Meals Among the Taino

Did You Know - During first contact with Europeans, many Taino communities generally observed four meals a day including breakfast, an afternoon meal, an evening meal, and a night meal. Spanish chronicler, Bartolome De Las Casas noted that between the evening and night meal, some Taino took an emetic, and went to a nearby river to purge themselves. Following this they would devote their attention to the nightly meal as well as to dancing and refreshments. Christopher Columbus remarked on how Kasike (Chief) Guakanagari and his people washed their hands with certain herbs after they shared a meal together. - UCTP Taino News © 2012   

*Illustration by Modesto Garcia.