Food History: Inca Empire & South America

• The Americas include South and Central America, and the United States of America.
• The Food History of the Americas includes a Pre-Columbian America period, The Columbian Exchange, and history of The United States.
• In order to fully grasp the impact of global cuisine on North America, it is first necessary to understand the impacts of pre-Columbian foods on the globe.

South America: The Inca Empire

• The Inca Empire, also known as the “Sky People,” was located in present-day Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Chile, Columbia, and Argentina.
• Gold represented the “sweat of the sun” to Inti, the god of the sun.
• Walls and buildings were covered in gold, but most of it was melted down by the Spanish conquistadores.
• Machu Picchu was discovered in 1911.

Farming

• Quinoa is referred to as the 'mother grain'.
• Quinoa is native to the Andes, high in protein, and a good source of protein for vegetarians.
• 200 years ago, the German scientist Alexander Humboldt compared quinoa to wine for the Greeks, wheat for the Romans, and cotton for the Arabs.
• Quinoa is resilient to droughts and poor soil and could help boost global food security, according to the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization.
• Potatoes are also found in Peru.
• Potatoes were domesticated between 3700 & 3000 BC.
• Over 4,000 varieties were used by the Inca, who forbade peeling potatoes.
• The Inca invented freeze-dried potatoes (chuños) as insurance against food shortages.
• Various root crops were a significant source of carbohydrates, the potato captured world attention.
• Protein shortages were not uncommon.
• Potatoes were brought to Europe by the Spanish in the 16th century, following the conquest of the Inca Empire.
• They were slow to be adopted in Europe as many regarded potatoes as dangerous which might bring on leprosy, syphilis, narcosis, early death, sterility, nymphomania, and soil destruction.
• Potatoes became widely grown in the US in 1719 and acceptance gradually grew.
• In France in 1771, Antoine-Auguste Parmentier, a chemist and botanist, examined the famine relieving properties of the potato.
• Parmentier convinced Louis XVI to grow them in closely guarded fields.
• French farmers took advantage of a deliberate pause in security, stole the potatoes and grew them on their own land.
• Squash originated in Bolivia and surrounding areas as early as 500 BC; it has many varieties we don't see outside of South America today.
• The male blossom is used in cuisine.

Fruit

• A wide variety of fruits are indigenous to the Andes and slowly becoming more common in North America.
• Native fruits include cape gooseberries, pepinos, tamarillos, and cherimoyas
• Giant Colombian blackberries, and inga pods or ice cream beans are fruits of the Andes.

America: The Aztecs and Mayans

• Mayans farmed efficiently by combining their three staple crops: corn, bean, and squash, this combination is known as the 'three sisters farming.'
• Corn stalks grew straight up and acted as a trellis to support the beans as they wound upwards.
• The squash plant's big, broad leaves kept moisture in the soil.
• Bees also appeared throughout the codices, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, and allspice used for seasoning.
• The Aztecs built their capital city, Tenochtitlan, on an island in the middle of a lake because of a spiritual sign. An eagle landed on a heart-shaped cactus fruit.
• The Aztecs were very powerful, skilled engineers and built roads above the lake water and drained swamps.
• Chinampas, land and irrigation ditches that looked like floating fields, was invented by the Aztecs.
• Vanilla is the only edible member of the orchid family.
• Vanilla originated in the lowland tropical forests of Central America and the northern part of South America.
• Vanilla was used to perfume temples as the Europeans had done in the Middle Ages with cinnamon.
• Vanilla grows on vines that climb supporting, so-called 'tutor' trees.
• Vanilla flowers open one morning for at most 8 hours.
• The flower has to best hand pollinated because it never opens again.
• Nine months later the vine produces long green pods.
• The word corn first used to describe any grain, like barley or wheat.
• The Americans use the word maize to describe corn on the cob. This word came from the Spanish, who learned it from the indigenous tribes of the Caribbean.
• Corn was domesticated in central Mexico by 3400 BC.
• It became a basic crop which spread north into the American southwest and south to the Inca empire.
• Chicha – corn beer

Corn Uses

• Corn is used to make tamales and tacos.
• Huitlacoche is a fungus known as "Mexican Truffles" and grows on the ear of the corn and is considered a delicacy.
• Farmers hate it as it's considered blight because it destroys the corn.

Varieties

• Cornmeal.
• Hominy (used for masa harina).
• Grits.
• The cacao tree was one of the most important and considered to spring from the maize god's body.
• Chocolate was the beverage of nobles, warriors and Aztec emperors, and served after a banquet with tobacco to smoke for male bonding
• Chile peppers are the number one spice in the world.
• Chile peppers originated in Bolivia 7,000 years ago and were domesticated 4,000 years ago.
• The Inca, Maya, and Aztecs natives of now American Southwest seasoned their food with chile peppers.
• After the Columbian Exchange, many cultivars of chili pepper spread were cultivated and spread across the world, used for both food and traditional medicine.
• China is currently the #1 producer, producing half of the world supply.
• Chile peppers were brought to Spain in 1493 and Chilies were grown as botanical curiosities in monasteries. -Christian monks experimented with the culinary potential; pungency offered a substitute for black peppercorns. Chili peppers spread to Asia with Portuguese traders.
• Spice trade routes then dominated by Portuguese and Arab traders. Introduced in India by the Portuguese towards the end of 15th century.
• Today chilies are an integral part of Indian and Southeast Asian cuisines.

North America: Cahokia

• A city of huge pyramids rose from the flat lands on the banks of the Mississippi river in 700 CE, just east of present day St. Louis. It was the centre of pre-Colombian North America.
• The city had 100 flat top pyramid mounds, aligned with the rising and setting sun, and constellations.
• Cahokia reached a population of 10,000 – 20,000. In 1250 it was larger than London, England.
• The city was wiped out by European diseases spread by the Spanish from Mexico. By the time Americans reached the Mississippi in 18th century, Cahokia was a ghost town. This would then happen to the Inca, Aztecs and other indigenous peoples
• Common Native American Foods: A) Succotash, B) Bean Bread, C) Fry Bread, D: Baked Acorn Squash, E: Fish and Corn Mush, F: Baked Beans

The Columbian Exchange

• Standard Spanish onboard food would have been mostly dried or salted: rice, and dried chickpeas; beef pork, anchovies and sardines preserved in salt.
• Casks of olive oil; enough wine to provide each man with 1 1/2 litres ration each day.
• Hardtack = unleavened, a rock-hard flour, water and salt biscuit which was more hospitable to weevils & parasites. Supplemented with any fresh fish they caught.
• Dried fruit, if any, was for the officers and there were no vegetables.
• No cook on board, crew took turns cooking the midday meal over a fogon, an open iron box.
• Aboriginals had no immunity to European diseases, not even the common cold.
• The stage was set for one of the most devastating population annihilations.
• Smallpox was believed to be carried by one of Columbus's crew and spread like wildfire in early 1500's.
• Pre-contact estimates over 10-113 million Native Americans were living in the Americas.
• By 1900 the estimated population was under 300,000.
• Native Americans were subjected to different forms of violence, all with the intention of destroying the community.
• In the late 1800s, blankets from smallpox patients were distributed to Native Americans to spread disease.
• Wars and violence were encouraged; European settlers were paid for each Penobscot person they killed.
• Food Systems were intentionally destroyed. Residential School systems destroyed families and culture. In the 20th century, civil rights violations were common, and discrimination continues to this day.
• Plant and animal cross-overs includes from Europe, Africa & Asia to the Americas
  • Animals: Cat, Cattle, Chicken, Dog, Donkey, Goat, Horse, Pig, Rat, Sheep
  • Grains & Legumes: Barley, Chickpeas, Lentil, Oats, Rice, Rye, Sugar Cane, Wheat
  • Vegetables, Herbs, Spices & Fruits: Lettuce, Mustard, Nutmeg, Olive, Onion, Parley, Pepper-black, Radish, Sage, Salad greens, Sesame, Soy, Turnip, and Yam
• Plant and animal cross-overs includes FROM THE AMERICAS TO EUROPE
  • Animals: Turkey, Muscovy Duck
  • Vegetables & Spices: Allspice, Amaranth, Beans -green, Jicama, Peppers, bell, Peppers, hot, Potatoes, sweet, Potatoes, white, Squash, incl. pumpkin, Sunflower, Vanilla
    • Fruits: Avocado, Blueberry, Cacao, Cranberry, Tomato, Papaya, Pineapple, strawberry
    • Grain, legumes, medicine, nuts: Beans, kidney, lima, navy,Cashew, Corn (maize), Peanut, Quinoa, Tobacco, Wild rice (a grain, not rice)
• Paella refers to the pan in which it is cooked. Classic ingredients are Old World rice, several kinds of meat, olive oil, and saffron, with New World green beans, tomato, and paprika -The introduction of chocolate, coffee, and tea into Europe caused a rise in demand for sugar. The availability of sugar increased the demand for chocolate, coffee and tea. A sugar spiral developed: as sugar became more available, its price dropped and it became more available to more people. What had been a medicine for the rich in the Middle Ages was a staple for even the poor by the middle of the eighteenth century. -The Triangle Trade
• The Caribbean: sugar and rum from the Caribbean to Europe, goods from Europe to Africa, slaves from Africa to the Caribbean.
• American: molasses shipped from the Caribbean to New England, where it was processed into rum, then the rum was traded for slaves in Africa, the slaves were sold in the Caribbean, molasses was shipped to New England and the whole process was repeated. -American Revolution: April 1775-

