«Galguerías» de los nuevos tiempos. Ideologías indígenas de la transición alimentaria y nutricional en el oriente de Guatemala

Theoretical discussion about change in food cultures is a common place within studies of anthropology of food. This text deals with the analysis of the Nutritional Transition and the processes of change in the Ch’orti’ Mayan culture of eastern Guatemala. Based on participant observation and the production of empirical materials from various survey relationships, the vectors of change in indigenous ideologies about processed food and sugar-sweetened beverages are analyzed. The context of the research is clarifying for the analysis of symbolic food dynamics: it is a region where a little more than a decade ago scarcity and hunger were dealt with and where “food innovation” driven by the development industry was rejected as not being “real food”. At present, the incorporation of these new foods seems inevitable, finding accommodation in the new grammar of alimentary symbols and even as contemporary tools for social processes of distinction. Neither the medical discourse alerting to the health dangers of this consumption nor the once ferreous walls of tradition seem to be a sufficient brake to contain the incorporation of this type of modernity exemplified in a “malnourished” environment that is especially sensitive among younger generations. © 2020, Asociacion de Antropologos Iberoamericanos en Red. All rights reserved.