Cambio y continuidad en la alimentación de los mixtecos

Abstract

The food ways of the Mixtec people, show continuity from ancient times to our days. Anthropological, historical and ethnographic research allows the reconstruction of the evolution of the diet and the moments of the introduction of new foods and identify some of the dishes eaten. There were two major moments of change: the Spanish conquest and our century, particularly since 1950, when roads to the Mixteca opened, and allowed the exchange of goods and the growth of cash crops such as coffee. The reconstruction presented ín this paper, shows that in a region of Mexico, known to be poor, rnore than 200 different species of plants and animals are eaten through the year. Some foods have been abandoned and others adopted,but within the frame of local food ways, which play an impo¡tant role in Mixteco identity.