1 Andean Foodways: Interdisciplinary Approaches to Pre-Columbian … 3
native foodstuffs which were subsequently transformed with introduced non-native
plants, animals, and associated foodways (Lau, Toohey, Covey, Martinez, McDonell,
Sayre and Rosenfeld, this volume). Anthropological and historical research on how
the conquest of the New World changed culinary traditions and methods of prepa-
ration among contemporary cultures is also presented that are linked to long-term
themes in anthropological query (e.g., Coe 1994; Schiebinger 2004; Schiebinger
and Swan 2005; Villavicencio 2007; Staller 2010a, b; Earle and Costin 1989; Dietler
and Hayden 2001; J ennings and Bowser 2009). In many cases, the preparation and
ingredients of different cuisines were preserved archaeologically or combined in
interesting and innovative ways with introduced species among contemporary indige-
nous cultures (Staller, Covey, Martinez Borrero, Bonzani, Dozier and Jennings, Sayre
and Rosenfeld, this volume).
Andean Culture and the Natural World
In the Andes, cultural behaviors and associations that accompany the cultivation,
production, and consumption of food are interrelated to religious rituals and prac-
tices commonly related to calculating the annual solar and lunar cycles ((Veintimilla
and Garcia Caputi, Scher, Jackson, this volume). Pre-Columbian Andean religious
ideologies were inherently telluric, that is, naturalistic and spatial, essentially repre-
senting a veneration of the natural world and celestial cycles (Sullivan 1984, 1988;
Sharon 2001; Staller 2006, 2008a, b). Western epistemological distinctions between
the natural world and culture, of humanity as distinct and separate from nature, or
acting in a certain way upon the social and natural environment contrasts with tradi-
tional indigenous Andean concepts, where this dichotomy is essentially reciprocal
rather than oppositional (Sullivan 1988; Sharon 2001; Staller 2008a, b). Anthro-
pologists, archaeologists, and ethnobotanists have in recent decades applied their
knowledge of Andean culture and ritual practices to investigate the significance of
food and cuisines to culture, ethnic identity, political economies, and ancient reli-
gious ideologies (Prieto, Tantaleán and Rodriquez, Bonzani, Staller, Toohey, this
volume). The natural landscape, its cycles and rhythms, continues to be perceived
as interrelated and dynamic expressions of mythology, history, and economics and
intrinsically related to their ethnic identities (Sullivan 1987, 1988; Staller 2008b).
In the Andes, certain plants and food fulfill spiritual needs and have sacred mean-
ings that go beyond purely economic subsistence or requirements for sustenance
(Scher, Jackson, Staller, Lambaré et al., this volume). Cultural, religious, and culi-
nary traditions among Andean cultures reflect the integration of native biota and
introduced maritime resources, domesticated plants, animals, and their associated
cuisines. Foods and beverages among ancient and contemporary Andean cultures
have historically played major roles in defining cultural and ethnic identities to their
surrounding landscapes (Tantaleán and Rodríguez, Toohey, Sayre and Rosenfeld, this
volume). Andean foods and cuisines frequently are referents through which people
conduct many behavioral and performative aspects of their rites and rituals, as well as