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| Guinea Pig |
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| Roasted Guinea Pigs, Pisac, Peru |
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| Roasted Guinea Pigs, Pisac, Peru |
Pre-Columbian Mesoamerican protein sources were different from ours, because our food animals like cows, sheep, goats and pigs were not native to the Americas, only arriving from Europe with the Spanish Conquest. Mexico has more edible insects than any other place in the world and good use is made of them. Insect-eating is rooted deep in its Pre-columbian past and is very much alive today.
if you find bugs in your guacamole in Oaxaca, don't send it back- they are supposed to be there and you are probably paying extra for them. These fried grasshoppers give crunch and texture to the dish and guacamole with chapulines is a signature dish of the region.
Insects, typically fried and dusted with various flavorings such as chile, lime or garlic are sold in markets in throughout Mexico. People buy them by the bag to munch on and they are a healthy snack because they are almost pure protein. They also show up in tacos and incorporated into various dishes.
if you find bugs in your guacamole in Oaxaca, don't send it back- they are supposed to be there and you are probably paying extra for them. These fried grasshoppers give crunch and texture to the dish and guacamole with chapulines is a signature dish of the region.
Insects, typically fried and dusted with various flavorings such as chile, lime or garlic are sold in markets in throughout Mexico. People buy them by the bag to munch on and they are a healthy snack because they are almost pure protein. They also show up in tacos and incorporated into various dishes.
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| Assorted Fried Insects, Oaxaca, MX |
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| Fried Grasshoppers with Chile, Oaxaca, MX |
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| Fried Insects at Market, Cholula, Puebla MX |
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| Fried Grasshoppers, Cholula, Puebla MX |
Mexico has some 300-550 edible insects according to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization, all sustainable sources of protein. These include grasshoppers
(chapulines), flying ants (chicatanas), honeypot ants (hormigas de miel), ant larvae (escamotes or ahuatle), dragonflies (libélulas), crickets (grillos). And don't forget about the crawlers because worms and caterpillars are also popular.
Pictured below are the popular gusanos, maguey worms, that are an important ingredient in some moles and are also eaten fried on tacos.
Drink:
Pulque, a low-alcohol drink made from the fermented sap of the agave (maguey) plant, has a history in Mexico that is longer than a millennium. Originally, it was a sacred drink and its use limited to certain classes of people. After the conquest it became a popular drink
for all. Pulque is low alcohol, about the same percentage as beer, and has health, even medicinal, benefits and is used in hospitals with anemic patients to raise their red blood counts. It is my personal favorite, as well.
Production of pulque is labor and time-intensive, with the slow-growing agave plants needing twelve years to mature. The fermentation process of pulque is on-going so it must be consumed soon after it is produced, which is why it is not exported.
From my experience, there is a regional variance in pulque. Pulques in Oaxaca
tend to be clear and slightly fizzy, whereas in the state of Mexico, the pulque is cloudy,
more viscous and comes with different flavorings.
The photo above is from a popular pulqueria in Mexico City. As can be seen, their
pulques are offered in several flavors- oatmeal, peanut, pineapple, pine nut, guava and others. Consuming pulque is a leisurely pursuit and people come to pulquerias to sit, visit and enjoy the snacks offered.
Below are typical presentations of pulque in Oaxaca, where it often is sold at weekly markets in small towns around the city. The second container labelled tepache is another drink, low alcohol, made form the fermented rinds of pineapples. The process is much faster than that of pulque, taking only a few days. Its origins are pre-Hispanic, but it never had the significance of pulque.
(chapulines), flying ants (chicatanas), honeypot ants (hormigas de miel), ant larvae (escamotes or ahuatle), dragonflies (libélulas), crickets (grillos). And don't forget about the crawlers because worms and caterpillars are also popular.
Pictured below are the popular gusanos, maguey worms, that are an important ingredient in some moles and are also eaten fried on tacos.
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| Gusanos, Mexico City MX |
Pulque, a low-alcohol drink made from the fermented sap of the agave (maguey) plant, has a history in Mexico that is longer than a millennium. Originally, it was a sacred drink and its use limited to certain classes of people. After the conquest it became a popular drink
for all. Pulque is low alcohol, about the same percentage as beer, and has health, even medicinal, benefits and is used in hospitals with anemic patients to raise their red blood counts. It is my personal favorite, as well.
Production of pulque is labor and time-intensive, with the slow-growing agave plants needing twelve years to mature. The fermentation process of pulque is on-going so it must be consumed soon after it is produced, which is why it is not exported.
From my experience, there is a regional variance in pulque. Pulques in Oaxaca
tend to be clear and slightly fizzy, whereas in the state of Mexico, the pulque is cloudy,
more viscous and comes with different flavorings.
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| Pulqeria,Mexico City, MX |
pulques are offered in several flavors- oatmeal, peanut, pineapple, pine nut, guava and others. Consuming pulque is a leisurely pursuit and people come to pulquerias to sit, visit and enjoy the snacks offered.
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| Pulqueria, Mexico City MX |
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| Pulqueria, Mexico City ,,MX |
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| Typical Pulque and Tepache container, Oaxaca MX |
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| Pulque vendor, O |
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| Pulque vendor, Oaxaca MX |
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| Atole in process in market, Oaxaca, MX |