NEW FOODS IN THE SOUTHERN NEW WORLD

127 CHAPTER 13 NEW FOODS IN THE SOUTHERN NEW WORLD A mountain climate means frost, and hail, and storms, against which desirable domesticated plants should be able to protect them- selves . . . [R]oot crops provide the remedy to those conditions, and among them the potato is preeminent. Sophia D. Coe (1994) 1 IN SOUTH AMERICA, as in Mesoamerica, hunter-gatherers encountered those many diffi culties that eventually thrust practically everybody into sedentary agriculture. Around 11,000 years ago people in the Andean region were large-animal hunters, employing fl uted points to bring down the giant sloth or the horse – their preferred prey. As these animals became extinct, fl uted points disappeared and were replaced by others that indicate a switch to smaller game – deer, camelids, birds, rodents, and the like. Gath- ered foods such as amaranth and chenopodium seeds (especially quinoa) supplemented the diet, along with beans and white and sweet potatoes. Archeological evidence in the Andean region from around 9,000 years ago, however, indicates some sidling toward sedentism. There was increase in the number of camelid bones that, in turn, suggests the beginning of camelid herding, which eventually begat the domesticated llama ( Lama glama) and alpaca ( Lama pacos). These wild South American members of the camel family were serious sources of food in the Andean highlands of Peru and Bolivia and may have been domesticated for their fl esh as well as for their labor, that fl esh freeze-dried to become charqui, which lasts 128 A Movable Feast indefi nitely. Native Americans who kept llamas and alpacas did not milk them, however, which meant they passed up a good source of protein. Lac- tose intolerance is often the explanation offered but even the lactose intol- erant can consume milk products such as cheese or yogurt in moderation. 2 Guinea pigs ( Cavia porcellus) were trapped and eventually became domesticates as did Muscovy ducks ( Cairina moschata). Muscovy is a mis- nomer for this tropical American duck, which has no special association with Moscow, but is a duck that can mate and produce offspring with the common duck ( Anas platyrhaynchos), even though the offspring are not able to reproduce. By the time of the conquest, the Muscovy duck could be found from Argentina to Mexico and the Caribbean, and although the turkey was a fowl competitor in Mexico, it had no such competition in South America. 3 Unlike the common duck, wild Muscovies roost in trees, although their truly domesticated counterparts cannot fl y. In the Americas the birds were kept for their fl esh, their eggs, and especially for their badly needed fat. Like so many other American foods, Muscovy ducks also wound up in sixteenth-century Europe although the names they acquired like “Turkish” duck in Germany, bird from the “Barbary Coast” in France, or Muscovy for that matter, show near-total confusion about the bird’s origin. It was in France, that the Muscovy and the common duck were crossed to produce the mulard duck, whose hypertrophied livers are, along with goose livers, the makings of pâté de foie gras. 4 Plant foods overshadowed the few domesticated animals of the Andean region by a considerable margin. In fact, there were more than fi fty South American plants domesticated by pre-Columbian peoples and four of these – white potatoes, sweet potatoes, manioc, and peanuts – today rank among the world’s most valued crops. 5 In the Andes, where mountain climates at the higher altitudes can spell disaster for above-ground crops, it is not surprising that underground crops such as potatoes were highly valued. White potatoes ( Solanum tuberosum), the fourth most important of the world’s food crops today and the major highland crop of the Andes, were probably domesticated in the neighborhood of Lake Titicaca at least 5,000 years ago (although the Chilean lowlands also claim a potato sub-species). Icy temperatures at night, alternating with the heat of the day, made it possible to freeze-dry them for storage, an ingenious process of freezing, soaking, and drying used to make chuño, a processed food that would keep well for several years. 6 New Foods in the Southern New World 129 The Pizarro expedition reached Peru to fi nd potato (initially they thought it a white truffl e) cultivation widespread throughout the Andean region, along with what might be termed a “potato culture.” The Aymara people, for example, calculated time in terms of how long it took to boil a potato. 