like crustaceans. Spear fishing, bow and arrow and stunning fish with firecrackers are other techniques used to catch fish.

Families choose to support their households with a combination of farming, animal husbandry and temporary wage labor. Farming is the most important production activity, thus farmers are always looking to increase their crop size. They will either double-crop (growing two major crops at once), or increase the size of their land. With minimal technology and intense physical labor, managing a larger crop is nearly impossible. Even if a farmer is successful, there is no way for him to transport large loads to the market, or to store surplus. The tropical climate is too damp for the food to keep – not to mention the vermin and insects that will eat the crops. Because farming does not match household expenses, families are forced to grow secondary crops to sell at the market, take on secondary occupations (labor at cattle ranches), or sell their animals at the market.

Women and girls prepare every meal. They spend the bulk of their day making tortillas. They shell corn, boil the kernels, and add mineral lime to the water. Once the corn has softened, it is washed and then ground, three times, with a mano and metate. After all of this is done, the corn is ground and twisted to make a wet paste. The pieces of dough are then slapped together into a circular shape. Throughout meals, women continue making tortillas. Food is eaten from a bowl and tortillas are used as utensils. All meals are based around corn. Dishes include: corn straight off the cob, tortillas and cornmeal dishes of bread, tamales, enchiladas and black beans that are boiled or eaten as a soup. The third major food of the Nahua is squash. It is also boiled, but is sweetened with raw sugar. Fish and crustaceans are placed in a tortilla, cooked whole, or boiled in a cornhusk or banana leaves. Although meat is a rarity, it is prepared as a thick chili sauce. Onion, tomato and a variety of hot chili peppers are added to dishes for increased flavor. Porridge that is composed of amaranth seed and sweetened with raw sugar makes for a popular dessert.

A variety of plants and animals provide a generally nutritious diet. With corn as the principal component of every Nahua meal, protein is sometimes lacking. Compensation can be found in the consumption of beans and fish, and also the meat that men obtain from hunting. Unfortunately, these means are not always available. Lack of protein is not as detrimental to adults, as it is to infants. There is a high instance of infant mortality in the area that is thought to be associated with this factor. Growing access and availability to sweets, sodas, and processed foods will, no doubt, cause a future epidemic of health problems.