Tag Archives: stomach

Empacho

Nationality: Mexican
Age: 38
Occupation: Mechanic
Residence: Los Angeles
Language: Spanish and English

Text: “When I was little, if I had a stomachache or was constipated, my grandma would say I had empacho. She would rub my stomach with oil while massaging my stomach and back. Then she would give me a té de manzanilla boiled with the pit of an avocado. I wasn’t allowed to eat cold food after that, only warm soups. No doctors were involved, just her hands and prayers.”

Context: The informant explained that he and his cousins were often diagnosed with empacho by their grandmother when they had constipation, bloating, or stomach cramps. He explained that empacho is believed to be caused by eating too much, eating improperly, or food “sticking” in the stomach. His grandmother learned the treatment from a neighborhood curandera (a folk healer) in Michoacán. He doesn’t fully believe in the diagnosis now, but he did say the treatment did make him feel better. It was comforting. 

Interpretation: Empacho is considered to be a folk illness in Mexican medicine. The idea that food can cause an internal imbalance that requires hands-on shows how healing illustrates how illness is perceived not just as biological but also energetic. The act of rubbing or even pulling the stomach is a way of drawing out the illness. Using warmth (like tea or massage) is a way to counteract the “coldness” in the body. This ritual becomes not only a form of medical intervention but a cultural one, preserving heritage and asserting identity. 

Lemon Water – The Cure for a Stomach Ache?

Text: “Ever since I was little my mom has always prescribed me a glass of water with lemon squeezed into it whenever my stomach hurt or I felt nauseous. She did this because it helped her whenever her stomach hurt during her chemotherapy treatments. It never really worked for me but I kept doing it because I did not want to hurt her feelings and it always seemed to make her happy that she had this “cure” for stomach discomfort.

Context: AG is a friend of mine from Sydney Australia and it was at first pretty tough for him to come up with examples of folk medicine or food ideas. Once I broadened the scope of my interview though he recalled this story about how his mother would always make him lemon water whenever he had any symptoms pertaining to his stomach. This was my first time hearing about it, but he seemed confident one of his mom’s friends told her to do that to help with the nausea associated with her chemo treatments when she was battling ovarian cancer. The advice worked for her but not AG, but out of consideration for his mom he just went along with it.

Analysis: While there is evidence for the citric acid in lemons to aid with indigestion, there is not evidence to say it will aid or cure a stomach ache or nausea associated with other ailments. It is in no way a cure all for stomach discomfort as it believed by AG’s mother. I think the explanation likely lies in the fact that AG’s mother was likely desperate for relief and when she was offered it by her friend there was a sort of placebo effect that allowed her to feel better from her upset stomach. From my interview it was clear that the lemon water trick never worked for AG when his stomach hurt which aligns more with what science would suggest. I think it is very interesting how AG still went along with his mothers advice and attempt to cure him with the lemon water, there is also little risk to doing this so he did it just to be considerate of his moms feelings and also likely allowed her to continue using the placebo to treat stomach issues of her own.

“Worms in Your Stomach”

Nationality: American/Indian
Age: 18
Occupation: Student
Residence: San Jose, CA
Performance Date: 4/23/18
Primary Language: English
Language: Hindi

Context & Analysis

The subject used to swim competitively in high school and often had to deal with having wet hair. Her mother used to tell her the belief below to frighten her into keeping her hair down. Even though she recognizes that it is a folk belief, the thought of getting worms in her stomach was a deterrent to tying up her hair (and potentially damaging it). The subject stated that her mother most likely learned the saying from her grandmother, and she is uncertain if it is a belief that is shared by anyone outside of her family. I find it interesting that she continues to heed her mother’s warning despite not believing it herself.

Main Piece

“So my mom tells us that we’re going to get worms in our stomach if we tie our wet hair—not joking. Not joking. Yea. So when I was younger and started swimming I used to see all of the older girls in the locker room tie up their hair in really tight buns after swimming because obviously you don’t like the feeling of wet dripping hair on your back cuz it’s really gross. So I started doing it and my mom was like ‘[Subject’s Name] not only is this going to damage your hair, ‘cuz you’re going to rip it out—’cuz wet hair is weak hair or whatever— but you’re also going to get worms in your stomach’ and I didn’t believe her. But when my grandma was in town she started saying the same thing, and I thought ‘If this old lady is saying something, chances are she knows even more than my mom, so I probably shouldn’t tie it up anymore’ and I’ve never tied it up when it was wet since.

“You only take with you what you have in your stomach.”

Nationality: Declined to State
Age: 21
Occupation: Student (Fine Arts Major)
Residence: Winnetka, CA
Performance Date: April 23, 2013
Primary Language: English
Language: Spanish

“You only take with you what you have in your stomach.”

 

This proverb was shared with the informant by her mother, who told her that you have to enjoy what you eat because when you die, the only thing you take with you to the next life (or death) is the food in your stomach. She says that she lives by the saying because the most important thing to her is what she’s eating next. She says food is important to her because it’s a sense of nourishment and it comforts a primal need while still remaining very personal. The informant said it was one of the few things she doesn’t mind splurging on. She feels food is different from material objects because it makes you happy in a different way because it represents comfort, family, and home (“it’s like being loved”). She feels especially happy when eating Mexican food (her mother, the family’s primary cook, is Mexican).

The informant finds this useful and important because it has maintained her good relationship with food. The proverb serves a dual purpose of championing eating healthily as well as well (food that “nourishes the soul;” things that taste good), because the body is important, but also transient, and the pleasures that come with it are impermanent.

Care taken with food is a commonality in all cultures, and this saying is representative of a positive outlook on food that is often absent in certain circles of developed worlds (because food is sometimes at odds with body image). The positivity of this proverb is important and emphasizes the relationship between the feelings shared between people (as here between a mother and daughter) and links that with a healthy relationship toward food (i.e. food is love itself).