Consecutive Day 3653 — The pre-Columbian Mayan food to go — Patin

Patín is the pre-Columbian Mayan food to go. The recipe is quite simple, a cooked tomato and chile sauce smashed over a volcanic stone base and pestle, mixed with smoked and salted fish [tiny (Poeciliopsis gracilis) or small], smoked beef, shrimp, scrambled eggs, pacaya palms or herbs wrapped with “maxan” leaves (Calathea insignis).

In the picture above you can appreciate the patín de pescadito (Poeciliopsis gracilis), a very small fish, the size of your pinky finger found in Mesoamerica since pre-Columbian times. Already in the XVI century Dominican priest Fray Francisco Ximénez O.P. was already writing about it stating that in there was no large fish in Lake Atitlan, except for the small fish by the name of “tzay” that was smoked and salted and because of its size was probably used more as a flavouring spice. By the way, Fray Francisco Ximénez is known for having translated into Spanish from the K’iche’, the sacred Maya narrative known today as Popol Vuh [Poopol Wuuj ] among other historic books.

Patín de pescadito (Poeciliopsis gracilis) is believed to be Tz’utujil dish originally from Santiago Atitlán and San Pedro La Laguna, Sololá. You can also find in Panajachel and Sololá city. Well, as you can see, on the weekends you can also find patin in Antigua Guatemala. Normally you eat patin with tortillas or tamalitos. Yesterday, I posted a photograph of people eating patin at the parque central of Antigua Guatemala. Below you will find photographs of different flavours of patin.

Source: Thesis about “PATÍN DE PESCADITO” by Victoria María Mogollón Villar, Nutritionist [Spanish, USAC]

10-year Countdown Aside: With today’s entry we conclude ten years of consecutive daily updates on AntiguaDailyPhoto.com, which becomes the first website of the CityDailyPhoto community to achieve such landmark. THANK YOU ALL for your support, feedback and friendship through the years. Today close down AntiguaDailyPhoto.com website as we have known it.

You can browse and read the entire archive here. If you can, please, do share with me what have been some of your favourites posts through the ten years of publishing. Also, let me know in what year you discovered AntiguaDailyPhoto.

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