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Lenca Foodways

Indigenous

⚠ THE LARGEST INDIGENOUS POPULATION IN HONDURAS, and a people whose language is no longer spoken — LENCA is recorded as dormant, with documentation for both the Honduran and Salvadoran varieties, and ⚠ THIS FILE THEREFORE NAMES NO LENCA FOOD VOCABULARY IT CANNOT SOURCE. The Lenca live in Intibucá, Lempira, La Paz and into El Salvador, in the highlands around Gracias, La Esperanza and Yamaranguila. The foodway is the highland milpa: maize, beans, squash, chile, potato, ayote; TICUCOS; tamalitos; CHILATE and ATOL CHUCO, the fermented maize drink; pozol; wild greens and forest fruit; and a documented POTTERY tradition — the black-and-white Lenca ware — that is a foodware tradition. ⚠ THE GUANCASCO, the ceremonial visit and shared meal between paired communities, is recorded as existing; its ritual interior is not published here. ⚠ AND THE LAND: Lenca communities have led documented opposition to dams and mining on their territory, at lethal cost — Berta Cáceres was murdered in 2016 — and land is a food question.

Atlas — where and when

Where in the world

Communities and languages

  • Lenca community documented

Languages: Lenca-Honduras, Lenca-Salvador, Spanish

What is recorded

  • The Lenca are the largest Indigenous population in Honduras, in Intibucá, Lempira and La Paz, with communities also in El Salvador. Lenca is recorded as no longer having fluent speakers, with documentation for both the Honduran and Salvadoran varieties; consequently no Lenca food vocabulary is asserted here. The guancasco, a ceremonial visit and shared meal between paired communities, is recorded as existing without publication of its ritual content. Lenca opposition to dam and mining projects on community territory is documented, including the murder of Berta Cáceres in 2016. documented

Related foodways

This foodway relates to

  • related to Honduran Cuisine documented

    The largest Indigenous population in Honduras, in Intibucá, Lempira and La Paz.

  • related to Salvadoran Cuisine documented

    ⚠ Lenca communities and a second documented Lenca variety exist in El Salvador; the people cross the border.

Recorded as relating to this foodway

  • related to Honduran Coffee documented

    Lenca producers are prominent in the Montecillos and Opalaca regions, and Marcala holds the national denomination of origin.

Recipes

No recipes are filed under this cuisine yet.