Indio Viejo, the maximum gastronomic representation of indigenous resistance and pride in Nicaragua.

Abstract

Since pre-columbian times, the peoples from Nicaragua developed their food, agriculture, trade, religion, and social dynamics based on corn, consuming it mainly as tortillas and tamale, and in the form of stew of Hombre Viejo, or Indio Viejo. The name of this dish comes from the lie of an indigenous man to two Spanish men who passed through a tribe in Ometepe. The Europeans saw the indigenous eating and when asked what they had, one replied that he was enjoying an “Indio Viejo”. They named it because it was made from one of the oldest members of the tribe who had just died. It should be considered that the natives of Nicaragua practiced ritual anthropophagy as a military ceremony, in a similar way to other peoples of Mesoamerica.It is interesting to try to understand the origin of the name of such an exquisite and representative traditional dish, which still retains the indigenous resistance by not submitting to globalization, maintaining in its recipe most of the ingredients of the region.The Indio Viejo went from being a ritual dish of war ceremony to a family delight on the table of Nicaraguans by replacing the meat of warriors captured in battle, with the agile and strong animals of our fauna. Thus maintaining the mystical sense of this dish, which has also been a victim of gastronomic syncretism, as result today the recipe is mainly made with beef or pork, which was introduced by Europeans to the lands of the New World.