Looking into the past to build the future: food, memory, and identity in the indigenous societies of Puebla, Mexico

Diosey Ramon Lugo-Morin

doi:10.1186/s42779-022-00123-w

Abstract

Food memory has been determinant in the survival of social groups, the causes of its activation are varied (e.g. feelings, identity, need or challenge) and it is transmitted from generation to generation. These interactions have given rise to an ethnic food heritage that responds to cultural processes and territorial specificities. It is in this logic that this study is proposed, which aims to explore the dynamics between food, memory, and identity of two ethnic groups in the state of Puebla in Mexico in a context of health disruption. The experience of these two groups shows how food identity and memory is particularly strategic in the face of adversity, as is currently the case with the COVID-19 pandemic.

Highlights

This study proposes to explore the dynamics between food, memory and identity of two ethnic groups in the Puebla state in Mexico in a context of health disruption
The analysis explored the dynamic of food, memory, and identity of two ethnic groups in the Sierra Norte de Puebla
The topics addressed based on the methodological approach employed in the study were presented in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic

Summary

Introduction

This study proposes to explore the dynamics between food, memory and identity of two ethnic groups in the Puebla state in Mexico in a context of health disruption. The region of the Sierra Norte de Puebla played a strategic role due to the perpetuity of the food systems, which its inhabitants developed in a context of high biodiversity; the prehispanic famine [4] and the food shortages in colonial times [5], determining elements in the biocultural food configuration of the main ethnic groups settled in the Sierra Norte de Puebla, as well as in other ethnic regions. The indigenous treatment of the nascent food systems incorporated a strong influence of their worldview, allowing for new processes of experimentation and learning in the context of the existing plant biodiversity of the new world [7], this food bioculture was forged before the arrival of the Spanish in the New World and after their arrival new cultural elements were added. Its potential is limitless and has enabled indigenous communities to cope with past challenges (e.g. pandemics) [9, 15]

Methods

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Discussion

Conclusion