Reconstituting Cuisine

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  • Title: Reconstituting Cuisine: A Culinary Perspective on Collapse, Conquest, and Resistance from Pre-Columbian Peru
  • Author(s): Robyn Cutright
  • Publisher: Common Ground Research Networks
  • Collection: Common Ground Research Networks
  • Series: Food Studies
  • Journal Title: Food Studies: An Interdisciplinary Journal
  • Keywords: Cuisine, Archaeology, Andes, Peru, Collapse, Conquest
  • Volume: 12
  • Issue: 2
  • Date: November 22, 2022
  • ISSN: 2160-1933 (Print)
  • ISSN: 2160-1941 (Online)
  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.18848/2160-1933/CGP/v12i02/19-31
  • Citation: Cutright, Robyn. 2022. "Reconstituting Cuisine: A Culinary Perspective on Collapse, Conquest, and Resistance from Pre-Columbian Peru." Food Studies: An Interdisciplinary Journal 12 (2): 19-31. doi:10.18848/2160-1933/CGP/v12i02/19-31.
  • Extent: 13 pages

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Abstract

Cuisine is a powerful reflection of social and cultural identity. This paper reconstructs culinary change and continuity on the pre-Hispanic north coast of Peru as a window into ancient experiences of collapse and conquest. Using archaeological data from three sites in the Jequetepeque Valley between 600–1500 CE, I identify points of change as well as persistent patterns in how rural farmers procured, prepared, and consumed daily meals. By considering the nature and timing of changes, I suggest that daily meals may have been a site of resistance and an expression of local cultural identity in the past.