CUALLI 2013

Origins and History: The Potato in the Ancestral Memory of Per

Sara Beatrz Guardia Universidad de San Martn de Porres Per

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Abstract: This article studies the potato in the Inca Empire, which spanned in what is now known as Peru, Colombia, Ecuador, Bolivia, Argentina and Chile. Here the Pachamama, Mother Earth, represented power and fertility, and Yacu Mama, or Mother Water, was the beginning of life. All together they form a great space in which all beings reside . Therefore, the history of the potato includes agricultural cycles attached to ceremonies, myths, festivals and symbols. After the Spanish conquest, the extraordinary journey of the potato began in Peru and expanded throughout the world due to its versatility to adapt from the Andean heights of over three thousand meters above sea level to European soil and elsewhere. This study traces the initial mistrust and rejection that the potato received from Western cultures to its becoming an iconic food, its presence in a complex historical and cultural process, and its many links with Andean societies, the Spanish conquest, European history, the industrial revolution, and the nineteenth century famine in Ireland. Resumen: El artculo estudia el papel de la papa en el Imperio de los Inca mismo que abarc los actuales pases del Per, Colombia, Ecuador, Bolivia, Argentina y Chile. Aqu la Pachamama, madre tierra, represent el poder generador y la fertilidad; y la Yacu Mama, o madre agua, fue principio de vida, todo unido formando un gran espacio en el cual residen todos los seres. Por ello, la historia de la papa, nos habla de los ciclos agrcolas unidos a las ceremonias, los mitos, las fiestas y los smbolos. Despus de la conquista espaola se inicia la extraordinaria travesa de la papa desde el Per al mundo dada su gran versatilidad para adaptarse a las alturas andinas de ms de tres mil metros sobre el nivel del mar hasta las tierras europeas y otras partes del mundo. Este estudio se remota a partir de la desconfianza y rechazo que recibi la papa por parte de las culturas occidentales hasta convertirse en un alimento emblemtico, se analiza su presencia en un complejo proceso histrico y cultural, y los lazos que la unen a las sociedades andinas, la conquista espaola, la historia europea, la revolucin industrial y la hambruna del siglo XIX en Irlanda.

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In the Andean mountain range at an altitude of more than 3,500 meters above sea level, on the Peruvian-Bolivian border around 6,000 to 10,000 years ago (Spooner 285), hunter and gatherer communities domesticated wild potato plants, as well as other foods, such as oca, olluco, mashua, cassava, sweet potato, quinoa, corn, Peruvian chili pepper, arracacha and yacn (Cabieses 21), among other foods. The first domestication took place in the Andean region and later at other altitudes. Fossils have even been found along the Peruvian coast: in Chilca caves, the Ancn-Chilln valley and Casma, which have been dated to between 3,500 BC and 5,000 BC. The development of an agricultural system and the domestication of the potato had a transcendental reach, not only because the potato later became one of the most important cultivated foods in the world, but also because the domestication in itself was a great achievement for the Andean inhabitants (Aydon 95). Archaeological evidence exists in the form of ceramics with imageries and representations of potatoes that have been dated to various pre-Inca cultures. A Deity Whose Power Lays Hidden In the vast Inca Empire, which spanned from the south of Colombia, through Ecuador, across Peru and Bolivia and into the northeast of Argentina and Chile, the Pachamama, mother earth, represented the power of creation and fertility, and the Yacu Mama, mother water, was the source of all life. Everything united formed a great space in which every living being in existence formed the universe (Tello 103). In Janaq Pacha, the world above, which the Spanish translated as heaven, there were rivers, animals and gods whom communicated with the world: Kay Pacha linked to Urin Pacha, or Uku Pacha, a subterranean world in which the goddess creators of food lived. The deities spoke to the people; they protected them and punished them. Thus the sowing and the growing of the crops were transformed into conversations with the earth and the water, which told the people how to interpret natures voices. In this world view everything was related to nature, and the agricultural cycles were intertwined with ceremonies, myths, festivities and symbols, [h]ence the history of the Andean world is the (history) of the potato, (Glave 50).

