Meats

Oaxaca was never one of the great meat regions in Mexico. The Spanish brought their own livestock—cattle, pigs, sheep, goats—and proceeded to raise them on unsuitable soils that soon became eroded from misuse. Today meat is raised on a fairly small scale and is not everyday fare for most families. Many people in the poorer areas of the state cannot afford meat more than a few days a year. But even affluent families tend to consider meat more a special treat than a daily necessity. When an animal is butchered, every part of it is thriftily used—there is nothing like the U.S. fixation on just a few tender cuts.