Semiotic Sampling of a Cultural “Pulique”: the Culinary Discourse in <i>Hombres de maíz</i>

Abstract

This article considers the culinary discourse in the novel Hombres de Maíz by Miguel Angel Asturias. The food system is as a semiotic space where is possible to read the history and culture. The rituals of culinary consumption are central in the text, especially in relation with the corn, the sacred plant of the foundation myth. We analyses the elements of communal dishes and the metaphors that relates people with the food. To explain these metaphors it is considered the triadic model of Lévi-Strauss, who considers the raw, the cooked and the rotten, as culinary steps associated with different stages of culture. In this case, we conclude that there is no dichotomy between civilization and barbarism, but a process of cultural hybridization, very evident in the mix of ingredients and dishes served in this literary semiotic process.