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With ceramic archaeological evidence dating to the Mochica, Chim and Tiahuanaco-Nazca cultures it can be deciphered that by the Mochica culture, between the 1st and 7th century AD, a relationship had been established between the potato and the supernatural world. It belonged to Uku Pacha, the inner world, or under world, and was celebrated with festivities and rituals on the September equinox, when the new agricultural cycle began and the rains drenched the land; it was a time of fertilization and rituals were performed with the intention of purification, to ward off illness and loss. Other festivities which demonstrate this Andean duality still persist today. Among them is Jatha Katu, to catch seeds in Aymara. Jatha Katu takes place along the shores of Lake Titicaca and starts at daybreak when women adorned with flowers lay their cloaks across the earth and collect small potatoes. They pick them carefully from the damp ground which has been sprinkled with chicha (fermented maize drink). They called it potato but it was also known as Kausay in Quechua, which translates as sustenance necessary for life, such, was the potatos worth. Not only were they important for their nutritional value but also for their ceremonial, mythical and religious value; a world in which Pachamama was the power of creation, fertility, femininity, and her masculine complement was Illapa, lightning, the bringer of rain and associated with power. Nevertheless, Pachamamas power was greater. It took numerous forms and deities: Saramama, the corn goddess and Axomama, the potato goddess, who were worshipped throughout the year according to the various agricultural events. The women were united by the force of the female powers of creation; they were central to the ritual celebrations, and the seeds passed from the mother to the daughter (Ossio 106). From that time on, ritual celebrations and offerings to the land have continued to take place, a symbol of gratitude for the nourishment that the earth provides: El pago a la tierra (the payment to the earth). But food did not only satisfy the basic needs of the Andean inhabitants, it also expressed the complex Andean world view, composed of myths, rituals, and the sanctification of their relationship with nature. In the myths compiled by Francisco de Avila, the first person responsible for eradicating idolatry in 1600, we are introduced to Huatiacuri, son of Pariacaca, a principal god. Huatiacuri wore very poor clothes and ate baked potatoes, watia or watiyay (Guardia Mayorga 166) in Quechua. Huatiacuri was in fact the personification of the potato: a god whose power lay hidden behind his

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humble appearance, covered in earth and small purple-white flowers (Millones 62). From deep within the ground he protected the inhabitants of the Andean Universe. They celebrated with festivities and rituals linked to both the living world and the supernatural world: Uku Pacha, was honored by the Aya Uma Turpuy ritual, sowing of the head of the dead man in Quechua, which took place at the end of August to coincide with the preparation of the land for the coming crops. Then, during the September equinox, they held joyous celebrations to mark the new agricultural cycle and the coming rains, a time of fertilization and purification, which warded off disease and loss. Through October and November the potatoes and the corn were sown, accompanied by ritual dances, Takis, and songs to express their gratitude for the foods received. The crops were carefully protected by means of a competent social system, as well as a complex agricultural structure compiled of terraces and platforms. These were built up to 3,000 meters high, founded in layers of rock and sand with strong retaining stone walls, and then covered in farmland; waterways were designed in a canal-system that brought water from rivers, lakes and springs. 600,000 hectares of terraces and 1,000s of kilometers of canals were destroyed during the Spanish conquest. The Inca agricultural system was directed towards the cultivation of a variety of plants, tubers, roots, vegetables, cereals, beans and fruits, in the coast, low-lying mountains and high-altitude mountains. Although it is important to remember that when these were produced, and during the Spanish invasion of 1532, the conditions were very different. Before, the ceaseless snow covered 20,000 km2 and now scarcely an area of 5,000 to 7,000 km2 () In the 17th century, Cobo referred to crossing 27 coastal rivers with rafts. Today, there are not more than 18 rivers which cannot be forded (Antnez de Mayolo 14). The harsh climatic conditions, combined with the rugged terrain, required strong tools to work the land: the Chaquitaqlla was a plow built of a wooden stick with a hard wooden or metal point attached to the end. It was drawn on foot, driven by the force of the feet, arms and body. Another tool was the Allpa Kasuna, a hammer that broke up the tightly bound clods of earth. The potatos nutritional value and its aptness for storage made it indispensable to the inhabitants of the Andean region. Its importance can be observed through its

