Caldo de Piedra History

Pre-Hispanic Origins
Stone soup is a traditional Chinantec delicacy, a product of the fertile Usila River valley. There, this culinary art form is prepared exclusively by men who offer it in gratitude to women, children, elders and respected individuals congregating along the river's edge.  Indigenous Chinantec people proudly continue to serve the delicious meal to express their regard for their most beloved kin.  This special occasion is not a party nor is it a public event.  It is a private and intimate gathering to share a heart-felt creation, one that is customarily prepared and offered during the springtime.

San Felipe Usila is an agriculturally based communal land reserve composed of 17,000 hectares of high- and lowlands.  The majority of the territory is characterized by steep mountains covered in pristine jungle and cloud forest.  It borders the municipalities of San Lucas Ojitlan, Valle Nacional, San Andres Teotilalpan, Tlacoazintepec and Santiago Tlatepusco.  About 4,000 people live within the territory of San Felipe Usila and they are spread amongst 23 small towns.  The native language still widely spoken there is Chinantec. 

A strong tradition
In an organized fashion, families come together a day before the event to plan the details about which riverbank setting will be chosen for enjoying stone soup.  The next day, the men divide the tasks of fishing, selecting stones, gathering wood and making the fire.  The stones are heated until glowing red.  In individual jícaras, (bowls made from the dried fruit of the native Oaxacan calabash tree), fresh tomato, onion, chili pepper, garlic, cilantro, epazote, salt, red snapper, shrimp and water are combined to make the soup. The ingredients are boiled and cooked when the red hot stones are dropped into the jícara as the finishing touch. 


While the men prepare the meal, the women, children and other guests enjoy themselves by playing, swimming and relaxing at the river's edge.  When it is time, the men invite them to sit around the fire and, with love and affection, they serve their honored guests fresh stone soup.


Stone soup is significant in an evolutionary sense because it originated during the time when humans first began to cook their food.  Nomadic lifestyles in the region changed when ancestral Chinantecs innovated new ways to enjoy eating.

It is believed that stone soup was invented after primitive Chinantecs discovered fire by striking together two white rocks, or fire stones.  Over time, the intellectual resourcefulness of the Chinantecs led to the idea of cooking their food with fire. Evidence found on the shores of the Usila River - concave bowl shapes carved into the boulders that edge the riverbed - suggests that ancestral Chinantecs first began cooking stone soup in these rocky impressions.  To one side of the fixed cooking vessel a fire was stoked to heat fist-sized stones until hot enough to be dropped into the hollows containing the fresh fish soup ingredients. In those days, stone soup was cooked stone on stone.  Today stone soup is prepared as individual helpings in jícaras.
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Come with your family and enjoy this pre-Hispanic culinary artform! We also offer classic Oaxacan snacks such as memelitas, tlayudas, mushroom quesadillas and more.

About Restaurant Caldo de Piedra

In 1996, the Gachupín Velasco family opened an eatery called Caldo de Piedra, or Stone Soup, on the main street of their village, Usila.  Located in the northern reaches of Oaxaca State along the Usila River, this traditional indigenous community is surrounded by dramatic rocky mountains covered in dense tropical forest.  Read more »