Quinoa: A Story of Origins, part 1
by Sarah Lecouffe Axtell
Popular literature in the media recounts the “discovery” of a densely nutritious pseudo-grain, once eaten by Andean civilizations long before the Inca Empire. This food is considered such an important crop for global food security that the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) bestowed 2013 as the International Year of Quinoa (IYQ). This story of quinoa is very alluring. This version however leaves me wondering about the people who grew, ate and lived from quinoa and who continue to do so today. More broadly, what can we learn about its origins? And, where is quinoa going? The following report is an attempt to explore these questions.
Because indigenous plants are so little studied, the literature on them is frequently old, difficult to find, or available only locally (Nat'l Research Council, vii). To begin to understand the origins of quinoa I have focused one source; taking on the indigenous perspective. It is a narrated video animation focused on an Andean elder recounting the origins of quinoa to his close community. In the face of centuries of colonization the stories of indigenous foods live on through the people that continue to cultivate them. The second source is the most comprehensive document I have found on the topic; its focus is on quinoa research development for worldwide cultivation.
“Tradition has it that Aymara people... used to talk to the stars... and since that time it has been told that nearby Titicaca Lake... the fields started producing their first crops” (Marca Peru); these are the first words describing the origins of quinoa, a story told by an elder to a small community encircle around a fire. The people are unnamed characters and the production location is undefined. What is clear however if that this short video “El Origin de la Quinoa” produced by Marca Peru, intended to promote quinoa, Peru, and its indigenous peoples. The story goes on.
by Sarah Lecouffe Axtell
Popular literature in the media recounts the “discovery” of a densely nutritious pseudo-grain, once eaten by Andean civilizations long before the Inca Empire. This food is considered such an important crop for global food security that the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) bestowed 2013 as the International Year of Quinoa (IYQ). This story of quinoa is very alluring. This version however leaves me wondering about the people who grew, ate and lived from quinoa and who continue to do so today. More broadly, what can we learn about its origins? And, where is quinoa going? The following report is an attempt to explore these questions.
Because indigenous plants are so little studied, the literature on them is frequently old, difficult to find, or available only locally (Nat'l Research Council, vii). To begin to understand the origins of quinoa I have focused one source; taking on the indigenous perspective. It is a narrated video animation focused on an Andean elder recounting the origins of quinoa to his close community. In the face of centuries of colonization the stories of indigenous foods live on through the people that continue to cultivate them. The second source is the most comprehensive document I have found on the topic; its focus is on quinoa research development for worldwide cultivation.
“Tradition has it that Aymara people... used to talk to the stars... and since that time it has been told that nearby Titicaca Lake... the fields started producing their first crops” (Marca Peru); these are the first words describing the origins of quinoa, a story told by an elder to a small community encircle around a fire. The people are unnamed characters and the production location is undefined. What is clear however if that this short video “El Origin de la Quinoa” produced by Marca Peru, intended to promote quinoa, Peru, and its indigenous peoples. The story goes on.
In darkness someone would visit the Potato plants and rip them up. One night a young man who guarded the fields with the golden warning bell went out to surprise the Potato thief. To his own surprise he found several women sitting in the field. In response he rang his warning bell and they fled. What remained was one young woman who had tripped amongst the flowering Potato plants. Their eyes met and, as the Aymara say, they were able to talk to the Stars.
As a group of men rose to the scene, the woman turned herself into a bird and flew into the night sky to where her companions, the Stars, resided. Unable to explain what happened to the others on Earth the next day he climbed to where the Condors lived above the clouds. Once atop the mountain the Condor bore him to where the young stars lived.
Surrounded by fields of Quinoa he lived with the young star woman and they ate Quinoa. When it came time for him to return to his family the Star gave him quinoa seeds to bring to Earth. Along his voyage on the Condors back he threw seeds below. “From then on, Quinoa has been grown in order to feed the Andean people, yet is was unheard of by the rest of humanity” (Marca Peru).
Until an initiatory resurgence began in the 1980's quinoa was truly unheard of by the rest of humanity. And so another story of the origins of quinoa reveals a different perspective; one that views time as linear rather than cyclical. In the document entitled Cultivos Andinos Version 1.0, Quinoa Chenopodium quinoa Willd - Ancestral Cultivo Andino, Alimento Del Presente y Futuro more than twenty researchers of the Andean region and elsewhere (Europe and North America) where quinoa was being researched and cultivated collaborated with the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (UN FAO). The goal of the document was to improve the production situation and stimulate and strengthen cooperation between research institutions.
The team found that quinoa, a broad leafed plant mostly cultivated for its seed heads shows the highest distribution and diversity of forms on the shores of Lake Titicaca; on the border of Peru and Bolivia at an elevation above 12,000 feet (Mujica, Origen Y Descrip.). Evidence of its importance in this region is marked by archeological finds of inflorescences and seeds heads in indigenous graves in Chile and of Peru (Mujica, Origen Y Descrip.). Findings in the Ayacucho area shows that the domestication of quinoa occurred around 5000 B.C and that as early as 7,000 years ago there are indications of wild quinoa growing in relationship with grazing llamas (Mujica, Origen Y Descrip.).
“Indigenous peoples maintained and preserved hundreds of varieties of quinoa through principles of collectivism, redistribution, and by living in harmony with nature” (Nickel-Kailing). To Andean groups quinoa, Chisaya Mama (Mother Grain) was second only to potatoes and maize in nutritional and cultural importance. This all changed in the 16th century when the newly arrived Spaniards enforced their world view on the locals. Only a century earlier the Incas acculturated the communities living along western South America under one abundant agricultural complex.
