Neoliberal Policies and Gastropolitics

However, it is important to note that global neoliberal capitalism and politics play a huge role in how we are directed to look at and address food security among various populations—primarily the marginalized and poor peoples of the world. Solving world hunger is more than just growing and producing enough food. Rather, food sovereignty is more relevant when seeking to solve the problems of a world that doesn’t produce enough nutritionally beneficial food to eat. “Ecoliteracy”—local ecological knowledge—especially that of indigenous women, is often overlooked by industrial agriculture in the rush to produce maximum yields. For the Quechuan people, the idea that culture and nature are inextricable—that their inter-relatedness and knowledge of the environment in which they live is what has accorded them the ability, despite the challenges of the Andean environment, to not only survive but also to thrive for thousands of years.

This is why food sovereignty is so important for indigenous cultures. Recognizing the importance of quinoa’s uses and biodiversity, the United Nations instituted a $2.9 million program that included public, private and academic sectors to study and share quinoa’s many uses declaring 2013 at “the International Year of Quinoa”. It evolved from the government of Peru’s shaping of their gastro-politics which began in the 1990s constructing a national “Peruvian Heritage Cuisine”. Poverty and nutritional deprivation is high for indigenous populations in Peru. 48% of schoolchildren suffer from chronic malnutrition according to Jacobsen et al. In addition, malnutrition can be as high as 67% in rural areas. This is important to keep in mind when Peru constructs an image of indigenous culture and gastronomy that they export to the world in order to encourage tourism to Peru. Tourism has brought economic benefits to Peru but also many problems. In  constructing a “heritage cuisine” based on indigenous foods serves to lift up and highlight indigenous peoples while at the same time covering up the long history of systemic racism and marginalization of these people.

The Quechuan peoples have a history of food sovereignty and activism. They are adaptive survivors just like their mother grain, quinoa, is. They adopt certain western practices that will benefit them while maintaining their kinship and relationship with the environment. They have maintained and nurtured this ancient grain that is so genetically diverse and valuable yet they are seen only for what can be extracted from them. The world is slowly waking up to the importance of gatekeepers of ancient wisdom and knowledge—the Quechuans are prime examples of gatekeepers—especially the women. Quechuan Women have historical, indigenous wisdom about which varieties of seed will do well, where. They also know the best purposes for each variety—besides food, quinoa can be used to make medicinals, flour, beer, used in ritual meals, as a means to barter or market. Over multiple centuries and changing microenvironments, the Quechuan peoples have produced over 3,000 landraces and about 100 cultivars of quinoa. (Seligman, 2023) Peruvian quinoa is genetic gold in today’s rapidly declining biological and ecological world.

Western Agri-business is an exploitive and extractive process that focuses on monoculture which destroys genetic diversity as well as the soil. It is disconnected from nature which it views in terms of economic exploitation. In opposition to this, the Quechuan peoples believe in the interrelatedness of nature and humans. Interrelatedness is having responsibilities—kinship—not only with other humans but other species—even rocks streams, trees, etc. All are considered sentient beings worthy of respect, nurturing and care.  According to FAO, 75% of food consumed by humans comes from just 12 plant source and five animal sources. Furthermore, since the 1900s, 75% of genetic plant diversity in agriculture has been lost due to traditional farmers abandoning their practices for more modern agricultural practices. For example, in Thailand 16,000 varieties of rice were once cultivated— today that number is down to just 37 varieties.  https://www.fao.org/3/y5609e/y5609e02.htm#:~:text=*%20Since%20the%201900s%2C%20some%2075,uniform%2C%20high%2Dyielding%20varieties. These facts help us to understand how imperative it is to support and maintain indigenous practices of farming. Understanding what has been lost forever helps us to understand how much more precious Peruvian quinoa, and specifically Indigenous practices and knowledge is at this point in time. Not only is quinoa a valuable food source, it is also a valuable genetic resource. The biodiversity of the Andean regions is a precious global resource, constituting 7-10% of the total species worldwide. This diversity is the result of indigenous farming practices and management of resources that has created landraces, pure lines and modern cultivars that has provided sufficient food and a modest living for most. (Jacobsen et al, 2003) Their deeply ingrained knowledge of which plants to grow, what environments suit which crop best, and their practice of being one with nature has preserved a precious resource that could benefit the peoples of South America as well as the rest of the world.

It is the Indigenous peoples’ adaptability as well as quinoa’s that has been key to their survival.

Landraces are “a local variety of a domesticated plant species that has developed largely through adaptation to the natural and cultural environment in which it lives.” Landraces are groupings of varietals—altogether there are about 3000 varieties of quinoa grouped together in anywhere from 24 to 131 landraces. (Seligmann, 2023) This in turn produces stability as the plants that survive are those that naturally adapt to adverse conditions. Quinoa, which has been cultivated in Peru anywhere from 3,000 to 5,000 BCE according to FAO, most likely survived the European invasion because of its adaptiveness to abiotic stress and ability to thrive at high altitudes so when the invaders took over arable land to grow wheat, rye and oats for export, the indigenous peoples continued to practice their deeply rooted, knowledge-based methods of farming which included growing quinoa.