The nakatamales: the delicacy of giving and receiving from the traditional cooks of Angahuan Michoacán, Mexico

Abstract

This text exposes what happens during the preparation of the nakatamales, one of the delicacies offered by women traditional p’urhépecha (p’urhé) cooks from Angahuan, Michoacán, México, on the night of November 2nd or in some other celebrations, where the preparation of food is a key element. The p’urhé consanguineous women, of the house where they celebrate and remember a dead carry a small gift: clothes for the dead, fruit or bread, chiles to make the churipo (traditional broth made of beef) that will be served that day. The woman organizing the ritual feast in correspondence to this act she invites them to prepare nakatamales, churipo and corundas; in reciprocity to this new gesture of the consanguines to help in the preparation of food, at the end of the day the woman organizing the ritual feast offers a ball of dough (nixtamal dough) for them to prepare their own nakatamales and then cook them in their “Fogones or paranguas”. This is a practice of reciprocity and exchange, which, although mainly exercised by women, allows us to notice the existence of a social organization, both domestic and in the social relations, these are renewed from the prepa ration of food. It is then that beyond the instrumental use of food, here in this document some of the meanings linked to the elaboration of a ceremonial meal are shown.