When the Spaniards conquered, unlike the Incas, native staple foods like quinoa, and its relatives kañiwa and kiwichawere suppressed. Instead the cultivation of foreign crops like wheat and barley were imposed (Nat'l Research Council). Botanical colonialism has far reaching consequences. Eating is a daily ritual that all humans take part in. Over time groups develop diverse knowledge and practices around foods and their environment. Forbidding traditional foods is a way to break this connection and to assimilate a population. Quinoa was used as a sacred Mudai drink during indigenous religious ceremonies like Nguillatun, a ceremony that included animal sacrifice (Nickel-Kailing). For this reason the Catholic Church actively suppressed the cultivation of quinoa.
After centuries of suppression the Andean people have continued to grow quinoa. At the close of El Origin de la Quinoaan Andean farmer spoke about how “Quinoa is life... Quinoa is hope... Quinoa is the past... Quinoa is the present... and Quinoa is the future of mankind” (Marca Peru). Quinoa is not just another popular food that needs to be developed into a cash crop. To many quinoa represents much more than economic income; it represents life, hope, the past, the present and the future of mankind.
Read part 2 here
Sources
Marca Peru. "The Origin of Quinoa" Online video clip. YouTube, 15 May 2013. Web. 21 Feb. 2014.
National Research Council. Lost Crops of the Incas: Little-Known Plants of the Andes with Promise for Worldwide Cultivation. Washington: National Academy Press, 1989. Web. 15 Feb. 2014
Nickel-Kailing, Gail. “Quinoa: The Passion and The Politics”, GoodFood World, 26 Aug. 2013. Web. 5 Jan. 2014.
As a group of men rose to the scene, the woman turned herself into a bird and flew into the night sky to where her companions, the Stars, resided. Unable to explain what happened to the others on Earth the next day he climbed to where the Condors lived above the clouds. Once atop the mountain the Condor bore him to where the young stars lived.
Surrounded by fields of Quinoa he lived with the young star woman and they ate Quinoa. When it came time for him to return to his family the Star gave him quinoa seeds to bring to Earth. Along his voyage on the Condors back he threw seeds below. “From then on, Quinoa has been grown in order to feed the Andean people, yet is was unheard of by the rest of humanity” (Marca Peru).
Until an initiatory resurgence began in the 1980's quinoa was truly unheard of by the rest of humanity. And so another story of the origins of quinoa reveals a different perspective; one that views time as linear rather than cyclical. In the document entitled Cultivos Andinos Version 1.0, Quinoa Chenopodium quinoa Willd - Ancestral Cultivo Andino, Alimento Del Presente y Futuro more than twenty researchers of the Andean region and elsewhere (Europe and North America) where quinoa was being researched and cultivated collaborated with the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (UN FAO). The goal of the document was to improve the production situation and stimulate and strengthen cooperation between research institutions.
The team found that quinoa, a broad leafed plant mostly cultivated for its seed heads shows the highest distribution and diversity of forms on the shores of Lake Titicaca; on the border of Peru and Bolivia at an elevation above 12,000 feet (Mujica, Origen Y Descrip.). Evidence of its importance in this region is marked by archeological finds of inflorescences and seeds heads in indigenous graves in Chile and of Peru (Mujica, Origen Y Descrip.). Findings in the Ayacucho area shows that the domestication of quinoa occurred around 5000 B.C and that as early as 7,000 years ago there are indications of wild quinoa growing in relationship with grazing llamas (Mujica, Origen Y Descrip.).
“Indigenous peoples maintained and preserved hundreds of varieties of quinoa through principles of collectivism, redistribution, and by living in harmony with nature” (Nickel-Kailing). To Andean groups quinoa, Chisaya Mama (Mother Grain) was second only to potatoes and maize in nutritional and cultural importance. This all changed in the 16th century when the newly arrived Spaniards enforced their world view on the locals. Only a century earlier the Incas acculturated the communities living along western South America under one abundant agricultural complex.
When the Spaniards conquered, unlike the Incas, native staple foods like quinoa, and its relatives kañiwa and kiwichawere suppressed. Instead the cultivation of foreign crops like wheat and barley were imposed (Nat'l Research Council). Botanical colonialism has far reaching consequences. Eating is a daily ritual that all humans take part in. Over time groups develop diverse knowledge and practices around foods and their environment. Forbidding traditional foods is a way to break this connection and to assimilate a population. Quinoa was used as a sacred Mudai drink during indigenous religious ceremonies like Nguillatun, a ceremony that included animal sacrifice (Nickel-Kailing). For this reason the Catholic Church actively suppressed the cultivation of quinoa.
After centuries of suppression the Andean people have continued to grow quinoa. At the close of El Origin de la Quinoaan Andean farmer spoke about how “Quinoa is life... Quinoa is hope... Quinoa is the past... Quinoa is the present... and Quinoa is the future of mankind” (Marca Peru). Quinoa is not just another popular food that needs to be developed into a cash crop. To many quinoa represents much more than economic income; it represents life, hope, the past, the present and the future of mankind.
Read part 2 here
Sources
Marca Peru. "The Origin of Quinoa" Online video clip. YouTube, 15 May 2013. Web. 21 Feb. 2014.
National Research Council. Lost Crops of the Incas: Little-Known Plants of the Andes with Promise for Worldwide Cultivation. Washington: National Academy Press, 1989. Web. 15 Feb. 2014
Nickel-Kailing, Gail. “Quinoa: The Passion and The Politics”, GoodFood World, 26 Aug. 2013. Web. 5 Jan. 2014.