Solanum Traditio

Collaborative interdisciplinary project by interdisciplinary performance artist Emilio Santisteban. Part of the collective and curatorial project 9.000 km. Häppchen, Vienna, October 2015.

Solanum traditio is a collaborative project with a multidisciplinary team from Cusco and Lima, Peru. It takes the potato as its central focus (in testimonial videos, written articles and informative images), as an allegory, or perhaps metaphor, for issues implicit in global culture in the current process of globalisation with a critical migratory emphasis.

9000 km Häppchen - wanderndes Wissen, the exhibition of which Solanum Traditio is a part, is a curatorial collective project, part of a larger set of projects at the SOHO festival in Ottakring, Vienna, consisting of community discussions and artistic-scientific actions in the 16th district of the city of Vienna. It addresses the ignored knowledge of non-Western cultures (indigenous ecofacts in use in Europe), cultural hybridity as a product of global migration and post-colonial discourse. With the participation of Hansel Sato (Peru/Austria), Carla Bobadilla (Chile/Austria), Baduc Gibaja (Peru/Austria), Marija Mojca Pungerčar (Slovenia), Sandra Monterroso (Guatemala/Austria), Emilio Santisteban (Peru).

Solanum Traditio:
"© Emilio Santisteban, artist.
© Lizet Díaz (Lima). Art historian and cultural heritage manager. Director of Q'asapi Cultural Association.
© Luis Justino Lizárraga (Cusco). Director and Chief Researcher of the Regional Centre for Andean Biodiversity Research, Cusco.
© Daniel Huamán Masi (Cusco). Principal Investigator at the Regional Centre for Andean Biodiversity Research, Cusco.
© Team of researchers at the Regional Centre for Andean Biodiversity Research, San Antonio Abad National University, Cusco.
© Tania Castro (Cusco). Playwright, actress and researcher in ancestral culture, collaborator at Casa de la Cultura de San Blas in Cusco.
© Marco Chevarría (Cusco). Lawyer, Unesco researcher in property rights in genetic resources.
© Ronald Romero (Cusco). Chef, researcher in ancestral cuisines.

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Solanum Traditio interviene críticamente el campo expandido de la performance contemporánea, operando simultáneamente como investigación colaborativa, archivo vivo y dispositivo de visibilización epistémica. Desarrollado para el festival SOHO in Ottakring en Viena (2015), el proyecto propone la globalización como no occidental mediante la papa como significante político, científico y cultural.

La obra anticipa performances de cuerpo no humano que Santisteban propondrá en años siguientes. Aquí, el tubérculo es agente histórico: Solanum tuberosum como tecnología que precede en miles de años a la agricultura europea, como producto de sofisticadas prácticas de domesticación que generaron miles de variedades, como evidencia material de conocimientos indígenas sistemáticamente invisibilizados por las narrativas del progreso.

El proyecto reúne especialistas de Cusco y Lima —historiadores del arte, biólogos, abogados, chefs, investigadores de cultura ancestral— en una constelación interdisciplinaria ajena a la compartimentación académica occidental. Esta metodología colaborativa constituye el núcleo performativo de la obra. Al convocar saberes científicos, jurídicos, gastronómicos y cosmológicos andinos en un mismo plano epistemológico, Solanum Traditio performa la integralidad del conocimiento indígena frente a la fragmentación disciplinaria moderna.

La dimensión jurídica del proyecto resulta particularmente incisiva. Marco Chevarría documenta cómo, desde el siglo XVI, la papa ha sustentado la seguridad alimentaria global sin que los pueblos andinos hayan recibido reconocimiento ni beneficios económicos. La Unión Europea registra más de 1,600 variedades y 16,481 patentes de obtención vegetal derivados del germoplasma andino, mientras campesinos cusqueños que conservan más de 3,000 variedades ancestrales de papa viven en condiciones de precariedad. Esta asimetría no es accidental: es estructural al capitalismo extractivista que privatiza conocimientos colectivos mediante patentes biotecnológicas.

Solanum Traditio expone críticamente cómo los tratados internacionales (Convenio sobre Diversidad Biológica, Tratado Internacional de la FAO) reconocen retóricamente los "Derechos de los Agricultores" sin implementar mecanismos vinculantes de distribución equitativa de beneficios. La ausencia de certificados de origen obligatorios para recursos genéticos perpetúa la biopiratería legalizada. El proyecto no propone soluciones reformistas sino que visibiliza la complicidad de marcos legales supranacionales con la expropiación continuada de saberes indígenas.

La sección sobre el principio andino del Uyway (crianza mutua) introduce una ontología relacional radicalmente distinta al antropocentrismo extractivista. Tania Castro documenta cómo este principio —"nosotros criamos todo, todo nos cría"— genera prácticas agrícolas, rituales y técnicas de conservación (chuño, moraya, tocosh) que integran dimensiones materiales, afectivas y cosmológicas. El Uyway no es folklore: es epistemología operativa que ha sostenido la agrobiodiversidad andina durante milenios.

