Abstract:
In the Andes of South America, native Quechua, Aymara, and other communities live that have cultivated Andean grains since ancient times with a wide genetic diversity and adaptation, highly nutritious with an ideal balance of essential amino acids and enhanced lysine content, exceptional vitamins and minerals such as quinoa (Chenopodium quinoa Willd.); kiwicha (Amaranthus caudatus L.); cañihua (Chenopodium pallidicaule Aellen); native maize (Zea mays L.); tarwi (Lupinus mutabilis Sweet) among other foods such as tubers, roots, fruit trees, and native animals are used with highly diversified indigenous diet preparation systems, maintaining their nutritional properties since they are steamed and naturally cooked using clay pots, where exclusive flavors and aromas are preserved. The research was carried out over 20 years, and the research methodology used was accompaniment and exchange of knowledge with information flow and an ethnographic approach (continuous ethnobotanical-anthropological exploration, with bilateral and multilateral exchange of ancestral knowledge and wisdom) in Andean communities, during twenty agricultural campaigns (2005 to 2025), obtaining complete information on traditional ancestral diets which have been recovered, systematized, being those of highest consumption and with exceptional preparation, most of them steamed, using tender leaves and boiled Andean grain seeds, among them we have: The Paruja (quinoa with llama blood), Muccu (pastry with llama meat), P'esque (cooked and crumbled quinoa grains), Kispiño (steamed buns of different shapes: Kapi, turucha, mululcito), Tacti (fried bun with quinoa flour and llama fat), Phisara (granulated quinoa grain), Juchacha (soup of ground quinoa), katahui (quinoa pudding with lime), Phiri (whole toasted quinoa flour moistened), Q'usa (quinoa chicha with macerated ayrampo), Ullphu (drink with toasted quinoa flour), Kaswira (fried quinoa bun with llama fat and katahui), Lawa (pudding of raw quinoa flour, lime, and llama fat), Chiwa (tender quinoa leaves as vegetables). These traditional foods also show healing properties, making it necessary to spread the preparation of these diets in cities in the country and abroad, in communities where this knowledge has eroded and been lost, by publishing recipe books and providing practical preparation courses and disseminating through oral and written communication, with support from governmental and non-governmental organizations.
Keywords: Andean Grains, Andes, Indigenous Diets, Traditional Foods.
