Aztec meals and Fasting
Steve Armsey and Terry Stocker
ABSTRACT
In this paper we attempt to refine the characterization of the Aztec capital, Tenochtitlan, presented by Calnek. While accepting the idea that urban chinampas production was not sufficient to sustain postulated population of the ancient city, we cannot accept the inference that it was thus composed of an exceptionally high level of occupational specialist almost entirely dependent on external resource areas for subsistence. In conjunction with chinampa production, we evaluate the quality of pre-Hispanic urban life including such factors as (1) alternative food sources, which according to chroniclers abounded in the lake region, (2) cannibalism, which Harner argues to have provided an important supplemental protein source for the Aztec population, (3) fasting, the practice of which we suggest might have been important, in part, as a mechanism for regulating the level of nutrition intake and (4) the continuum and actualities of specialization, e.g., there was no standing Aztec army in need of constant economic support, as implied by Calnek, rather military specialization was for the most part only actualized during warfare and pageants. Based on these considerations we present an alternate model of life in Tenochtitlan which coincides more closely with other analyses of Aztec social, political and economic organization which assume a large stratum of peasant farmers in Tenochtitlan. We further suggest that a much greater segment of the population possibly existed on a very low level of nutritional intake, much like present day Calcutta. We also evaluate the possibility of urban residents engaging in subsistence pursuits outside the city boundaries as currently practiced by the Yoruba.
