Traditional pulque in danger

Wednesday, 15 January 2014 00:10
thenews.com
 
Many Mexico State municipalities have traditionally been important producers of pulque, both for local consumption as well as for sale in Mexico City, but researchers at the Autonomous University of Mexico State (UAEM) are worried that this important culinary tradition is in danger of disappearing.

According to UAEM researchers Felipe Carlos Viesca González, Baciliza Quintero Salazar and Edgar Rojas Rivas, consumption of pulque — a fermented drink made from the maguey cactus that dates back to pre-Hispanic times — began to decline at the end of the 19th Century, concurrent with the growth of the domestic beer industry, and the beverage’s popularity fell further in the decades following World War II.

While pulque was reserved for ritual use by the nobility in the pre-Hispanic era, it became popular among all segments of the population following the conquest, though in recent decades it has come to be seen as a lower-class drink. Viesca González, Quintero Salazar and Rojas Rivas said that the cultural and economic importance of pulque make it important to promote a revival of the beverage — as is already underway among young people in Mexico City — among traditional pulque-producing towns in Mexico State.

The UAEM researchers said that these towns can use pulque as a tourist attraction, as the Jiquipilco municipality has been doing since 2010, when it launched the Pulque Fair.

They said that it’s necessary to carry out further research on the beverage’s historical evolution, identifying participating producers and venders, as well as analyzing the perceptions and opinions of Pulque Fair attendees.

THE NEWS