Santisteban sitúa esta cosmología en tensión productiva con discursos científicos occidentales. Los textos sobre genética de la papa (Solanum tuberosum stenotomum, S.t. andigena, S.t. chilotanum) coexisten con análisis de representaciones fitomorfas en cerámica Nazca y Moche (Lizet Díaz Machuca), con descripciones de técnicas culinarias prehispánicas, con reflexiones sobre el mito de Huatiacuri. Esta yuxtaposición no busca síntesis armónica sino que performa la irreductibilidad de sistemas de conocimiento inconmensurables.

La obra adelanta críticamente 我们都有吃饭的权利 (Todos tenemos derecho a comer, 2020), donde se aborda la soberanía alimentaria y la justicia distributiva entre especies y entre el ser humano y el conjunto de lo viviente. Solanum Traditio opera en el registro del archivo y la pedagogía crítica, desplazando el activismo del gesto inmediato hacia la construcción de infraestructuras epistémicas.

Asimismo, el proyecto anticipa preocupaciones centrales de Cultivar Trilce, donde Santisteban desarrollará performances de cuerpo no humano en contextos rurales andinos. Solanum Traditio establece las coordenadas teóricas para ese trabajo posterior: la papa como sujeto histórico, la colaboración interdisciplinaria como metodología descolonizadora, la performance como investigación que produce conocimiento y no meramente lo representa.

La presentación en Viena —corazón de la Europa que se benefició de la papa andina desde el siglo XVI— otorga potencia de sentido. El proyecto performa el retorno crítico del conocimiento expropiado, confrontando audiencias europeas con la genealogía colonial de su seguridad alimentaria. Esta estrategia de "repatriación epistémica" invierte flujos extractivistas: no es el Sur que exporta materias primas al Norte, sino el Sur que devuelve al Norte la conciencia de su deuda histórica.

Sin embargo, Solanum Traditio evita el esencialismo identitario. No propone un retorno romántico a purezas precolombinas sino que reconoce la hibridación como condición histórica irreversible. La papa chilotana (S.t. chilotanum) que salvó a Europa de la hambruna del siglo XIX es producto de adaptaciones a climas diversos; las variedades europeas contemporáneas derivan de germoplasma sudamericano. La "tradición" del título (traditio: transmisión, herencia) no es estática sino proceso dinámico de intercambio y transformación.

Esta comprensión procesual de la tradición resuena con la noción de "Chakarunas" (hombres puente) que Castro invoca: sujetos que median entre cosmologías, que traducen sin traicionar, que construyen solidaridades interculturales sin borrar diferencias. Santisteban se posiciona como Chakaruna: artista que transita entre academia occidental y saberes andinos, entre performance contemporánea y ritualidad indígena, entre Lima y Cusco, entre Perú y Europa.

La obra también interroga críticamente las limitaciones del arte contemporáneo para abordar injusticias estructurales. ¿Puede un proyecto artístico en un festival vienés modificar tratados internacionales sobre recursos genéticos? ¿Puede la visibilización cultural compensar siglos de expropiación económica? Solanum Traditio no ofrece respuestas consoladoras. Su potencia reside precisamente en mantener abiertas estas tensiones, en rechazar la clausura prematura que convertiría la denuncia en mercancía simbólica.

En este sentido, el proyecto opera como "infortunio productivo" en términos austinianos que Santisteban ha teorizado en obras como Barrer y Envueltozen. La performance no instaura el communitas deseado —la justicia epistémica y económica para pueblos andinos— pero al fracasar en su intención performativa, expone las condiciones estructurales que imposibilitan dicha justicia. El infortunio no es defecto sino método: hace visible aquello que el éxito performativo ocultaría.

Solanum Traditio constituye así una contribución fundamental al giro decolonial en el arte contemporáneo latinoamericano. Frente a performances que fetichizan la indigeneidad como espectáculo para consumo metropolitano, Santisteban construye infraestructuras de conocimiento que empoderan comunidades andinas. Los textos especializados no son accesorios didácticos sino componentes constitutivos de la obra: el proyecto es simultáneamente performance, investigación científica, intervención jurídica y pedagogía crítica.

La obra también desafía la temporalidad presentista del arte contemporáneo. Al documentar procesos milenarios de domesticación vegetal, al rastrear flujos genéticos a través de siglos, al proyectar futuros de justicia epistémica aún no realizados, Solanum Traditio performa una temporalidad extendida que excede la inmediatez del evento artístico. La performance no ocurre en Viena en 2015: ocurre en los 12,500 años que separan las primeras papas cultivadas en Monte Verde de las variedades contemporáneas, en los siglos de trabajo campesino que generaron agrobiodiversidad, en los futuros posibles donde los Derechos de los Agricultores sean efectivamente implementados.

Finalmente, Solanum Traditio propone la papa como modelo epistemológico para pensar la globalización desde el Sur. Frente a narrativas que sitúan la globalización como fenómeno reciente iniciado por Occidente, el proyecto documenta una globalización no occidental anterior: la diseminación planetaria de tecnologías agrícolas andinas que alimentan hoy a miles de millones de personas. Esta contra-historia no busca invertir jerarquías (glorificar el Sur, demonizar el Norte) sino descentrar el relato hegemónico, multiplicar genealogías, complejizar la comprensión de procesos transnacionales.

En el corpus de Santisteban, Solanum Traditio marca la transición de performances urbanas de intervención directa hacia proyectos rurales de largo aliento, de la crítica a la construcción de alianzas, del cuerpo humano como sitio performativo, incluso por ausencia, hacia cuerpos no humanos (vegetales, territoriales, cosmológicos) como agentes de la performance. Es obra bisagra que redefine los términos de su práctica artística, abriendo horizontes que continuará explorando en Cultivar Trilce y proyectos subsecuentes.

Solanum Traditio no resuelve las contradicciones que expone. No puede hacerlo: son contradicciones estructurales del capitalismo global, del colonialismo persistente, de asimetrías epistémicas sedimentadas en instituciones internacionales. Pero al visibilizarlas con rigor científico, sensibilidad estética y compromiso político, el proyecto genera condiciones de posibilidad para transformaciones futuras. La papa andina, humilde tubérculo convertido en alimento global, deviene así símbolo de resistencias milenarias y solidaridades por venir.

Omni Wix, curador IA

SOLANUM TRADITIO. THE POTATO: MIGRATION OF KNOWLEDGE

The potato is a ubiquitous food in the world thanks to agricultural technology that emerged in the territories of present-day Latin America independently and roughly simultaneously with agriculture in the Ancient Near East. It is a tuber, a thick stalk that accumulates nutrients: a single medium-sized potato contributes 8% of fibre (like 6 plums), 63% of vitamin C (3 pears), 17% of vitamin B1 (a cup of noodles), 13% of B3 (340 grams of pumpkin) to a person's daily requirement, 31% B6 (340 grams of rice), 5% protein (½ cup of milk), 38% potassium (two bananas), 17% phosphorus (3 strips of bacon), 13% iron (100 grams of spinach) and 2% ß-carotene (¼ orange). But this nutritional marvel is not fully natural: it is a modified stem, a wild species made into a cultigen generated by selection and domestication, it is a technical and technological product.

American cultigens originated 10,000 to 14,000 years ago, during the warming that followed the last Wisconsin glaciation. Among the surviving early American crops are pumpkins, beans and maize from Mesoamerica, cassava from the Brazilian Amazon, and potatoes. They were created from inedible wild ancestors between 7,000 and 12,500 years ago, i.e. between 1,000 and 6,500 years before the arrival of agriculture from Asia and Africa to gathering and hunting Europe.

There are archaeological traces of 12,500-year-old primary potato cultivation at the Monte Verde site (present-day Chile), molecular evidence that the oldest surviving cultivated potato (6,000 to 10,000 years ago), Solanum tuberosum stenotomum, was produced from wild potatoes from northern Lake Titicaca (present-day Peru), and archaeological evidence that it was developed by the Viscachani culture settled south of Lake Titicaca (present-day Bolivia) 12,000 years ago. This potato was diversified and intensified in production thanks to the technology of andenes (mountain terraces) introduced in the Central Andes by the Huarpa culture of the Ayacucho region (Peru) 2,200 years ago. First the Tiwanaku Wari empire (1,300 years ago), heir to the Huarpa techniques, and then the Tawantinsuyo empire (577 years ago), which developed its own engineering, took the domestication, production, diversification and territorial and climatic adaptation of the potato to the entire Andean territory from Colombia to Argentina, making the southern Andean area of Peru the area with the highest concentration of varieties to date: In Cusco there are 3,049 ancestral native varieties and six modern varieties monitored and researched by the Regional Research Centre for Andean Biodiversity of the San Antonio Abad National University of Cusco.

This process has woven a complex web of inheritance: genetic studies indicate that S.t. stenotomum potatoes were derived by hybridisation in Solanum ajanhuiri, a sweet potato from frost zones in Peru and Bolivia, and that they were transformed - through adaptation to diverse climates, sexual hybridisation and cloning by selection - into the short-day adapted high altitude potatoes Solanum tuberosum phureja (Colombia, Venezuela, Peru and Bolivia) and Solanum tuberosum andigena (mainly Peru and Bolivia). Similarly, genetic studies indicate that S.t. andigena in turn gave rise - by hybridisation - to the extremely high altitude bitter potatoes Solanum curtilobum growing in Peru and Bolivia, and to the long-day adapted potatoes Solanum tuberosum chilotanum from lowland areas in Chile (also called Solanum tuberosum tuberosum tuberosum).

Colonial Europe started to cultivate potatoes from S.t. andigena in the second half of the 16th century (Canary Islands in 1567 and Seville in 1573). The European blight of Phytophthora infestans in the 1840s extinguished or almost extinguished S.t. andigena, and the potato was revived by the cultivation of S.t. chilotanum, more resistant and better adapted to European days, as well as possibly by the presence of neo-tuberosum (adaptations of S.t. andigena). From South American S.t. chilotanum (and possibly partly neo-tuberosum) all European and other varieties emerged, but in general S.t phureja, S.t andigena and S.t. chilotanum are currently the main genetic sources for potato breeding in the world.

Millenary selection in the late Pleistocene in the south of the South American subcontinent, Altiplano genetic contribution and Andean technologies producing adaptations to different lands, altitudes and climates; potatoes of high altitude and short days turned into potatoes of the plain and long days; potatoes for the world. The potato presents a history of non-Western globalisation of knowledge and technology. It is, before being a natural food resource, a forward tradition: traditio (Lat.) means transmission from the past and into the future, and transmission between peers; inheritance, the enriching essence of all migration. More important than knowing its centre of origin is to understand that it is a metaphor for intercultural solidarity in the world, and a source of admiration and respect for the ancient indigenous peoples and their present-day descendants, peasant or urban, wherever they live.

Emilio Santisteban

Consulted:
Asensio, R. y Cavero Castillo, M. El Parque de la Papa de Cusco. Claves y dilemas para el escalamiento de innovaciones rurales en los Andes (1998-2011). Instituto de Estudios Peruanos, Lima, 2012.
Bonifacio, A.; Ramos, P.; Alcon, M.; Gabriel, J. «Solanum x curtilobum Juz. et Buk.: papa amarga cultivada con potencial para el mejoramiento genético». En Revista Latinoamericana de la Papa. Vol. 17. 2013.
Instituto Nacional de Salud, Centro Nacional de Alimentación y Nutrición. Tablas peruanas de Composición de Alimentos. Ministerio de Salud del Perú. 2009.
Morales Garzón, F. «Sociedades precolombinas asociadas a la domesticación y cultivo de la papa (Solanum tuberosum) en Sudamérica». En Revista Latinoamericana de la Papa. 2007.
Rodríguez, L.E. «Teorías sobre la clasificación taxonómica de las papas cultivadas (Solanum L. sect. Petota Dumort.). Una revisión». En Agronomía Colombiana, n° 27. Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Bogotá. 2009.
Rodríguez, L.E. «Origen y evolución de la papa cultivada. Una revisión». En Agronomía Colombiana, n° 28. Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Bogotá. 2010.
Vargas C, R.; Santos Rojas, J.; Orena A, S.; Kalazich B, J.; Rodríguez G, F.; Muñoz D, M. «Papas Nativas de Chile: El Futuro Bajo Nuestros Pies». En Revista Tierra Adentro. Instituto de Investigaciones Agropecuarias de Chile. 2015.

VISUAL REPRESENTATION AND CULTURAL USE OF THE POTATO IN THE ANDEAN WORLD

The potato is a plant native to the Peruvian Andes. After being domesticated and improved by the inhabitants of the inter-Andean valleys thousands of years before Christ, it became a symbol of life. This made it one of the most common phytomorphic motifs on objects of daily and ceremonial use among Andean communities.

The use of the potato before the arrival of the Europeans undoubtedly aroused interest from various fields of study. For example, this interest can be traced in old colonial chronicles in which the potato is cited - even with errors of nomination and description, or in works of a scientific nature that deal with the subject of its infinite varieties, its geographical distribution or extraordinary domestication. Art history and anthropology do not lag behind in this interest. In such studies, analyses concentrate on how the potato was visually represented or on interpreting the cultural use to which it was put.

Image and worldview:

Although its cultivation originated 7 to 8 thousand years ago the visual representation of the potato can be traced in objects conceived approximately 1,500 years ago. It is the realistic representation of the potato on pottery from the Nazca (100 BC - 900 AD) and Moche (200 BC - 900 AD) cultures that reveal the primordial familiarity with the plant and, at the same time, the special use that Andean man made of it. Peruvian anthropologist Luís Millones explains: '[such objects] were made not so much to satisfy their aesthetic needs, but for propitiatory purposes, to ensure a good harvest and to clearly express what type of product they needed to obtain from their deities'. In this sense, the author adds, such works are endowed with a ritual meaning associated with the uku pacha (world of the underground and the dead).

This relationship between the potato and the supernatural world is recreated by the same anthropologist, taking as an example a Moche sculptural vessel that is now on display in the National Museum of Archaeology, Anthropology and History of Peru: "It seems that figures of humans and animals sprout from it, where the sculptor took advantage of the eyes of the potato to make small secondary images emerge, which can be interpreted as the birth of the beings of the "pacarinas" (caves or lagoons), key places for contact with the uku pacha".

Another example of propitiatory use can be found in the Wari pieces (600-900 AD), where large vessels were "ritually" fragmented and then buried underground. This ceremonial practice, which researcher Mary Glowaki calls "a killing of the pots", served to -symbolically- participate in an experience with a supernatural realm (pleading with the ancestors) and another with the real world, to achieve survival, for example in the face of a prolonged drought (see Figure 1).

In the Inca Empire (1470 AD - 1533 AD), Millones explains, "if there was an anomalous potato specimen, it was a sign of blessing and was kept in reverence because its presence guaranteed fertility". To emphasise the permanence of this function up to the present day, this social scientist refers that the small Inca sculptures of animal or vegetable form, called Illas (which were used for propitiatory purposes), are today used for the same purpose by Bolivian peasants, "to support cultivation". From the above, it can be seen that both the pre-Hispanic object and the approach to Andean man today, undeniably demonstrate the continuity of the potato's relationship in the cosmovision of Andean man.

Validity in the myth and in the ritual:

An emblematic myth of the potato-supernatural world relationship is found in Ritos y Tradiciones de Huarochirí (1600), a work that brings together myths and ritualistic practices collected by the Spanish-born extirpator of idolatries, Francisco de Ávila. In the text we find the story of Huatiacuri (son of Paricaca), "personification of the potato" who feeds on potatoes roasted in the heated earth and despite his miserable appearance "beneath the surface is capable of surprise". It is not for nothing that its name is directly associated with an ancient Andean culinary technique that is still practised today: Huatia.

In the viceregal period in Peru, the representation of the potato acquired different connotations and dissimilar supports, but its power for rituality - which survived the extirpations of idolatries - was maintained, mimicking Catholic festivities, under acts of sacred exchange between peasants and Pachamama (Mother Earth) where "payment" would allow for abundant harvests, according to the scholar Fernando Cabieses. In the world of the Andean farmer it is thus taken for granted that "ceremony is food for the gods and that a correct celebration of ritual is tantamount to control of the supernatural beings", as Johan Huizinga highlights in Homo Ludens.

Lizet Díaz.

Consulted:
Cabieses, Fernando; Millones, Luís: La papa tesoro de los Andes: de la agricultura a la cultura. Centro Internacional de la Papa. Lima, 2000.
Glowaki, Mary: «Shattered ceramics and offerings». In Bergh, Susan: Wari:Lords of the ancient Andes. Cleveland Museum of Art and Thames and Hudson. New YorK, 2012.
Huizinga, Johan: Homo Ludens. Alianza Editorial. Madrid, 2012.
León, Elmo: 14,000 mil años de alimento en el Perú. USMP. Lima, 2013.
Taylor, Gerald: Ritos y tradiciones de Huarochirí. Instituto Francés de Estudios Andinos. Lima, 2011.
Towle Margaret: La etnobotánica precolombina. Una reconstrucción de la relación entre el hombre y plantas del mundo en las culturas prehistóricas de los Andes Centrales. Andine Publiching Company. Chicago, 1961.
Yacovleff, E. y Herrera, F. «El mundo vegetal de los antiguos peruanos». En Revista del Museo Nacional. Tomo 3, número 3. Lima, 1934.

UYWAY: THE PRINCIPLE OF MUTUAL NURTURING

Definition:
Uyway is a Quechua voice that is poorly translated as "Mi criía" (Uywa = Breeding + the possessive suffix and adjective mi) or as the infinitive form of the verb "Criar".[1] However, more than a noun, possessive adjective or verb, it is a fundamental Andean principle of coexistence with life in its totality. Life nurtures us through its various manifestations and we nurture it in the same way. In this sense, we emphasise, according to this principle, we human beings are raised by everything and at the same time we raise everything: We raise human beings, living and dead; plants, animals, the heavens, divine entities, the forces of nature; what our eyes perceive, as well as what our eyes do not perceive. For the farming people of these mountains, the fact that we do not see, touch or can prove or explain the existence of everything around us, does not prevent it from existing. Máximo Huaracca, a farmer leader and musician from the community of Kamawara, district of San Salvador, Department of Cusco, says, "We don't know everything, but it exists:

Not everything we know, but it exists, not everything we touch but it is there, not everything speaks, but it speaks..., It sings. Everything is music at last... Chrrrrr!.... As when the wings of flies sound... We raise everything. Everything breeds us... You can't breed if you don't love what you breed... If you don't, the worm gets into your corn, the potato rots, or it grows beautifully but doesn't feed you, it's no good to you, you get sick faster...[2][3] From this principle other principles are derived, such as the principle of the "love of the corn".

Others derive from this principle, such as the one referred to by José Luis Castro García, an intellectual from Cusco, the son of a Quechua-speaking mother from the province of Paucartambo, in the department of Cusco:

Nothing is wasted of what you raise and what you raise. Nothing is hoarded that comes into contact with you because you did not create it, it is only up to you to raise and let yourself be raised; to enjoy the fact, to respect the act of raising each other, to prevent our relationship with each and every one of the beings that come into contact with us from getting sick. If you boot or hoard, you become unbalanced and everything around you becomes unbalanced.[3] The principle of the Uyway has generated a new generation of people.

The principle of the Uyway has generated during its hundreds, and who knows thousands of years of existence, rituals such as the T'inkasqa, the earth is enamoured before it is sown. It is asked for permission; it and the spirit of the mountains, life in its subtlest forms; it is asked for abundant sustenance for the benefit of all creatures. The Uyway principle has generated techniques that are currently employed during the cultivation, harvesting and processing of the potato into other forms such as moraya and chuño, processes in which the potato is dehydrated for longer life and better long-term storage. "Nothing is thrown away, otherwise we will be in misery... We have to save for times when there is a shortage", explains Máximo Huaraca. The principle of the Uyway has led to a thorough and meticulous observation of the Andean sky in connection with the potato process. The star Sirius, for us Willka Wara (Sacred award)[4] appears over the Andean sky at the beginning of sowing time and disappears from it when the potato harvest, the selection, exchange and storage of the best potato seeds of different species, according to the ecological levels in which they have been sown, and the dehydration of part of the harvest, have been completed.

Uyway: To be grateful for what we have received in order to raise, to thank those who raise us:
In the current calendar, August is destined to say "Thank you to the earth", the Pachamama, our Mother Earth. During this month, offerings are prepared in which we include coca leaves, grouped in sets of three or five that we call "k'intu". On each group of leaves we leave our breath, our "Samay", our vital energy. We give thanks for what we have received and we suggest what we would like to receive. We accompany these leaves with red and white carnations, the former for the earth, the latter for the mountains; we add selected seeds of coca, quinoa, aromatic herbs; we also feed her processed food that we, the children of the earth, have created from the ingredients that she has so generously offered us. It is a requirement that what we offer her has to be to our liking, from chocolates, sweets, biscuits, etc. We also put cotton wool to represent the nines and the rains that we ask for, threads like the rainbow, golden and silver threads, corn to represent the abundance of money, candies in the shape of houses, couples, cars, to be specific with our wishes. We have to give it to them chewed. The offering is burnt, only in front of the eyes of a kanaquq or person in charge of incinerating the offering.

The Time of the Chakarunas: The Bridge Men:
It is evident that the strength, depth and usefulness of the principle have made it withstand many adverse historical processes that could well have extinguished it. Currently, the official state education system in Peru does not consider the inclusion of native cosmovisions and techniques as part of its official curricula: "scientific methods and techniques" are understood as those coming from the anthropocentric conception of Earth=Resource, typical of the mercantilist vision. In which the professional is considered to be the one who generates the greatest productivity of the resource for his or her own economic benefit. This situation, added to other more or less profound causes, is being complicit in the erosion of concepts and uses that, apart from their socio-cultural value for Peru, in our view, constitute an alternative option for transcending the world's current ethical and operational food problems. Some time ago the grandparents already announced: This is the time of the bridge men, the Chakarunas who would expand their own usefulness to the children of the planet and bring from the world what they harvest from it, for the same purpose. It is time to raise consciously, to enforce the most sustainable agricultural (and all other) practices, those that generate diversity, those that ensure the balanced relationship of man and nature, no matter where they have been gestated. This is our faith.

Tania Castro Gonzales

[1] I learned this conjugation from my father, from my grandmother, and I corroborated it with every offering master with whom I came into contact in this life, for example: Cayetano Canahuire (lifetime offering master of the construction ceremony of the Qeswachaka bridge, recently named World Heritage by UNESCO); Hipólito Peralta Ccama (offering master and regional coordinator of the Intercultural Bilingual Education Programme).
[2] Interview conducted on 7 June 2015, during a burial offering of a nephew's placenta on the third day after birth.
[3] The interview with my father, José Luis Castro, was conducted in the early hours of 21 June 2015 during a solstice ceremony.
[4] I obtained the information about the star Willka Wara from the book Astronomía Inka by the Cusquenian astronomer ERWIN SALAZAR, Scientific Director of the Cusco Planetarium.

JUSTICE AND EQUITY FOR ANDEAN FARMERS WHO CONSERVE AND CREATE POTATO GENETIC RESOURCES

Since the origin of agriculture more than 10,000 years ago, the world's agrarian societies have created and developed the genetic resources of the main crops for agricultural production and global food security in the so-called "centres of origin"[1], including: the Middle East for barley and wheat; in South Asia for rice; in Africa for millet and sorghum; in Central America for maize; and in South America for potatoes, quinoa, etc. (Bazile, 2012)[2], (Bazile, 2012)[2].

The Andean mountain range is home to a great diversity of food plants; this richness has been increased by the great domestication work carried out by Andean peasants. Among the main tubers that were domesticated, the potato (Solanum tuberosum sp.)[3] From a large wild population, the farmers of the Andean highlands were able to select and improve the first specimens that gave rise, after millennia, to the great diversity of potato varieties known today. Today, more than 4000 varieties have been identified in the Andes.

According to the International Potato Centre - CIP, potato cultivation in the Andean regions of Peru dates back to at least the seventh millennium BC; as well as recent research by David Spooner (2005) provided further evidence for the region north of Lake Titicaca as the most specific place of origin of the potato, (CIP, 2015).[4] The potato (Solanum tuberosum tuberosum) is the most important potato in the Andean region.

