I was particularly excited about writing this post considering all the similarities I found of the Raramuri with my culture. First, their diet is so like mine! My father is a strict vegetarian, my sister a vegan, and my mother and I eat white meat but avoid it when we can. To see that someone from another side of the world consumes beans and other vegetables as frequently as I do was shocking to me. Having lived in Peru for 6 years, I can surely say that they take a lot of pride in their cuisine (as they should!) but fail to see the benefits of trying non-meat dishes as well. Hence, to see that the Raramuri’s diet constitutes of a lot of corn and beans, it made me feel ecstatic, especially considering the fact that they are indirectly forced to be super athletic thanks to the harsh climate and conditions they live in, and that their unique diet has had no impact on their physical ability whatsoever.
Moving onto my other point of similarity, the Raramuri have once again, just like the Quechua, shown the importance and benefits of plants. This thought has risen recently, supported by thorough scientific evidence of the benefits of medicinal plants and how they are a better cure as opposed to synthetic drugs. This too, reminded me of the several home-made solutions I have to my problems; when I get sick or am not feeling well, my mother gives me a drink involving some kind of herb and it instantly makes me feel better. For example, when I would have a stomach-ache, my mother would make me ingest some turmeric, often mixed with milk and that would magically cure me! I know that is not a plant, but it shows how nature often has the solution to our problems, something I feel that today’s society sometimes tends to forget.
In general, I really enjoyed reading this lecture (thank you Andro, Avery, Miguel and Ashley!) as I resonated with a lot of the Raramuris’ traditions which could be applied to my culture as well.
Hello! Thank you for this post! I had a similar experience as you did when you were shocked to see vegetables as the staple diet in some communities. I am from Turkey, where meat is consumed a lot. However, we naturally have so many vegan and vegetarian dishes here as well. We do not really make the distinction between meats and vegetarian dishes since they are naturally traditionally the way they are. For my Canadian friends, this was shocking that we had so much staple food that is just vegan such as beans and legumes and olive oil-based dishes. In the Western world, the foodway is deeply integrated with the consumption of meat that people feel almost hard to avoid. In the Western world, meatless food sometimes seems inferior or somewhat supposed to have the least nutrients. However, people need to appreciate the plant-based alternatives since they are just as much as nutritious and much more sustainable for our planet!
Hey Khushi! I’m so happy that you enjoyed reading about the Rarámuri, they are truly a unique group. What drew me to the group at first was the running piece – I’m a runner myself and I initially found out about the group by reading “Born to Run” by Christopher MacDougall. I was essentially looking to run faster and eat better to fuel my performance. However, after studying the group I realized that they don’t run or eat nutritious foods to perform better – it’s just an integrated part of their lives and culture, and like you said, they are “forced” to be athletic and they choose whole foods because that’s what they’ve always done. Like you, I was impressed and taken aback that their consumption of plant foods is so integral to their performance because we often hear about the necessity of protein, lean meats etc etc in athleticism.
Thank you for your thoughts! 🙂