- Wilda Anderson ●
- Eduardo Archetti ●
- Ken Bilby ●
- Maurice Bloch ●
- Joseph Bosco ●
- Roy Bryce Laporte ●
- Sidney Cheung ●
- Marge Collignon ●
- Hal Conklin ●
- Kasia Cwiertka & Sea Ling Cheng ●
- William Davenport ●
- Mark Davis ●
- Sheila De Bretteville ●
- Sophie Desrosiers & Georges Guille-Escuret ●
- Robert Dewar & Alison Richard ●
- Tonio Diaz & Cruzma Nazario ●
- Milad Doueihi ●
- Christine DuBois ●
- Elizabeth Dunn ●
- Kevin Dwyer ●
- Paul Farmer ●
- Pamela Feldman ●
- Brian Ferguson ●
- Elizabeth Ferry ●
- Richard Fox ●
- Juan Giusti Cordero ●
- Darra Goldstein ●
- Jane Guyer ●
- Barbara Haber ●
- Gerhard Hagelberg ●
- Jeanne Hamilton ●
- Jerry Handler ●
- Olivia Harris ●
- Joseph Heyman ●
- Harry & Ligia Hoetink ●
- Margaret Hungerford ●
- Nancy Jenkins ●
- Richard Kagan ●
- Aisha Khan ●
- Tony Maingot ●
- Lynn Martin ●
- Douglas Midgett ●
- Eric Mintz ●
- Viranjini Munasinghe ●
- John Murra ●
- Kirin Narayan ●
- Marion Nestle ●
- Elizabeth Mintz Nickens ●
- Berndt Ostendorf ●
- Stephan Palmie ●
- Leonard Plotnicov ●
- Paul Preuss ●
- Sonia Ryang ●
- Martin Schaffner ●
- Daniela Schlettwein Gesell ●
- Anna Simpkins ●
- Suzanne Siskel ●
- Josephine Smart ●
- Chee Beng Tan ●
- Adrian Taylor ●
- Majid Tehranian ●
- Arthur & Nancy Valk ●
- Katherine Verdery ●
- James Watson ●
- Drexel Woodson ●
- Kevin Yelvington ●
- Familia Zayas ●
Eduardo Archetti
Oslo, Norway
I met Sidney in 1971 at
the Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales in Paris. He was as
Visiting professor and was giving a course on the Ethnography of the Caribbean.
I was a PhD student and had arrived in 1968. 1971 was still a 'radical year'
and myself and many of my fellow students were inspired by structuralism and
Marxism (the French structuralist version). Sid's course was like recuperating
the freedom. He inspired me. He showed that history was important and that anthropology
made sense only if we introduced time in our perspectives. His 'materialism'
was different and his emphasis on regional research strategies convincing. In
a few months I was under his intellectual influence (and he perhaps never realised
this). I decided to do field work in Cuba and with my decision I was breaking
one non-written law at the Ecole: I was supposed to do my research in Argentina
where I was coming from. Many circumstances transformed my plans into an impossible
dream. However. Sid make me dreamed in other topics and themes. Many years latter
I wrote a book on the culture of Guinea Pigs in Ecuador as food, symbol and
a package of complex knowledge. In this work the mind and ideas of Sid are traveling
since the first until the last page.
My gift in this day is my favourite recipe.
Roast Guinea-pig
In order to keep what is called the 'gleam' of this dish, it is necessary to marinate it a day ahead. There are several different dressings, But I mention only a few used in recipes for cooking two or three big guinea-pigs (around 800 gramas):
2 red onions, roughly chopped
4 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
cumin (2 tablespoons)
one teaspoonful of white pepper
salt
2 tablespoonfuls of water
2 tablespoonfuls of oil
annatto as colouring
Mix all the ingredients
well and spread them both on the inside and the outside of the animal. Instead
of oil, lard with annatto may be used.
A variant of this dressing has been given to me in the community of Guzo. In
addition to the ingredients mentioned above, water and oil are replaced with
'chicha de ajora' (germinated maize), which gives a particularly appetiizing
taste to the meat.
Before roasting the guinea-pig it is necessary to remove any excess dressing
from the previous day to avoid burning the meat. The animal is roasted on charcoal,
on a stick, preferably at its extremity, so that it can be turned without burning.
The animal is thus spitted on the stick inserted in the back part, the anal
region, and exiting from the jaw. Once spitted on the stick, the usual technique
is to tie the front feet and stretch the legs. During roasting lard is spread
over it to avoid drying out of the meat. The guinea-pig is ready when the skin
is almost ready to burst.
Despite the addition of the dressing and the lard, guinea-pig meat is very light and may then become hard and chewy. Roasted guinea-pig is therefore traditionally eaten with peanut sauce. Among many recipes, this is my favourite:
Peanut Sauce
2 tablespoons of lard
annatto colouring
2 white onions, finely chopped
2 cloves of garlic
salt
a pinch of cumin
1 large cup of roasted and ground coffee with peanuts
3 cups of milk
Obviously, roast guinea-pigs has to be served with other things. There are various possibilities, but the most common is to serve it with boiled potatoes and chillies. Coriander is normally chopped over the top of the boiled potatoes. Another popular variation is to serve the meat with 'tostados' (grilled maize), or simply to add potatoes. The guinea-pig is also served up, especially in mestizo communities, with slices of fresh cheese and a few beans.