Contrasting food cultures<\/b><\/p>\n
There is the purchase and consumption of food to meet our physical needs and then there is the culture that incorporates the cultivation, harvest, production, preparation and act of eating food. Esteva and Prakash (2014) who discuss this distinction in their book, \u2018Grassroots Post-modernism Remaking the Soil of Cultures\u2019<\/i> compare \u2018alimento<\/i>\u2019 defined as the industrial process of buying and consuming food common in many globalised western cultures with \u2018comida culture<\/i>\u2019, which encapsulates the holistic culture around food found in many indigenous cultures like the Maya. It was this holistic, indigenous food culture I uncovered as part of my inquiry with AMA and would like to share in this article<\/span>.<\/p>\n What\u2019s mine is yours<\/b><\/p>\n \u2018No me vas a depreciar Simone\u2019<\/i> (you\u2019re not going to refuse me are you Simone?) was the response on the rare occasion I turned down someone\u2019s offer to share the food they had brought.\u00a0 <\/span>Trying to uphold my British politeness I had tried to refrain from taking from those that I assumed had the least to offer. However, I came to learn that refusing food offered in Guatemala was actually one of the worst kinds of cultural offense. No matter how small the offering it would be divided up and passed around by colleagues for \u2018la refa\u2019<\/i> (break time) whether it\u2019s a glass of blended fruit, a sugared toasted bread or simply a slice of orange.<\/p>\n Another example of the food sharing culture took place at lunchtime in the AMA office. Women working in the textile workshop would habitually file out one by one into the kitchen at the same time every day to eat together. Huddling around the microwave as if it were an open fire they would reheat the food prepared that morning or the leftovers from the night before, always accompanied by freshly made tortillas. If there had been a family celebration homemade corn tamalitos <\/i>or chuchitos <\/i>(corn balls stuffed with meat stew) <\/i>would be proudly distributed like wedding favours, individually wrapped in dried corn leaves and steamed over a wood-burning stove. If it were midweek or approaching payday more humble vegetarian dishes would appear, sopa de arroz <\/i>(rice soup), torta de huevo<\/i> (egg flan) or verduras envueltas <\/i>(vegetables fried in egg). Before sitting down to eat everyone would systemically hand out morsels of their serving to the others present and make space on their plate in anticipation to receive the reciprocal gifts; \u2018aunque solo tortillas y queso\u2019, \u2018<\/i>even if it\u2019s only tortillas and cheese\u2019 as Guadalupe Ramirez, the Founding Director of AMA would say.\u00a0 <\/span>I saw the same custom in the rural communities I visited over the years, where I was always offered a drink or snack upon entering a home.<\/p>\n This culture of food sharing is symbolic of the Mayan philosophy \u2018Yo Soy T\u00fa y T\u00fa Eres Yo\u2019,<\/i> \u2018I am you and you are me\u2019, where there the individual self does not exist, only the collective (Matul, 2007). This principle says that I am okay when you are okay, if I eat, you will eat. It illustrates the inherent interest in collective wellbeing over individual wellbeing. Indeed, it <\/i>demonstrates empathy at the most profound: we are each other. Contrast this with the English phrase, \u2018what\u2019s mine is yours and what\u2019s yours is mine\u2019. Although at first the distinction may appear nuanced, unpack this a little further and the phrase, although generous in its intention, reflects the (capitalist) notion of ownership. This juxtaposes the Mayan worldview that everything on this earth is in fact on loan. We do not own land or the earth\u2019s resources but must care for them respectably, only taking what is essential. Things are no more mine than they are yours. This comparison left me pondering how different our world might look today if we had adopted indigenous food practices rather than the encroachment of western fast food culture around the globe.<\/p>\n The communality of eating<\/b><\/p>\n Closely linked to this sharing culture is the notion that eating is a communal ritual in Guatemala. \u2018Donde comen dos comen tres<\/i>\u2019<\/b> was the phrase I learned at the beginning of my four years living in Guatemala. If there\u2019s enough for two there\u2019s enough for three, meaning there\u2019s always sufficient food to go around, be it with family, friends, neighbours or even strangers. This was something Guadalupe recounted during our interview (July, 2016). She recalled her father\u2019s occasional dismay when returning home at the end of a working day to find a horde of children squeezed around table at dinnertime, \u2018how many children do I have today?!\u2019 he would exclaim. Indeed, I learned far too late that if someone asks you to stay for dinner you must never refuse the invitation. In Guatemala, the pleasure of food comes from the act of sharing so there is always room for one more.<\/p>\n Space and time: add two essential ingredients and stir <\/b><\/p>\n Space and time are both essential ingredients of a healthy \u2018comida\u2019<\/i> culture. In western fast food culture we have become accustomed to eat lunch as quickly as possible. During workdays we are constantly rushing, often eating standing up or while travelling to save time; at best sat down but in front of an electronic device multitasking. Food thus becomes merely a consumptive process rather than a ritual to nourish the body, mind and spirit. In Mayan food culture the act of eating is inseparable from the ritual of making time to sit down to eat together in the kitchen: the heart of the home as Guadalupe describes.<\/p>\n Space to reflect<\/b><\/p>\n Food carves out a reflective space within the daily grind. In Guatemala this space is centred on one of three things: the fire, the stove or the table. In most rural areas it will predominantly be the fire. Indeed, most women\u2019s days are planned around food, beginning at the crack of dawn to light the fire to make the Nixtamal<\/i> or coffee and being attentive throughout the day to add more firewood, often fetched by hand from the surrounding mountainsides. Olivet Lopez (2015) in her article \u2018Life Around the Firewood Stove: The Impact of Price Volatility,\u2019 discusses how stoves or fires in the Highland areas of Guatemala not only provide the family\u2019s sustenance but also keep family members warm on the cold Highland evenings. Thus the fire acts as a unifier, bringing the family together. Family members huddle around in a circle to share events from the day, news from the community or stories from days gone by. It is the place where family decisions are made, and household customs such as cooking or weaving are passed down from mother to daughter. Learning in this space is based around the oral tradition of storytelling to transmit knowledge from one generation to another through the maternal tongue where mysticism and history intertwine to ground children in ancestral wisdom while guiding them towards the uncertain future.<\/p>\n Time to Prepare<\/b><\/p>\n Many of the typical dishes here in the Guatemalan Highlands require hours of careful preparation. Yet cooking is considered, by most, a labour of love rather than a fastidious chore. This was confirmed by several of the AMA\u2019s team members who expressed to me their joy in having time to cook at the weekend in the comfort of their own kitchens when the process of cooking transformed into a leisure activity. Much to my dismay, cooking processes cannot be rushed nor short cuts taken. Take the preparation of tortillas in an indigenous Highland community for example. To make tortillas using the traditional method one must first ask God\u2019s permission to harvest the corn; this may involve prayer, candles, incense and song. Corn kernels are skilfully plucked off the husks one by one then laid out ceremoniously to bask in the sun like adorned yellow tapestries until dry. The dried corn must then be soaked in an alkaline solution (to unlocked essential nutrients) before being ground into a pulp. This is then mixed with water to form \u2018la masa\u2019 (<\/i>tortilla dough) ready to mould into tortilla-shaped circles that are toasted directly on \u2018la plancha\u2019<\/i> (stovetop). This elaborate process provides spiritual, emotional as well as nutritional sustenance. As my palate grew attuned to the subtle differences in tortilla types, I realised the taste of homemade tortillas is incomparable to the packet flour variety.<\/p>\n![\"conversation-cafe-set-up\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.entremundos.org\/revista\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/conversation-cafe-set-up.jpg\")
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