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presence- in mythical religious rituals, and ceramics with anthropomorphic depictions of the human body or body parts1. According to Arturo Jimnez Borja foods were living beings in the ancient representations, they heard and responded to the people, they were happy when they were treated well and they complained when they were treated badly, [this] concept appears in Mochica ceramics, in which each vegetable represents its most notable quality: potatoes, eyes: corn, wrinkled skin etc., every part of the body is shaped: facial features, extremities, genitals etc. Its possible to see a peanut playing the flute, a custard apple dozing, butter beans battling (Montiel 68-9). The agricultural calendar, based on annual solstices and equinoxes, had a transcendental significance for the Andean inhabitants. According to Guaman Poma, the year began in January, whereas other chroniclers, Polo de Ondegardo, Cabello de Balboa, Acosta and Cobo, have dated the start to December, and others have said it started around the middle of May. The agricultural calendar for the former author has as first month January, Capacraymi Quilla, the month intended for fasting, penitence and processions; February, Paucar Uaray Quilla, a month of great sacrifices of gold and silver, offered in the temples and to the gods in the high hills; March, Pacha Pucuy, the month when they sacrificed black rams to the idols, the month of the harvest, of abundance, the cattle fat with plenty of grass. Pacha, earth, pucuy, abundance, the month when it rains heavily and the earth is drenched with water; April, Inca Raymi Quilla, throughout the kingdom there were grand celebrations; the Inca invited the nobility, the superiors and all of the poor indians to the main square to eat, sing and dance; May, Aymoray Quilla, the month when they visited communities to celebrate and perform rituals involving potatoes and corncobs that had grown together, these were collected and then planted in the food stores, the purpose being to protect them; June, Cuzqui Quilla, the month of the Inti Raymi festival, the festival of the sun, so that the kingdom has an abundance of food which can sustain everybody, both poor and rich; July, Chacra Conacuy, the month of cleaning the farm. This is the month in which they first start to sow the seeds in the Andes, the clouds come over the mountains, they clean the farms, they lay manure on the earth and they wet the ground, everybody does their bit, from their forefathers to their fathers; August, Chacrayapuy Quilla, the month when they made the payments to the earth and held the festival of the land: they start to labour, plow, break up the earth

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and plant the corn (), and continue until January; September, Coya Raimi Quilla, they celebrated the festival of the moon, of Inca women; it was the month when the females dedicated themselves to the fertility cult. They also performed rituals for protection against sickness; they cleaned and sprinkled the houses and streets; October, Uma Raymi Quilla, the month of sacrifices and rituals made to the water; November, Uma Marcay Quilla, the month of the dead: They remove the deceased from their vaults, pucullo, and they give them with food and drink, dress them in their finest clothes and put feathers on their heads, then they sing and dance with them; December, Cpac Inti Raymi, the month dedicated to celebrations of the sun. (Poma de Ayala 165-181). Food Uses and Customs in Ancient Peru It is difficult to establish what the cuisine was like in the pre-Inca, Inca and Tawantinsuyo periods because, unlike the Sahagn culture in Mexico, the majority of chroniclers did not document it in depth. However, through the scant records that exist and various ceramics, some information can be reconstructed: tubers were eaten unpeeled, raw, boiled and roasted; they served them in different dishes and to accompany chupis (soups) of fish, shrimp, mussels, lobster, crab, duck, guinea pig, alpaca, llama, dried meat, quinoa, olluco, peanut, arracacha, green broad beans (Antnez de Mayolo 102;108). Potatoes were consumed across the territory, as they originated in the Andes it was easy for them to reach the coast via exchanges (Horkheimer 110-11), a system that was central to the distribution of food. Bernab Cobo describes how women went to the main squares to exchange foods, some women took fruit, others corn, others potatoes, others stewed meat, others fish, fresh diced meat, salt, coca, Peruvian chili pepper and many other things, with which they bargained; they made exchanges, offering a plate of fruit for a plate of stew, Peruvian chili pepper for salt, corn for meat, and much more (Cobo 26). According to Guaman Poma, the most valuable foods were corn, potatoes, chuo (a freeze-dried potato product), wild radish, olluco, mashua, quinoa, dove feed, tauri, sweet potatoes, racacha, mauka, pumpkin, achira, llancum, kidney beans, beans, caihua, peanuts, ahipa, Peruvian chili pepper, capsicum pepper, cucumber, guava,

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pacay, lucuma, avocados, plums and guanaco, among others. He also mentions vicua, guinea pig, rabbit, duck, partridge, fungi, eggs, fish, shrimp and crab (Guaman Poma de Ayala 51). Furthermore, he recorded that there were diverse varieties of potatoes: Chaucha Potato, potato that ripens quickly; Chaucha Maway Potato, potato that is sown early; Chuu, potato that is cured on the ice by night and in the sun by day; Siri Potato, a variety of bitter potato that is used to make chuu; Kukapa, cooked potatoes that are dried in the sun; Hatun Potato, potatoes from the principal harvest or from the crop of the land rotation cycle; Llullu Potato, soft potato; Muraya, superior quality white chuo; Urmachisqa Potato, potato that has fallen (Ibdem 17-156). They consumed a great amount of potatoes and in a variety of forms. They ate them boiled, in chupes (soups) and baked with aromatic herbs in an earthen oven made of hot stones: watiyay, which is currently known as huatia and is still used in the Andean region. They also ate them in the form of chuo and dried, which was apt for storage and made possible the pre-Inca and Inca war campaigns, the construction of monumental stone structures and other aspects of Andean life (Papas nativas del Per 6-7). In order to make chuo, potatoes are laid out on straw and left to dry in the heat of the sun and then to freeze in the chill of the night. After twelve to fifteen days the potatoes are trampled on to extract the water, then they are left out to the elements for another twenty days; at the end of the process they are dry and light. The best quality chuo, known as moraya, was destined for the Inca elite: For the noblemen and elite there was a particular kind of chuo which was delicate and held in high regard, it was made from white potatoes in the following way: once they have been dried in the sun and on the

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ice they must be kept in water for two months, after this they are returned to the sun to dry, thus they remain very white on the inside(Rojas de Perdomo 159). Like dried potatoes or ttamus, also known as boiled potatoes, then peeled and left to dry in the sun, they could be kept for 30 years and their flavour would remain similar to recently prepared ones (Antnez de Mayolo 102;108). Afterwards, the potatoes were reduced to small pieces which were used in different vegetable stews. This process took place in May and June throughout the Inca Empire. The breadth of the spread of food was made possible because of migration, carried out in an organized manner by the Mitmaes: the movement of clusters of inhabitants of the same ethnic group to specific regions. The groups were repositioned with different intentions in mind, political, religious or military. In spite of this the inhabitants always maintained their proper customs. Another important method of cooking took place with hot stones, which allowed people to roast food and make stews, like huatia, an ancient method of cooking potatoes that precedes the Pachamanca method. Huatia appeared in Andean cuisine after the Spanish conquest, whereas Pachamanca appeared at the end of the 19th Century and is now one of most emblematic symbols of Peruvian cuisine. To make Pachamanca an open pit is dug and filled with hot stones, on top of which various types of meat are laid. The meat is seasoned with ground Peruvian red chili pepper, yellow Peruvian chili pepper, huacatay, paico and coriander and is accompanied by cassava, corn, potatoes, broad beans, sweet potatoes and tamales. The food is covered with banana leaves, topped with earth and left to cook for around two hours. Time of Destruction and Restoration The Andean world, with its powerful attachment to nature, experienced a violent shock when the Spanish arrived; they constructed churches on the sacred stones of Cusco and did not dare to eat the new foods that they encountered. The