7 Curiously, however, at the time of the conquest white potatoes, unlike sweet potatoes and maize, were not widely dispersed elsewhere in the Americas and, in fact, even after the conquest they were slow to move about despite the wide range in which they can grow, and despite their health-giving properties. Of the world’s major staples – potatoes, corn, rice, and wheat – the potato provides by far the most nutrients and the most meals per acre. It also delivers variety, although North Americans, with only eight varieties of potatoes readily available to them, might not think so. But in Peru there are countless kinds – breakfast potatoes, luncheon potatoes, supper pota- toes, dessert potatoes – all with different colors, shapes, and tastes. The sweet potato ( Ipomoea batatas) by most reports was domesti cated in Peru at about the same time as the white potato, although remains of what may have been a domesticated sweet potato have been dated to around 10,000 years ago. 8 If they were a domesticated plant at that point, sweet potatoes would rank among the very fi rst food crops to be cultivated anywhere in the world. Such an antiquity may be hinted at by the more than 150 varieties of sweet potatoes that were under cultivation when the Spaniards fi rst reached the Andean region. But the antiquity of its domestication is by no means the only controversy this mysterious plant has sparked. As we discuss in Chapter 13, sweet pota- toes are also suspected of somehow fi nding their way to Australia, New Zealand, and many of the Pacifi c Islands long before the Europeans reached the Americas – let alone remote (for them) Oceania. 9 Oca or occa ( Oxalis tuberosa) a root crop second only to potatoes in the Andes, has the virtue of growing at altitudes where potatoes will not. The Oxalis 130 A Movable Feast part of its scientifi c name means “acid” in Greek but, fortunately, the acidic taste of its tubers vanishes after a few days of sun-drying. Oca only became one of the globe-trotting Andean plants in the nineteenth century, when it was taken to Europe to supplement the potato. This did not prove success- ful but oca next moved on to New Zealand, where it did catch on. Today it is commercially cultivated as the “New Zealand yam.” 10 Arracacha ( Arracacia xanthorrhiza), apparently domesticated before the potato, is another Andean staple. Although related to celery, parsnips, and carrots, it is the only member of this family with a New World pedigree. Sometimes called the “Peruvian carrot,” it grows carrot-like roots that replace the potato in some mountainous areas because it costs less to plant and har- vest. At one time or another arracacha spread throughout Latin America as far north as Costa Rica, and to Cuba and Haiti in the Caribbean. 11 Other plants also migrated within the Americas. Sweet potatoes, as already mentioned, were in the Caribbean and were a Maya comestible when Columbus arrived. Evidence indicates that although maize is of greatest antiquity in Mesoamerica, it reached Ecuador by both land and sea routes. In fact, if maize was slow to move northward out of Meso- america it moved in the other direction like lightening, reaching the Andes as early as 6000 BCE , where it must have been subjected to those breeding trials and errors that, as in Mexico, gradually increased the size of the ear and made the plant more adaptable. On the south coast of Ecuador, peoples who had previously been hunt- ers, fi shers, and gatherers began to specialize in growing the grain. By about 1,000 BCE , maize cultivation had spread into the Amazon region and to the Orinoco fl oodplains to stimulate the growth of populations and the con- comitant development of stratifi ed societies. 12 Later, maize was a favored foodstuff of the Incas, who used it in a variety of ways, not the least of which was to mass-produce a beer they called chicha. 13 After maize, the preferred grain of the Andean region was quinoa ( Che- nopodium quinoa) – a high altitude plant of the goosefoot or pigweed family that today is planted from Columbia to Chile and Argentina. Its seeds are toasted and made into a porridge. But, although delicious and nutritious (with an average protein yield higher than that of wheat and a better array of essential amino acids), quinoa, unlike maize, has never traveled outside of its American homeland. 14 A relative of quinoa, cañihua ( Chenopodium pallidicaule), raised in the mountains of southern Peru and Bolivia, is used much like quinoa and, because it is tolerant of frost and dry soils, does New Foods in the Southern New World 131 better at even higher altitudes. Also known as quañiwa and cañahua, botanists believe that its domestication is not yet complete. 15 Getting back to underground crops, although there is evidence of the peanut being grown in Peru some 3,000 to 4,000 years ago, the plant is believed to have been fi rst domesticated in that region where modern-day Paraguay borders with southwestern Brazil. Not a nut at all, but a tropical legume that develops underground (hence the name “groundnut”), the pea- nut had done considerable diffusing by the time of the Columbian voyages, so that it was being cultivated in Hispaniola when the explorer came ashore. The Spanish and Portuguese subsequently introduced peanuts to all of the world’s tropics. 16 Manioc (from manihot in the Tupi language of Brazil) is also known as “cassava,” (from the Arawak kasibi), and “yucca,” (from the Carib Indian word), and may have initially been domesticated in central Brazil. How- ever, other likely possibilities are the lowland tropical forests of Ecuador, Venezuela, and Columbia. The Caribbean islands and Central America, too, have been put forward as candidates. Manioc is a perennial plant grown mostly for its starchy roots that weigh from a pound or two to over six pounds, although young shoots and leaves are also edible. Manioc griddles dating from approximately 4,000 to 2,000 years ago have been found at sites along the Orinoco river – fi nds that do not necessarily dispute those who believe that manioc domestication took place as many as 7,000 years ago. Generally thought of as a lowland tropical crop, manioc was suffi ciently adaptable to achieve important food status in the Andean region, where it was grown in valleys as high as 6,000 feet above sea level. Manioc defi es drought and insects and its cyanide content discourages root-digging animals, but not human animals who somehow discovered how to render its tubers edible. It was a complex process of removing the poison by heating, scraping, and leaching that made this tuber a sta- ple throughout much of South and Central America and, of course, the Caribbean. 17 It was on the day after Christmas in 1492 that a local chief treated Columbus to a manioc feast on Hispaniola, 18 and in his log the explorer (who thought the tubers were a kind of turnip) provided a partial description of manioc preparation: “They shred those turnips on certain 132 A Movable Feast stones that look like cheese graters . . . then they put on the fi re a very large stone on top of which they place that grated root, and they shape it in the form of a cake and use it as bread and it keeps for fi fteen to twenty days, which bread several times was very handy for us.” 19 As a matter of fact, manioc was so handy that it became the bread of the American conquest. 20 It is easy to grow and prepare and, best of all, when dried, it keeps for several years, making it an ideal ration for military and naval activities.” 21 Following the conquest, manioc became the most important staple in sixteenth-century Brazil, eaten by both masters and slaves settled along the coast. When the Dutch invaded the northeast of that Portuguese colony in the following century, they mastered the tech- niques of sugar production and discovered manioc’s usefulness for feeding sugar slaves. Later, after they were driven out of Brazil, the Dutch took what was now known as the “Brazilian system” to the Caribbean, where manioc became a part of the slave diet there as well. 22 Other root crops were ullucu ( Ullucus tuberosus), and añu ( Tropaeolum tuberosum), probably domesticated before the potato but today little known outside of South America. As in Mesoamerica, the tubers of jícama were eaten for their crunchy sweet taste in South America, as were ajipa tubers ( Pachyrhizus ahipa). The fl eshy rhizomes of achira ( Canna edulis) were an ingredient in Andean Valley stewpots, and the yellow paste made from them is now marketed from Chile to Venezuela and the Caribbean and in places light-years away from achira’s homeland, such as Java and Viet Nam. 23 A fi nal, little known underground plant – the American taro ( Xantho- soma sagittifolium synonym ϭ X. violaceum) – is thought to have been a South America native originating in its Caribbean lowlands. From there it spread throughout the northwestern portion of that continent and into the Caribbean Islands and Central America, eons before Columbus learned how to sail. It was one of the fi rst American plants described by the Span- iards, who noted that it was cultivated for its stem and heart leaves (later called callaloo by the slaves). Named yautía by the Tainos (a term that Puerto Ricans continue to use), American taro became malanga or tan(n)ia for most everybody else. The Portuguese and Spaniards carried malanga to West Africa where (wrongly called a coco yam) it became a food of some consequence, often used in the preparation of the regional dish “fufu.” It also hived out to tropical Asia to be united with the other taros and widely cultivated in Malaysia, Indonesia, and the South Pacifi c Islands. 24 New Foods in the Southern New World 133 Vegetables and fruits rounded out the diet. As noted previously, South America is home to several cucurbits, among them the crookneck and winter squash as well as achokcha ( Cyclanthera pedata) – used in soups and stews. Similarly, the pineapple is of South American origin as is the papaya, the melon pear or pepino dulce ( Solanum muricatum), the tree tomato ( Cyphomandra betacea), and the naranjilla or little orange ( Sola- num quitoenses). 