A Seaside Feast (Patreon)

Despite being a wealthy merchant with a large number of household staff, Iyaláb occasionally cooks food herself, especially when her closest friends visit. Today, she is hosting Xochimazatl, a longtime friend who has traveled all the way from Tenochtitlan. However, he appears to be drooling over something other than the dish!

============

Iyaláb (‘seed’ in Huastec) is a Huasteca merchant who lives in Tochpan, an important Huastec city-state near the Gulf of Mexico. Tochpan was geographically a convenient place. According to the Lienzos de Tuxpan, three major roads and the Tuxpan River all converged on the city of Tochpan. They served on major connecting routes to the west and south. Furthermore, the region was noted for its natural products such as woods, chicle, cotton, fruit, and seafood. Naturally, Tochpan had become a major mercantile hub in the Huasteca region. According to Alvarado Tezozomoc, a large market was held there every twenty days. Pochteca merchants from many Valley of Mexico cities, including Tenochtitlan and Tlatelolco, regularly traded there.

Therefore, it is not surprising that the Mexica Empire laid their eyes on this bountiful city. In the mid-fifteenth century, Motecuhzoma Ilhuicamina led the massive military campaign to the Huasteca region. Along with Tochpan, many Huastec cities such as Tamapachco and Tzicoac were conquered. However, Tochpan had to be reconquered in the reign of Axayacatl and Tizocic due to rebellions. By the reign of Ahuitzotl, which is the present time for Xochimazatl and Iyaláb, Tochpan seems to be finally pacified.

Many Nahua sources highlight the Huasteca region’s tropical climate and abundant foodstuffs. In fact, Codex Florentine says that the Mexica referred to the entire region as Tonacatlalpan (Land of Food) and Xochitlalpan (Land of Flowers).

Diego Duran and Alvarado Tezozomoc’s accounts of the Tochpan campaign give us further insight about the Tochpaneca cuisine. Following the surrender, Huastec nobles invited the Mexica officers to their palace, where they were greeted and given a feast. As one might expect from a tropical coastal town, the dishes were primarily seafood. Tezozomoc lists “various dishes of fowl and every kind of seafood —fish, shrimp, catfish, mullet, mojarras, snook, and turtle—as well as every variety of fruit, which was abundant there more than anywhere in New Spain today.” Duran says that they were served “barbecued fish, quantities of shrimp, white honey, turkey, pineapples, and other fruits.”

Even today, major ingredients of coastal Huasteca dishes are crab, shrimp, lobster, crayfish, clams, octopus, squid, oysters, as well as river and sea fish such as bobo, red snapper, trout, pámpano, shark, grouper, rays, catán and mojarra.

Considering this seafood-forward diet, I picked a dish called huatape verde de camarón for the drawing. Huatape is a traditional soup dish from the Huasteca region, from Tamaulipas to northern Veracruz. The particular version I chose uses shrimp as the main ingredient, which matches the description of local pre-Hispanic dishes. The color is green because of the tomatillos and epazote leaves. The broth itself is thickened with masa (maize dough). The major ingredients and cooking technique are all native to the region, and match with archaeological and ethnographical evidence.

The ceramic plate is based on the one found in the Postclassic Huastec site called Tanquián. It is beautifully decorated with polychromic designs, especially the solar disc in the center.

The appearance of Iyaláb is mostly based on Postclassic period Huastec figurines, which are known for their numerous tattoos. Her striped, multicolored skirt was popular in the Gulf region. Codex Mendoza and Matrícula de Tributos depict a brilliantly colored striped cloak as a tribute from the Tochpan province. Alva Ixtlilxochitl also states that Tochpan paid 1580 loads of cloaks to Nezahualcoyotl that are ‘fancy and striped with many colors.’ Even in the 20th century, some Téenek (Huastec) women wore striped skirt as part of their traditional attire. The poncho-like clothing, called quechquemitl, was also a common female garment of the coast. It is still worn by the modern Téenek people as well.

The jade and turquoise ornaments are also based on Codex Mendoza’s Tochpan tribute list. Codex Florentine describes that the Huastecs wore “bracelets of greenstones (...) many jewels of green stones, turquoise, fine turquoise; their ear ornaments were of green stones.” Duran also insists that the Huasteca had an abundance of precious stones. However, it seems that these stones weren’t native to the area and were instead imported through the extensive trade network available to the Huastecs.

The only part where I took a lot of artistic liberty is her brimmed hat. For over a millennium, the sombrero-like hat was popular in Mesoamerica’s tropical regions. It is the Maya that has the most depictions, but several arts from Veracruz (Olmec and Remojadas culture) also feature the hat. So, although there isn’t enough evidence that proves the Postclassic Huastecs wore this type of hat, it is plausible considering the geographical location. After all, a brimmed hat is one of the most logical ways to provide shade from the searing tropical sun of the coastal Veracruz.

==========

Sources

Huastec plate of solar design, Tanquian, San Luis Potosi. Postclassic period (900-1520). Museo Nacional de Antropología (México)

Matricula de Tributos, 1510s

Codex Mendoza, 1542

Bernardino de Sahagun, La Historia General de las Cosas de Nueva España (Codex Florentine), 1575~77

Diego Duran, Historia de las Indias de Nueva España e Islas de Tierra Firme, 1581

Fernando Alvarado Tezozomoc, Cronica mexicana, 1598

Alva Ixtlilxóchitl, Historia de la nación chichimeca, 1610-1640

Carlos Mérida. Trajes Regionales Mexicanos, Editorial Atlante, 1945

Frances F. Berdan and Patricia Rieff Anawalt. The Essential Codex Mendoza, University of Carlifornia Press, 1997

Arqueología Mexicana, edición especial, núm. 12 “Cocina prehispanica recetario”, Raíces, 2002

Arqueología Mexicana, núm. 79 “Los huastecos”, Raíces, 2006

Daniel Parada, Postclassic Huastec Tattoo and Body Paint Studies (c. 1000-1500), 2023