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Spanish conquest meant the destruction of a culture, the depopulation of Peru and the decline of the agricultural system that the Incas had spent years creating. Andean products were replaced by other foods; they remained restricted to the Andean region, tied to the Indigenous population and their fight to preserve customs and traditions. It is the time of the labyrinth, writes Garcilaso de la Vega in his Comentarios Reales: thus we are in the doorway of this great labyrinth, it is good that we pass through it and take note of what there was in it (Garcilaso de la Vega 37). It was a time replete with conflicts and contrariety, which fuelled the transformation and cultural fusion of the indigenous societies, and the preservation of their beliefs to the death. Bernab Cobo notes that exploitation and epidemics caused the progressive deterioration of the health of the Andean inhabitants, who previously had very good teeth, so strong that they lasted all of their lives (Cobo 75). Cieza de Len adds, It gives great sorrow to contemplate those genteel and idolatry Incas, who must have had such great order to govern and protect such great lands, and how we Christians destroyed those illustrious kingdoms; for wherever conquesting and discovering Christians have gone, appears nothing but an all-consuming fire (Cieza de Len 19). It was in 1535 close to Lake Titicaca that the Spanish first reported the existence of the potato. Only fifty years earlier the first botanic report was written by Doctor Diego lvarez during Columbuss second trip to America (1493), in which he dazzlingly described the new plants. Later, Gonzalo Fernandez de Oviedo, in his book Natural y General Historia de las Indias (Natural and General History of the Indies), divided the plants into cultivated plants, trees and herbs; and the animals into land, water, air and insects (Rojo Vega 160). Pedro Cieza de Len describes his encounter with the potato in his chronicle: Of the natural resources that the indians use for sustenance, apart from corn, there are two principal foodstuffs; one of these is called the potato, which is somewhat like a truffle, yet after cooking it becomes soft on the inside like a roasted chestnut; like a truffle, it does not have a shell or bone, because it grows beneath the earth (Cieza de Len 110). Other chroniclers found them similar to

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walnuts or they compared them to round, thick garlics. In Historia General de las Indias (General History of the Indies) Francisco Lpez de Gomara says: People have lived in Collao for hundreds of years and have eaten roots similar to truffles that they call potatoes. Garcilaso writes, the indians ate them roasted and preserved them in snow-form, known as chuo (Garcilaso de la Vega 60); Jos de Acosta (1590) also asserts that they preserved them by dehydrating them in the sun. In Nueva Cornica y Buen Gobierno (New Crown and Good Government) Guaman Poma de Ayala presents four drawings of the potato, the first refers to the hilling period of the potato and corn, which takes place in January. The second image depicts the harvesting of the crop, with men breaking open the earth using chaquitajllas as women pick the potatoes. The third image shows the transfer of the potato sacks to the pantry, which takes place in July. And the fourth image illustrates the sowing of the potatoes and oca; the men open furrows whilst the women lay the seeds (Guaman Poma de Ayala 449;461;463;475). Fray Pedro Simn describes the potatoes as round roots the size of common truffles, thus explaining why the Spanish call them truffles yet in Peru they call them potatoes. They are found attached to the roots of an herb, of the same name, slightly elevated from the earth. They are full of sustenance and everyone eats them even though they do not have any flavour apart from that of the stew in which they are cooked (Simn 81). Whereas in a report presented by parish priests to bishop Mollinedo in 1689, it was maintained that the potato, along with quinoa and caigua, was the dietary staple of the indians; and that bitter potatoes, Ruqui, were used to prepare chuo (Villanueva Urteaga 113). In this time, the sacred character of food came under attack and was imposed upon; the inhabitants of the old empire had to forget their gods and live through the eradication of their idolatries, and concede their holy burial sites and divinities (v Duviols LXXIV 608-1670). Nevertheless, in the heights of the mountains they continued to offer their dances and songs to the food and to celebrate the potato, as Pedro Cieza de Len describes: A beautiful 12-year-old boy came out from one of the corners, lavishly

