Tlacoyo, a pre-Hispanic dish that is making a comeback in contemporary Mexican cuisine. Photo: Padaguan/Wikimedia, CC BY-SA 4.0
A new online challenge in Mexico is encouraging people to eat healthy by returning to the nation’s indigenous roots.
Under the hashtag #RetoTlacoyo, people share photos of tlacoyo, a nutritious pre-Hispanic snack consisting of corn tortilla filled with beans, lima beans and curd cheese (but ingredients tend to vary a lot).
The challenge was launched by Alianza por la Salud Alimentaria (Alliance for Health Nutrition), a civil society organization, as a way to encourage people to choose nutritious Mexican cuisine over junk food.
Reporte Indigo describes tlacoyo this way:
Obesity is a serious public health concern in Mexico, which consumes more ultra-processed foods than most Latin American countries.
Alianza por la Salud Alimentaria argues that the transition from the traditional Mexican diet to an industrialized one has contributed to the population’s weight gain.
The promoters of #RetoTacloyo are sharing contributions on their official Twitter account:
Photo: Join the Tlacoyo Challenge. Value our cooking. WORLD HERITAGE. A highly-nutritious, non-expensive popular dish that contains some of the most important ingredients found in our diet. Embedded tweet: Tlacoyos from abroad…why should a Mexican lose the tradition of a good and healthy diet. Tlacoyos filled with lima beans and Mexican-style cactus salad.
The #RetoTlacoyo has spread beyond our national borders! 👏
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Photo from @jlo517 Thanks! pic.twitter.com/usSrIa6uhT
#retotlacoyo were delicious pic.twitter.com/B4WujHLRNH
#RetoTlacoyo with beans, cactus and peanut sauce pic.twitter.com/qfpHi0ejGO
On Instagram, users nutricionycocinamx and djchrisolive also joined the challenge and shared their photos: