Food and Culture in the Andes

Food is one of the most integral aspects of human existence. It is, on the one hand, a biological imperative fueled by nutritional need—we must, after all, eat to live. The food that we eat, however, is made up of much more than calories. It can have a "two-fold value": nutrition and signification (Barthes 1979: 25). While there has been a heavy emphasis on subsistence in archaeology, the social aspects of food have been largely ignored. The Andes, in particular, is an ideal area to investigate the social dimensions of food with a strong tradition of foundational research in agricultural production, environment, and objects associated wih the consumption of food. The growing use of various methodological approaches (e.g., archaeobotanical, zooarchaeological, and bioarchaeological) has resulted in a more holistic and intimate picture of the constant articulation and negotiation of social relations through food.