Potato (Solanum tuberosum sp) is a species divided into two sub-species: "Andigena" adapted to a photoperiod of 12 hours of sunlight and "tuberosum" which comes from the introduction of "andigena" in the European continent; the same that was progressively adapted to the daily cycles of the northern hemisphere with a longer length of days, (Ibid). The new potato varieties are cultivated mainly in Europe and Asia, which account for more than 80% of world production (Alary et al, 2009). 5] Already in 2009, Europeans were considered the world's leading potato consumers, with 85 kilograms per inhabitant per year (FAOSTAT). 6]

The countries of the European Union have more than 1600 potato varieties registered in the European catalogue and 16,481 plant variety certificates - VOCs - deposited with the International Union for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants - UPOV, whose headquarters are in Geneva (Chevarría, Bazile, 2014).[7] This does not include patents, VOCs or other industrial property rights deposited on potato genetic resources in the countries of North America, Asia, etc.

Since the 16th century, outside its centre of domestication in the Andes, the potato has been part of the food security strategies of many countries, thanks to the worldwide dissemination of plant material domesticated and selected by Andean farmers over millennia. Unfortunately, despite this, to date the Andean peoples have not received any significant benefit or recognition for having favoured the whole world with their potato varieties.

From 1992 onwards, international treaties (Convention on Biological Diversity and the International Treaty of the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations - ITPGRFA-FAO. ), recognise the sovereignty of States over their genetic resources and the contribution of local communities to their conservation, recognise "Farmers' Rights"[8] for the great contribution that local and indigenous communities and farmers in all regions of the world, particularly those in the centres of origin and diversity of cultivated plants, have made and continue to make to the conservation and development of the plant genetic resources that constitute the basis of food and agricultural production in the world. They also establish binding principles to promote fair and equitable sharing of the benefits arising from the utilisation of these genetic resources made available to all countries of the world.

In the 21st century, with the current development of biotechnology, many patents and plant variety certificates (VOCs) are being filed for the genetic improvement of the diversity of food plants, including, for example, the genes of the potato and its wild relatives. In these processes, a certificate of origin for the potato genetic resources used is not required, although this has been demanded for more than 20 years by farmers in the Andean countries and by farmers all over the world for all agricultural genetic resources. The certificate of origin of a genetic resource is, to date, the legal way to demand a fair and equitable distribution of the economic benefits derived from the use of these resources. In this way, the "Farmers' Rights" of the whole world would be recognised and implemented; the conservation of the diversity of food plants that have allowed and still allow the world to be fed would be promoted; and Andean farmers would have access to better possibilities to face the poverty and precariousness in which they paradoxically live, in spite of their generosity with the world!

Marco A. Chevarría Lazo.

[1] Vavilov, 1926. Los centros de origen de las especies de cultivo son aquellas regiones en donde se inició su proceso de domesticación, selección y mejoramiento y donde aún se encuentran parientes silvestres de dichas especies.
[2] Bazile D. (2012). “L´agriculture peut-elle sauver la biodiversité?” Alternatives internationales (55) : 5053
[3] Entre otras plantas alimenticias domesticadas en la región andina sobresalen igualmente tuberculos como los Ollucos, (Ullucus tuberosus), las Ocas, (Oxalis tuberosa), la Mashua, (Tropaeolum tuberosum), etc. Leguminosas como el Tarwi, (Lupinus mutabilis), los Pallares (phaseolus lunatus), etc. Granos andinos como la Quinua (Chenopodium quinua); Kiwicha (Amaranthus caudatus); Qañihua (Chenopodium pallidicaule); etc. Raíces alimenticias como el Yacon (Smallanthus sonchifolius), la Arracacha (Arracacia xanthorrhiza), la Yuca (Manihot esculenta), etc., así como, una gran diversidad de frutas como el Tomate (Solanum lycopersicum), Aguaymanto (physalis peruvianum), el Sauco (Sambucus peruvianum), etc.
[4] www.cipotato.org , 29 07 2015
[5] Alary P., DE Bélizal E. et Al. 2009. “Nourrir les hommes: Un dictionnaire” Neuilly. Atlande – Geographie Thématique. 765p.
[6] http://faostat3.fao.org/
[7] Chevarría, M., Bazile, D., et Al. (2014) “Los sistemas legales que regulan el intercambio de los recursos genéticos: Importancia para el acceso, la circulación y la innovación en el caso de la quinua” in “El estado del arte de la Quinua en el Mundo”. BAZILE. D., et Al. Edición: FAO Organización de las Naciones Unidas para la Agricultura y la Alimentación, Montpellier. Francia.
[8] El Artículo Nro. 9 del TIRFAA - FAO

THE POTATO IN THE GASTRONOMIC HISTORY OF PERU

Human beings have always had a need for communication, rest, shelter and food. To satisfy the need for food, man not only collected various plants but also, little by little, learned to plant them, and even to domesticate the inedible wild plants in his environment. In ancient Peru, the potato expresses better than any other the sophistication in the domestication of plants for human consumption.

Despite the cultural diversity and different external influences, in the popular imagination the potato has remained as a food that was given by the apus (the spirits of the hills); food that was not exclusive to certain social classes but for everyone; in this sense, it did not distinguish between creeds or cultures, on the contrary, it helped to build, through food, the foundations of millenary cultures that today invite us to continue with their culinary legacy.