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adorned with medals and gold images, which covered his arms. In his right hand he carried a halberd and in his left hand a wool bag filled with coca leaves. Walking next to him was a young girl, ten years old and very beautiful, wearing a long skirt, carried with great prestige by an attractive older indian woman. Walking behind her were other indians, dignified and well-bred. The young girl carried a bag in her right hand, full of gold and silver images. Behind her walked six indian farmers, each with a plow in his arms, with crowns on their heads and colorful feathers in their hair. After whom came six young men carrying sacks of potatoes and playing the drums.Upon arriving at the platform the entourage demonstrated their respect by lowering their heads and similarly the nobleman and his companions bowed their heads to receive it. Then the farmers laid their plows and sacks of potatoes on the ground and began to play their kettledrums at the same time as performing a dance on the balls of their feet. A great silence followed. Several young men brought forth a small lamb which the principal nobleman sacrificed. Then the indians collected as much blood in their hands as they could and sprinkled it on the potatoes that were inside the sacks. In that moment one of the principal noblemen a recent convert to Christianity interrupted by shouting loudly, stood at the foot of a large cross in the centre of the square, reprehending the infernal rite, and everyone stopped in silence. (252-4) A Journey Across the Seas The Spanish fleet advanced towards Seville. Tens of thousands of kilometers separated America from Europe. The Carrera de Indias (West Indies Fleet) was a lengthy traverse made only by hefty ships with a cargo capacity of 400 register tons, which allowed them to go up the Guadalquivir river and the

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banks of San Lcar de Barrameda. The boats travelled together, as was the order in 1522, to provide mutual protection in the case of a pirate or privateer attack. They prepared the artillery in the archipelago of the Azores before departing for the Portuguese coasts of the Algarve; they curved around the headland of Cape St. Vincent and from there to the mouth of the Rio Grande (Oued-el-kibir). They took thousands of tons of gold and silver. Cieza de Len describes how in the whole kingdom of Peru there is gold and silver to take forever more; in the highlands and the lowlands and in the river, and in all of the places that they dig and search, there will be silver and gold (256). More than gold and silver, brought with them potatoes from the vanquished empire. Hidden and unguarded, this unsuspecting tuber would soon conquer Europe. It took various names: patata (Spain), Lursagar (Basque Country), pataca (Galicia), batata (Portugal), pomme de terre (France), patate (Italy), kartoffel (Germany), Aardappel (Belgium), potato (England and Ireland), potatis (Sweden), krumpli (Hungary), Kartofel (Russia), peruna (Finland), potet (Norway), kartoffel (Denmark), and buntta (Scotland). An example of the incredible interest that the potato aroused in Europe is the catalogue of gastronomy books from the 14th to the 19th century, published by the Fundacion B.I.N.G Biblioteque Internationale de Gastronomie. Effectively, potatoes, tomatoes, peanuts, cocoa, beans, corn and other American and Andean foods changed the history of cuisine in Europe. It was not easy. At first the potato was received with suspicion, almost fear. However, there is no plant equal to the potato that has made such a long journey to be received with such great popularity; today it is indispensable in the quotidian kitchen and used in many recipes by respected chefs. The potato currently grows in 130 countries and is the fourth most important source of nutrition in the world, with a production of 300 million tons. Up until the early 1990s the greatest consumers and producers of potatoes were Europe, the United States and the countries within the former ex Soviet Union. However, since then there was a significant increase in production and demand in

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Asia, Africa and Latin America. Production increased from 30 million tons at the start of the 1960s to 165 million tons in 2007. After wheat, corn and rice it represents the 50% of global production of tubers and roots. The countries with the largest cultivated surface areas are China, Russia, United States, Poland, India, Ukraine, Germany, Basque Country, United Kingdom and France. It is one of the first objects to have been globalized, recognized universally very early on. After having been ploughed through the Andes, the potato was sown throughout the world, for the whole world. () Thus, the potato became a globalized food, installing itself in the culinary conscience of the planet, a food for everyone (Montiel 123). The Potato Originates from Southern Andean Peru The potato has merited many important and diverse studies. In the 1920s a Russian geneticist, Nikolai I. Vavilov, undertook a noteworthy investigation into the centers of origin of cultivated plants and in 1932 he came to Peru. In the same decade, Luis Angel Yabar performed various genetic experiments in the Manicomio Azul (Blue Asylum), property near Paucartambo, Cusco; he discovered several varieties of the potato, including the Solanum Yabari. Between 1934 and 1935 the Russian botanist Sergei Bukasov spent some months in Paucartambo studying Luis Angel Yabars varieties of potato. Upon his return he took with him seeds of the potato varieties most apt for cultivation in Russia (Peruanidad 250-1). Another significant contribution was made by J.G.Hawkes, who graduated from Christs College, Cambridge, with honors in 1937, and a PhD in 1942. Hawkes, together with professor E.K.Balls, led The British Empire Potato Collecting Expedition of 1938-39. In 1939 they spent eight months in Peru, Bolivia, Argentina, Ecuador, Colombia and Panama, collecting more than a thousand wild potato samples. In his essay Potato Collecting Expeditions in Mexico and South America he recounts his visit to the centre of potato

