ANDATARONI

Following a stay in Huronia, the missionary Gabriel Sagard published a book in 1632 describing the Huron morals and practices. In his testimony, he makes us discover the Andataroni, a recipe that consisted of leached corn paste (nixtamalisation) to which we added berries or beans.

Care was then taken to wrap the mixture in corn husks (the leaves wrapped around the ear); the corn foil was then poached in boiling water before being eaten.

When we dwell on Sagard’s description of the Andataroni. Difficult to ignore that this recipe is, in fact, a vegetarian variant consistent with what we recognize in Quebec today as a tamal (tamales).

It is therefore fascinating to take note that this pre-Columbian practice originating in Mexico has well dispersed in a multitude of variants across Latin America (hayacas, humitas, etc), but also further north with us, in a way and in an ancient period ultimately unsuspected by most of us.