Preserve, save, conserve, store. We conserve what is important, what has value. In the mountains of the Andes, in the countryside, that value lies in the land, in the chacra (farmlands), and in the products that come from it. The work and life of most farmers consist of caring for, preparing, and cultivating the land to get the best yield and products, as this is how they feed themselves, their families, and generate interfamily and intercommunal exchanges. It is said that we are what we eat, and the best way to demonstrate this is by observing life in the countryside. When we talk about culture, we often think of many aspects, such as music, art, and clothing. However, I dare to say that the primary aspect of culture is food. After all, the origin of the word culture comes from the Latin cultus, colere, which refers to cultivating, protecting, and honoring with reverence, as well as the care of the land. Does any aspect of daily life really matter without having food on your table at the end of the day?
The knowledge acquired through experience takes on special value during this time of year (December), recognizing the hard and important work behind the tradition of preserving products after the great harvest in May in the Andes. If you visit the farmers’ market, you will notice the absence of emblematic products of the region such as oca, olluco, and mashua, affectionately known as the beloved ones. This is because the harvests are running out and are now buried, waiting to give life to a new cultivation cycle.
Although food preservation is a vital practice for the survival and development of civilizations worldwide, little is currently known about preservation traditions in Latin America, especially in Peru and the Andean territory once occupied by the Inca Empire, and before that, many other civilizations dating back thousands of years. These civilizations developed food preservation practices that have been inherited, developed, and improved over the centuries. Today, only a few of these techniques are known nationwide. This is partly due to the marginalization that pre-Hispanic cultures suffered, leading to the loss of practices and transmission, and partly due to globalization.
Foreign products and customs are now better known than local ones, overshadowing the practices of our ancestors, which carry millennia-old value and knowledge and represent the country’s culture. Probably, the most popular traditional preservation products are chuño, moraya (tunta), and charqui, which are still frequently consumed in the Peruvian highlands. Among these, charqui is the most widely known worldwide, often recognized outside of Peru as beef jerky, giving the false impression that it is a traditional North American product. Hockheimer mentions in his book Food and Food Procurement in Pre-Hispanic Peru that this practice became popular among the Allies during World War II. Although chuño remains an essential food in Andean homes, especially in the higher regions, it is likely unknown or unused in many Lima households. This is partly because it is an exclusive product of the Andes, given its climatic conditions. On the other hand, in Lima households, everyone knows and frequently consumes products like bacon, originally from China (Sirk, 2019), or pickled cucumbers, originating from the Mesopotamian Empire (Roosen, 2023).
The truth is that there are dozens of Andean preservation techniques applied to various ingredients, opening up a wide range of preserved products. These techniques are achieved with elements provided by the land: heladas, sun and water. Gradually, these practices are becoming known thanks to the work of people like Claudia Palomino and Roberto Ojeda, a couple who dedicate their lives to the research and application of Andean traditions and knowledge. With this purpose, they founded a self-managed initiative committed to food sovereignty and conscious eating called “Canasta Solidara Mihuna Kachun” (which means let there be food in Quechua). When the pandemic began, they considered it of utmost importance and urgency to recover ancestral knowledge, including cultivation techniques, uses of wild plants, fermentations and preserved products. They advocate for healthy eating that is conscious of the environment and other producers. The pandemic, for them, was a wake-up call that they could not depend on a system to provide for them. Therefore, the couple—he being a historian and she an architect—have dedicated themselves to researching, collecting, and documenting all ancestral techniques for food preservation and sharing their findings (Palomino & Ojeda, 2021).
Many preserved Peruvian products remain unknown in the cities. This is also true in the K’acllaraccay and Mullakas-Misminay communities, both adjacent to the Mil Centro restaurant in Moray, where most people are unaware of the vast majority of these techniques and products. Some recall their grandparents or parents mentioning them, but they have never practiced their preparation, except for chuño, moraya, charqui, and in some cases, tocosh. Therefore, at Mater in Cusco, efforts are made to replicate these ancient products within the restaurant and to return this knowledge to the communities through practical workshops.
Preservation provides farming families with food security during times of scarcity, whether due to poor harvests, climate change, or simply because they are not in season. In times of abundance, right after the harvest, tubers are separated into various categories: the first and best are for fresh consumption, considering that if stored correctly, they have a shelf life of about 8 months. The second category, of smaller tubers, is preserved to last over time, also achieving better nutrient assimilation that will be available in any season of the year, even on a day like December 21st.
If we take the Inca culture as an example, wealth was not measured by the amount of gold, silver, or bronze one had, but by the extent of their territory, their ability to cultivate, and how full their colqas (Inca storage facilities) were. Therefore, it is only logical that food preservation is the most important thing after the harvest, because to save, conserve, and store is to preserve culture.
