The Archaeology of Oaxacan Cuisine

This collection contains the abstracts of the papers presented in the session entitled "The Archaeology of Oaxacan Cuisine," at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

One of the virtues of doing archaeology in Oaxaca is that we get to enjoy Oaxaca’s world-renowned cuisine. Mexico’s cuisine was the first to receive UNESCO’s culinary heritage status and, among the culinary traditions of Mexico, the one from Oaxaca reigns supreme among gourmands. This bilingual session will focus on recent finds and ongoing research that investigates the development of the Oaxacan prehispanic diet and the history of the region’s cuisine. The topic of food can be studied through different approaches: as an adaptation to our physical and social environments, as a response to our material needs and a reflection of our social complexity, or as foodways, which are symbolically charged and meaningful practices that reinforce social ties, cultural identity, and beliefs. Session participants, using any combination of these approaches, are generating data stemming from diverse methodologies, from paleoethnobotanical and zooarchaeological studies to the study of cooking implements and vessels, from stable isotope studies of human remains to the study of ethnohistorical records and linguistic evidence. By bringing together a wide range of perspectives, methodologies, and scholars the session will contribute to our growing understanding of how this rich food tradition came into existence.