Mesa de Moctezuma

edit

Se le llama la Mesa de Moctezuma a la forma y lugar en la que el mismo tlatoani consumía sus alimentos. Cronistas importantes fueron testigo de esta magnífico ritual que se llevaba cada día. Entre ellos, Bernal Díaz del Castillo, en su libro Historia verdadera de la conquista de la Nueva España, muestra como los mexicas protocolos y normas de etiqueta muy específicas que se transmitían de generación en generación. La abundancia de platillos que se encontraba en este banquete cotidiano reflejan gran parte de lo que hoy en día es la cocina mexicana. La Mesa de Moctezuma representa más que solo la cocina azteca y la perfección por el buen comer, muestra el dominio de estos mismos pues para poder tener los ingredientes más frescos y exquisitos se necesitaban de vías y acuerdos de comercio con las otras civilizaciones a la periferia del territorio azteca.

Platillos en la Mesa de Moctezuma[editar código · editar]

edit

Francisco de Aguilar menciona alguno de los platillos que se servían en este ritual tan espectacular. Sin embargo, existe la leyenda que a Moctezuma le gustaba muchos tipos de carne; entre ellos la humana. Se dice que comía carne de esclavos, jóvenes, mujeres, niños, etc.; dependía de a que dios iba dirigido el sacrificio. Se podía identificar la presencia de alimentos, que a la fecha siguen siendo típicos en la cultura mexicana: como lo eran el cacao, maíz, tomate, gran variedad de pimientos, especies como la vainilla, etc. Entre otros platillos se encontraban:

  • Tostaditas de maíz con ensalada de nopalitos
  • Sopes con escamoles en salsa de chile pasilla
  • Quesadillas de huitlacoche
  • Brochetas de fruta
  • Pescado fresco de Veracruz
  • Codorniz
  • Venado
  • Tlacoyos
  • Sopa de Hongos
  • Tepezcuintles
  • Torta de algas
  • Caracoles guisados en horno de tierra
  • Chapulines en salsa verde
  • Tamales de maíz
  • Pan de elote

Moctezuma's Table

edit

Moctezuma's table refers to both the place and the manner in which the Aztec emperor (Tlatoani) ate his food. Important chronologists were witnesses to this daily ritual. One of these, Bernal Diaz del Castillo, who in his book, The True History of the Conquest of New Spain (Historia verdadera de la conquista de la Nueva España), extrapolated how the Mexicas specific protocols and etiquette were passed down from one generation to the next. The abundance of typical meals that were found in this daily banquet are largely reflected today's Mexican cuisine[1]. Moctezuma's table represents more than just Aztec cuisine and the perfection of great eating (buen comer) because it also demonstrates the prerogative that was required to create them. Trade routes and agreements with civilizations bordering Aztec territory were essential in order to have the freshest and most delicious ingredients.

Typical Dishes on Moctezuma's Table

edit

Another chronologist, Fray Francisco de Aguilar, mentions some of the typical meals that were served in this spectacular ritual. A legend exists that Moctezuma II also enjoyed various types of meat, human flesh among them[2]. It is said that he ate the flesh of slaves, youth, women, and children etc. depending on which god the sacrifice was directed towards. Typical food that continues to be part of Mexican culture could be identified from his meals as well, such as: cacao (cocoa), maize, tomato and a large variety of spices (such as vanilla) etc. Among other typical meals were found[3]:

  • Corn chips (tostaditas) with Nopal cactus salad
  • Sopes with ant larvae (escamoles) in Pasilla chile sauce
  • Huitlacoche (corn smut) Quesadillas
  • Fruit shish kabobs
  • Fresh fish from Veracruz
  • Quail
  • Deer
  • Tlacoyos
  • Mushroom soup
  • Lowland Paca (Tepezcuintles)
  • Algae flatbread
  • Snails stewed in an earthen oven
  • Grass hoppers in green sauce (salsa verde)
  • Corn Tamales
  • Sweet Corn bread

== Biography ==

Childhood and youth

edit

In the 19th century Alejandro Arrué Jimenez, the educator from Basque Country who had worked in various Latin American countries married Lucía Gomez, native of Sensuntepeque, El Salvador, in Guatemala. The marriage engendered many children, Luz and María Teresa among them. They each had literary vocations, but it was Luz, after Miranda, when the family resided in El Salvador, who attained inclusion by the journalist Román Mayorga Rivas[4] in the anthology of poetry "Guirnalda Salvadoreña."

Meanwhile, María Teresa got married to Joaquín Salazar Angulo, a budding musician from an honorable family. However, the relationship did not prosper for various reasons which obligated the young mother to provide for her children, Joaquín and Luis Salvador Efraín, alone. The latter was born on a family estate situated in the El Mojón district that would become, in part, the urban zone for the municipality of Sonzacate, in Sonsonate. In the following years, the Salazar family lived in financial hardship even though they received help from close family members since their respected ancestry favored them.

The childhood of Luis Salvador transpired surrounded by the natural tropical splendor of Sonsonate. Although timid and distant with regards to rough and tumble games, he was set apart for his ability to invent stories. When he was eight his mothers financial difficulty forced her to move; for this reason young Luis alternated between his home in San Salvador and Santa Tecla where he lived in the same residence as his cousins Núñez Arrué, of whom one was Toño Salazar, later a renowned cartoonist. For their sustenance Luis's mother worked as a seamstress and acquired her own dress-making academy. Toño[5] gave a description of his cousin in those years:

"Luis Salvador attended elementary in the pedigreed institute Liceo Salvadoreña. He attended high school in the Instituto Nacional de Varones and later in the Academia de Comercio, where he did not finish his studies, yet he always had good grades."

His artistic vocation was already manifest at the age of 11 when one of his compositions was published in the Diario del Salvador (Newspaper of El Salvador) oby Román Mayorga Rivas. The achievement was not luck given that he must have associated with local intellectuals that frequented the house of the family Núñez Arrué .

References

edit
  1. ^ Castillo, Bernal Díaz del (1956). The Discovery and Conquest of Mexico. United States: Farrar, Straus and Cudahy. pp. 208–211.
  2. ^ ""The True History of the Conquest of New Spain"". chnm.gmu.edu. Retrieved 2017-02-22.
  3. ^ "Así Sabe México: Los Banquetes de Moctezuma". www.lienzoculinario.com. Retrieved 2017-02-21.
  4. ^ "Román Mayorga Rivas". Wikipedia. 2016-07-20.
  5. ^ "Salvador Salazar Arrué". Wikipedia, la enciclopedia libre (in Spanish). 2016-11-27.