Changing food and medical beliefs and practices in a Guatemalan community† ‡

Abstract

This study examines the relationship between food and illness as part of the interaction between indigenous and Western medicine in a highland Quiché‐speaking community in Guatemala. It is suggested that certain concepts such as alimento (nutritious food) and fresco (fresh or cool) are being used to incorporate modern nutritional and medicinal information into specific health contexts. These concepts involve different ideas of causation and treatment that are neither wholly traditional nor modern, yet have elements of both. The mechanism of syncretism is used to understand the dynamics involved in such changes that occur as a result of this interaction.