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production, under the direction of Luis Angel Yabar. He mentions that Yabar, along with other researchers, sent many samples of differing varieties of potatoes to England: 108 varieties in August of 1939 and another 100 in October of the same year. In total, Yabar sent 208 varieties of potato to England, carefully selected and perfectly studied. All of the hypotheses about the origin of the potato were clarified in 2005 when North American scientists from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, directed by David Spooner, a taxonomist for the United States Department of Agriculture and Professor of Horticulture at the University of Wisconsin, studied the deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) of 261 varieties of wild and 98 varieties of cultivated potatoes. The findings, published in the magazine Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, maintain that the domesticated potato came from a single origin located in the southern Andean region of Peru and that all of the species which are currently known about also originate from this single origin in the south of Peru: In contrast to all prior hypotheses of multiple origins of the cultivated potato, have identified a single origin from a broad area of southern Peru. Thmultip origins theory was based in part on the broad distribution of potatoes from north to south across many different habitats, through morphological resemblance of different wild species to cultivated species, and through other data. But the DNA data shows that in fact all cultivated potatoes can be traced back to a single origin in southern Peru. (Guardia 38) Even though it is not possible to sketch the migration courses of foods in Latin America, references to potatoes have been found in the Altiplano of Bolivia and some studies have indicated that the Araucanians had thirty species of potatoes (Contreras). In 1537, potatoes were discovered by Jimnez de Quesada in the Valle de la Grita, Vlez Province, Colombia. And on the 7th of February 1798, the

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first mention of potatoes was made in Cuba by Pablo Seria, when he expressed to the Spanish Consulate the difficulty that he had in obtaining potato seeds, whom apparently already knew of their existence. It is unclear when they were introduced to Mexico because there are no references or illustrations to them in the 16th century Aztec Codes. However, in 1803 Alexander von Humboldt noted they were taken from Peru by the Spanish Conquistadors. The first record of their presence in Argentina is dated to 1872-1873 during the Inspection of the Colonies. Other sources indicate that they were first cultivated in Santa Fe Province in 1873. By the start of the 20th century there was a small production in Brazil, mostly to be used as chicken feed. The International Potato Center (CIP), a scientific institution founded in Lima in 1971, currently has the largest Potato Genebank in the world, with 3,833 varieties of wild and cultivated potatoes registered, 2,301 of which originate in Peru. Carlos Ochoa, the investigator and greatest Peruvian potato expert, managed to collect 14,000 samples of indigenous cultivated potatoes and wild potatoes, and classified more that 12,000 native potato samples, grouping them in the 11 species that are recognized scientifically today, after identification of duplicated potatoes they were finally reduced to 3,600 different morphologies (Watanabe 19). Varieties of Peruvian Potatoes Different varieties of potatoes are consumed across Peru, in accordance with the diverse regions, uses and the customs. They are cultivated in an area of land approximately 280,000 hectares large, which is around 25% of the total area of cultivated land. Land cultivated for potatoes has increased steadily over the last ten years, from 146,000 hectares in 1990 to 285,000 hectares in 2000, and from 274,000 in 2007 to 284,000 in 2008. It has been predicted that by 2014 potato production in Peru will reach 15 tons per hectare, a 50% rise from the 2006 production level. The most significant change has been the commercialization of native potatoes cultivated at an altitude of 3,000 to 3,800 meters above sea level (Papas nativas del Per). In 2003 six Quechua communities from Cusco: Cuyo Grande,

