Mario Macías

Question: How can we compare the centralized industry by the government and the
implementation of rastros and TIF system in the current distribution and consumption of meat in
Mexico?

Jeffry Pilcher, (1998) “The Tortilla Discourse,” in: !Que Vivan los Tamales!: Food and the
Making of Mexican identities. University of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque.

In this chapter, the author focuses on explaining the discourses around the tortilla and how it was
associated with indigenous populations as a sign of inferiority. During the period of the
Porfiriato from 1880 to 1910, the intellectuals of the time focused on verifying the superiority of
wheat over corn. One of the main conclusions was that one of the greatest impediments to the
development of the nation was the indigenous people since they were clinging to their past and
refused to participate in the country's economy and be part of the nation-state project. In these
times, the mestizos were perceived as the transition of the peasantry and the solution to
incorporate the peasantry into the emerging industrial system as workers. The author mentions
that the peasants were perceived as lazy and beings without ambition since they could not adapt
to the working days of the factories and were rooted in the cycles of cultivation of the field, as
well as their festivities. At the same time there were prevalent discourses on the impact of the
environment that, according to the intellectuals of the time, affected the inferiority of indigenous
populations. These speeches mentioned that heat was an important factor affecting the desire for
civilization and progress. The speeches taken throughout the Porfiriato and the Revolution
focused on ideas of progress and development with different forms of land tenure. Likewise,
there was a strong contradiction between corn as the basic grain of the populations in Mexico
and, in turn, as the grain that impeded the progress of indigenous populations.

Jeffry Pilcher, (2006) “The Butchers Trades,” in: The Sausage Rebellion. Public Health, Private
Enterprise, and Meat in Mexico City, 1890-1917. University of New Mexico Press,
Albuquerque.
Mario Macías

This chapter focuses on the dynamics of the meat market in central Mexico during the time of
the Porfiriato and the beginning of the nineteenth century. The author mentions that, during this
time, the meat market was dominated by colonial institutions and emerging institutions that were
not very stable during this period. The control of the distribution of meat was centralized by the
government and the authorities who oversaw the process of cutting and sanitizing the meat, as
well as sale and distribution. Also, the author mentions that in these times there was a growing
clandestine market due to centralization. This chapter focuses on the dynamics that took place
between the participants in this industry, consumers, merchant butchers and government
officials. The author mentions that access to meat was restricted due to issues of class, gender
and ethnicity. Although in times before the colony it is thought that the Aztec elites consumed a
large amount of meat, it is thought that the average population had a vegetarian diet. The author
focuses on the dynamics around the city of Mexico for the supply of meat and as a market
controlled by the state, which generated new mercantile niches where some merchants took
advantage of this. The relationship between butcher and buyer occurred in such a way that in
most cases credit was granted to frequent customers. The butchers on the other hand were in
constant struggle for the meat supply since sometimes the authorities did not manage the supply
of meat on a regular basis. Consumption was limited. The best cuts could only be purchased by
the elites, while the lower classes had to settle with parts such as feet, guts and so on, the
leftovers.