Nutritional Habits of Mexico's People

In evaluating Mexico's nutritional status, one must first recognize that Mexico is a rich and geographically-varied country with good soil and vast mineral resources, necessary ingredients in agriculture and providing enough food for the population. However, water has always been a problem and today only fifteen percent of the land is arable. This means that twenty percent of the land under cultivation is irrigated, mostly through large government projects.

Today, Mexico's diet staples are corn, beans and rice. The country's colorful history has played a big part in influencing this nutritional backbone of Mexican cuisine. When the country was conquered by the Spanish, the local population

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does not comprise as big a part of the average Mexican's diet as it did between World War II and when the peso was devalued in 1982. Cattle are seldom grain-fed which means it takes longer to raise them for market, six months to a year longer, and gives them an extra toughness which can be compensated for in cooking (Howells and Mervin, 1988, p. 89). Pigs are raised in an environment where they wander around loose on farms and in small villages making their meat more like steak. And sheep are grown and slaughtered on a much smaller scale and are found in the states of Hidalgo, Mexico, Puebla and Oaxaca. Further, goats and their milk have been a mainstay of the rural economy. Poultry, considered a staple in most parts of the world, has been the strongest of all meat and livestock production and consumption in the country, but even chicken has become a treasured commodity among the country's poor today. And, lastly, fish is an important part of the Mexican's diet although the most prized catch, shrimp, is mainly exported to the United States. Fishing in the Pacific Ocean, the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean waters allows the country access to a variety of products. There is no single Mexican cuisine but rather a variety
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Approximate Word count = 1794
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page)

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