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Amaru, Chahuaytire, Pampallacta, Paru-Paru and Sacaca created The Potato Park, an Indigenous Bio-cultural Heritage Area and project driven by the conservation of biodiversity. It is located three kilometers from Pisaq archaeological site and 40 kilometers from the city of Cusco, at an altitude of between 3,200 and 5,000 meters above sea level. This impetus towards greater production caused the industrialization of native potatoes and advanced their transformation into chips of various colors and flavours. It was also an important incentive for the Peruvian Foreign Ministry to propose, via a Peruvian Representative in the FAO in Rome, that the General Assembly of the United Nations declare 2008 the International Year of the Potato, in recognition of the tuber that has been intertwined with the development of humanity through many centuries. The Potato in Peruvian Cuisine Potatoes are the base of a plethora of Peruvian recipes and accompaniment to many more. They have travelled the world, from the table of the Andean inhabitants to the grand and luxurious restaurants of the world. The humble potato has not only inspired new recipes, but has been a muse for verse and poetry, such as the poetry of El Corregidor, Felipe Adn Meja1. He wrote that, apart from corn, there was nothing more Peruvian in the world than the potato, eaten since the darkest night of time. It travelled through our history and was central to the cross-culinary mixing that took particular effect in Lima, the capital of the viceroyalty and the seat of Spanish power, where cuisine was strongly dominated by the Spanish influence and Andean foods were only really consumed in the interior of the country. As cross-cultural mixing took place the potato rose to the fore, yet the consumption of dried potatoes and chuo still remained limited. Numerous culinary customs continue to remain in effect today, both the ingredients and preparation; the renowned Pachamanca is a good example of this. Pachamanca started to gain recognition towards the end of the 19th century. Several writers recorded the prevailing customs of the 1800s, in particular Manuel Atanasio Fuentes in his book Lima: Apuntes histricos, descriptivos, estadsticos y

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de costumbres gastronmicas (Lima: Historic notes, descriptions, statistics and gastronomic customs) (1867), Federico Flores and Galindo in Salpicn de Costumbres Nacionales (Mixture of National Customs) (1872), and the chronicler Carlos Prince, whom noted ceviche, puchero (stew), chupes (soups), carapulcra, locro, quinua, chicharrones (deep fried pork) and tamales, as well as Pachamanca in their work.

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Salaman, R.N. The history and Social Influence of the Potato. UK: Cambridge University Press, 1949. Print. Smith, Stephen and Carolina Trivelli. El consumo urbano de los alimentos andinos tradicionales. (Urban Consumption of Traditional Andean Foods.) Lima: Instituto de Estudios Peruanos, 2001. Print. Spooner, David and Wilbert L. A. Hetterscheid. Origins, Evolution, and Group Classification of Cultivates Potatoes. T.J. Motley, N. Zerega, and H. Cross (eds). Darwin's Harvest: New Approaches to the Origins, Evolution, and Conservation of Crops. New York: Colombia University Press, (2006): 285-307. Print. Tapia, Mario. Semillas andinas. (Andean Seeds.) Lima: Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnologa, CONCYTEC, 1993. Print. Taylor, Gerald. Ritos y tradiciones de Huarochir del siglo XVIII. (Huarochir Rites and Traditions of the 18th Century.) Lima: Instituto de Estudios Peruanos-InstitutoFrancs de Estudios Andinos, 1987. Print. Tello, Julio C. "El fenmeno religioso relacionado con Wiracocha Inca". (The Religious Phenomenon related to Wiracocha Inca.) Revista Trimestral de Estudios Antropolgicos 1 (1923). Print. Valcrcel, Luis E. Historia de la Cultura Antigua del Per. (History of the Ancient Culture of Peru.) Lima: Ministerio de Educacin, 1949. Print. __________________________________________________ Centro Internacional de la Papa - Universidad Mayor San Simn Consorcio para el Desarrollo Sostenible de la Ecorregin Andina, 1996. Print.