Decolonizing Food from an Andean Mountain View with Dr. Maria Fernanda Vivanco
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In this illuminating episode, we sit down with Dr. Maria Fernanda Vivanco, known as Mara, a Peruvian rural sociologist, feminist, and champion of food justice and Andean knowledge preservation. Mara, a lecturer at Cayetano University's Nutrition Department and Gender and Agriculture Specialist for Resonance Global, shares her rich experiences and insights.Once we start to realize that we are mostly water, the river's water, we have that affinity and connection for each other. I pour fresh water back into the river but I pray over it for the health of the river first, that everywhere that water goes, every atom of every cell becomes healed, happy and whole and with gratitude and love for being there and sustaining us.
The episode opens with Mara reciting her evocative poem, Taki Unquay. She discusses her transition from Peru to the U.S., reflecting on her identity as a Peruvian woman in a new country. Mara delves into her dissertation on the "lost crops of the Andes," exploring the effects on Peruvian farmers when Andean foods like quinoa are marketed globally as superfoods. She highlights the ethnic distinctions between people from Lima and the provinces and recounts her experiences during the Trump administration, addressing ethnic and racial stereotypes.
Mara examines the impact on Peruvian producers following the FAO's promotion of quinoa and the global cultivation of quinoa seeds. She discusses the challenges of Peruvian superfood maca being patented and grown internationally and stresses the importance of incorporating a critical perspective on race in food security, justice, and sovereignty discussions.
In 1984 quinoa was not known by the west, so what made it a mainstream food? Who decided that now quinoa is going to be like the new superfood that everyone should be eating? It's not that Peruvians started to promote quinoa.Â
There are hundreds of varieties of quinoa but when some are more requested by color, what happens with the other ones? Smallholder farmers are going to stop producing those other colors. Instead now they're going to be producing the ones that are preferred by the occident. Are we going to lose varieties? I couldn't avoid thinking that in Peru that are many ethnic groups like that are also being forgotten .
Transitioning from academia to gastronomic environments, Mara shares her interactions with cooks, chefs, and farmers about safeguarding Andean ancestral food knowledge systems. She critiques the superficial approach to sustainability and emphasizes restoring respect for Mother Earth in agricultural practices. Mara discusses the colonial practice of renaming plants and the accountability universities must take for past harms.
In the Andean way of thinking we have a different logic or philosophy of understanding of how we relate with the environment. With the water sources and also with the mountains there should be an equilibrium because once that equilibrium is broken we cannot move together or develop together as a society. That's why in the Andean culture it is very important to give some respect, to provide some gifts, to the pachamama, to the Earth. Before harvest we need to say thank you to Mother Earth.
— Mara —
Mara also touches on the challenges of respectful engagement with Indigenous peoples as a researcher, her efforts to support women pursuing studies and travel, and the integration of poetry, music, and dance in academic writing. She reflects on her grandmother’s resilience, her own journey to becoming a sommelier, and her mission to experience food from an Andean perspective. Mara highlights her work on decolonization by engaging with ancestral artisans' works in Peruvian museums and teaching about forced migration in her university classes on the anthropology and sociology of food.
Join us for a conversation that bridges the gap between food, culture, and identity, offering a profound look at the intersections of academia, activism, and personal experience.
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