1783. Declaration of Independence (Thomas Jefferson) drafted June 1776, and delivered to Great Britain November 1776

• KEY DATES IN HISTORY: War of 1812: against the British trying to cutoff supply lines to the French Civil War 1861-1865 - State rights vs. federal rights, slavery, abolitionism World War I & II, 1960 Civil Rights Movement, 1964 segregation was stopped, ,1961 Cuba and U.S.A. – nuclear conflict climax of the Cold War, 1961 Man in space, 1963 death of John F. Kennedy, Vietnam war 1962 -Slavery was practiced from the 1500's through 1800's throughout North America, South America and the Caribbean including in British North America (now called Canada).

• More than 4,000 enslaved people of African descent were forcibly brought to the land now called Canada.

• As early as 1793 Upper Canada, which is now Ontario passed an act to gradually end the practice of slavery.

• The Slave Trade across the British Empire was abolished in 1807, slavery was abolish in 1834 in the British Empire -Since Upper Canada (now Ontario) as a country abolished slavery, it was a destination for those escaping slavery.

• Windsor, Kingston & Niagara were all terminus of the underground railroad

• Approx. 30-40 thousand former enslaved African Americans reached Canada between 1800 – 1860.

• Buxton in Ontario is an Underground Railroad community deemed the most successful of all planned settlements for Black refugees escaping slavery in the United States.

• Rapid infusion of ethnicities from all around the world Exposure to wide diversity of religions are factors in America the "Melting Pot", which includes a broadened holiday spectrum, regional distinctions in food specialties fading, the norm becoming "Fusion" food, and and gap between urban and rural setting.

• The rationale for the Citizens United Ruling was summarized by Justice Anthony Kennedy as a case in which limiting "independent political spending" from corporations and other groups violates the First Amendment right to free speech.

• The justices who voted with the majority assumed that independent spending cannot be corrupt and that the spending would be transparent, but both assumptions have proven to be incorrect.

Regional Cuisines

• Northeast: NativeAmericans, Pilgrims, BritishIsles
• Southern: England, Africa, France, Spain, Caribbean
• Midwest: Britain, Scandinavian, German, Italian
• Southwest: Spanish, Mexico
• SPECIALTIES include Boston brown bread, Boston cream pie, Apple Pie, Boston/Manhattan clam chowder - Tomato based, Grits - thick cornmeal porridge,Red-eye gravy – drippings from fried ham, coffee, Biscuits More SPECIALTIES: Hush puppies, Pralines,Cajun cuisine, Gumbo, Jambalaya, Beignets, Creole cuisine, Tortilla

Beverages

• Coffee and Soft drinks (Coca Cola, Pepsi), Bear And Bourbon
• FAST FOOD CHAINS 2016 SALES:McDonald's ($36.4 billion), Starbucks Coffee ($17.9 billion),Subway ($11.3 billion),Taco Bell ($9.4 billion),Burger King ($9.3 billion,Wendys ($9.1 billion),Dunkin' Donuts ($8.2 billion),Chick-fil-A ($7.9 billion) etc

Explore the rich food history of the Inca Empire in South America, including their reverence for quinoa, known as the 'mother grain'. Learn about their use of gold, the discovery of Machu Picchu, and more.