Domestication and cultivation of the potato:
In the cuisine of the ancient Peruvians, the potato played the role of food, but not only as food for earthly life, but also for spiritual life. Hence the special care to which it has been and still is subjected. This meticulous selection of products and patient acclimatisation to the different natural ecological levels of Peru have meant that this tuber currently has more than 5,000 varieties, which are the cornerstones of Peruvian gastronomy. Among the most known and consumed types of potatoes in Peru we have: Puma Maqui, Loqa, Laran Oqoquri, Huayro, Peruanita, etc. According to their different textures, there are different ways of elaboration in the culinary arts. It is the amount of starch that determines the texture in the presentation of the final product. Thus, a floury potato (huayro potato) cannot be compacted for the production of a succulent Papa Rellena as a less floury potato, such as the Canchan potato, can.

Main Cooking and Preservation Techniques:
One of the main characteristics of the pre-Hispanic cultures is their link with the pachamama[1], who provided the ancient inhabitants with the goodness of her entrails, among them the potato. It should be noted that the main cooking techniques were the huatia[2] and the pachamanca[3], although the latter dates from colonial times but with the same idiosyncrasy as the former.

At this point, it is worth mentioning that in the inter-Andean valleys of Peru, potato preservation methods dating back to pre-Hispanic times can be found. Here is a brief account:

Chuño:
Coming from the Quechua Ch'uñu, it is the dehydration, by freeze-drying, of a certain type of potato (bitter potatoes piñaza, loq'a, etc.). This process, known from pre-Inca cultures, consists of exposing the tubers to the cold during the months of June, July and August to freeze them, and then exposing them to the sun consecutively, concluding with pressing them by foot to extract the last traces of liquid that remain. It is with this product that the most representative pre-Hispanic dishes of the Cusco region are elaborated and that has been able to last until the present day. Such is the case of Chuño Lawa[4], which is widely consumed at family tables in Cusco.

The Chuño Blanco, Moraya or Tunta:
This dehydration process, unlike the chuño, is not exposed to the sun, only to the cold nights of the high Peruvian mountains during the same season in which the chuño is made. During the day, the potatoes are covered with a thick layer of Ichu (Andean grass) so that the sun's rays do not alter their whitish colour. This process lasts 5 to 8 days and then they are placed in jute or plastic sacks and submerged in streams of freezing water for up to 30 days. They are then removed for pressing with the feet and finally exposed to the sun for subsequent peeling by hand rubbing.

Papa Seca or Ttamuso:
This is another preservation technique used for centuries although there is no indication that it is of pre-colonial origin. However, data from colonial times indicate that this technique is based on cooking the potatoes underground (huatia and/or pachamanca), then drying and chopping them. Nowadays, dehydration is direct, without the tuber having to be cooked beforehand. An emblematic dish used by Ttamuso is the carapulcra[5] limeña.

Tocosh:
Also called, Penicillin of Ancient Peru. It is a potato fermentation process and contains high amounts of alkaloids, amino acids and antimicrobials. For the elaboration of the Tocosh, a hole is dug approximately 1 and 1.5 meters deep, as well as in diameter, very close to a stream; then the base and the walls are lined with abundant Ichu to then place the potatoes. Every 20 cm of potatoes a new layer of Ichu is placed and at the end a last layer of Ichu and stones is placed. Finally, the pit is flooded with slowly circulating water for a period of 4 months to 2 years. When the water becomes foamy, the Tocosh is ready for harvesting.

Ancient brews such as Api[6] can be found today. Other elaborations such as tocosh mazamorra are more recent.

Ronald Romero.

[1] Mother earth, mother of all beings.
[2] Technique of cooking potatoes under an adobe oven obtained after harvesting the tubers, which is heated and destroyed over the potatoes.
[3] Technique of cooking meat and vegetables underground with hot stones obtained from the river.
[4] Cream based on chuño, soaked and burst, flavoured with asnapa (a group of aromatic herbs from the region). It is drunk during the cold months.
[5] A typical dish from the Lima region consisting of a stew of dried potatoes, toasted and soaked with pork and/or chicken chunks. Its consumption, mostly by slaves, gave it its current characteristics.
[6] A hot, sweet-flavoured thickening based on tocosh flour.

Consulted:
Muñoz-Najar Rojas, María Teresa. Lima 2008 Todo Sobre la papa: historia, secretos y recetas.. Edelnor.
Olivas Weston, Rosario. Lima 2008 Cusco. El Imperio de la Cocina. Ed. USMP.
León, Elmo. Lima 2013 14,000 años de alimentación en el Perú. Ed. USMP.
Varios. Lima 2008 Papas Nativas del Perú: Año internacional de la papa. Ministerio de Agricultura.
Olivas Weston, Rosario. Lima 1996. La Cocina en el Virreinato del Perú. Ed. USMP.
Varios. Lima 2005. Desde los Andes al Mundo, Sabor y Saber. Ed. USMP.