Nomadic and colonial wandering: Food culture in northeastern Mexico

Abstract

In this text we integrate material, biological, and historical data that shows the existence of some foods, technologies, and customs developed in the cultural area of northeastern Mexico, during the pre-Hispanic and Colonial periods. This cultural area had considerable population mobility of nomads and settlers groups near the border with Mesoamerica and New Spain, based on the rejection of the other and the integration of excluded migrant groups. In this region, geographic distances, the plurality of customs and prohibitions were not enough to avert miscegenation, new ways of social re-organization, and the generation of diverse culinary inputs that formed part of their food culture.