25 Steady improvements in South American plant yields encouraged pop- ulation growth and, not unexpectedly, archeological sites have revealed the same kinds of skeletal evidence of poor health and lowered life expectancy that accompanied population increases in Mesoamerica. 26 Villages grew into towns, and by 2500 BCE , organized, stratifi ed civilizations had devel- oped to (among other things) undertake the construction of large temple mounds. The Chavin culture began to dominate the eastern Andes around 1000 BCE . It fl ourished from a major religious center at Chavin de Huantar until 200 BCE and is known to history for its architecture, large stone sculptures, and, from an agricultural point of view, its canal building. 27 With the eclipse of the Chavin culture, regional cultures prospered for a few centuries, but by 200 of the Common Era, the southern por- tion of coastal Peru was under the domination of the Nazca culture (responsible for the mysterious “Nazca lines” etched in the desert) while, at the same time, the Moche culture (with its famous Temple of the Sun) achieved a similar dominance in the north. The social and religious organization needed for massive projects like the Temple of the Sun meant that agricultural surpluses were routinely produced, and in Peru, as elsewhere, populations grew into a kind of “critical mass,” the kind that ushers militarism toward center stage while imperialism waits in the wings. 28 Around the year 500, the centralized Huari empire was established. From its capital of the same name (located a little south and on the oppo- site side of the Andes from present-day Lima) expansion took place behind a well-organized military organization that was as good at occupying new territories as it was in conquering them. A couple of hundred years later, the Chimú empire arose on the north coast, while in the south, the popu- lous city of Tiahuanaco on the southeastern edge of Lake Titicaca, (which had been a cultural and religious center from about the time the Huari Empire), came into being. 29 134 A Movable Feast These were the civilizations that the Incas learned much from and began to knit together in the early fi fteenth century. A two-tiered agricultural sys- tem developed to fuel Inca enterprises in which much prestige was accord- ed maize grown in irrigated fi elds, and the now lowly potato was relegated to a food for the masses. 30 The Huari had built roads, but nothing like the thousands of miles of roads constructed by the Incas to bind the empire together. The Chimú may have had a complex and centralized bureaucracy, but that of the Incas controlled every aspect of human life with policies such as taxation, compulsory military service, forced labor, and administra- tion at the local level. Tiahuanaco may have been a place of pilgrimage, but in the Inca capital at Cuzco dwelled the Inca, the son of the sun. In the Andean region, as in Mesoamerica, we have already noted that agriculture and increased sedentism brought a substantial deterioration in health. We should also note that, as in Mesoamerica, the skeletons of those who relied intensively on maize consumption in South America refl ect evidence of arrested growth in childhood, iron-defi ciency anemia, and poor dental health. 31 Yet, poor health was not the lot of all South Americans. By way of anoth- er exception that proves the rule, the healthiest ancient skeletal population turned up so far in a study of health and nutrition in the Western Hemisphere represents individuals living on Brazil’s south coast from about 1000 BCE to 1000 AD . Like so many of their North American counterparts they enjoyed this good health because they remained hunter- gatherers – actually, fi sher- men and shell fi shers – who produced highly visible mounds while consuming a varied and protein-rich diet. 32 Not surprisingly, the Spaniards – for whom beggars on the streets, fre- quent famines, and outright starvation were omnipresent facts of life at home – took little notice of the malnourished nature of the New World people they conquered. Why should they when the nutritional conditions in Spain for the average person were sometimes little better? However, the Spaniards were much impressed with the vast storehouses of food main- tained by the Aztecs and the Incas as a hedge against years of poor harvests, correctly understanding that such storehouses, brimming with grains and dried meats, were sources of enormous power. They were less impressed with some of the other things to eat such as insects and human fl esh, and completely unaware that American malnutrition had joined with Eurasian diseases to pave the road for a successful conquest. . mountains of southern Peru and Bolivia, is used much like quinoa and, because it is tolerant of frost and dry soils, does New Foods in the Southern New World. well for several years. 6 New Foods in the Southern New World 129 The Pizarro expedition reached Peru to fi nd potato (initially they thought it a white truffl