Food of Cuzco City

When the Spanish headed here after executing Atahuallpa in Cajamarca, they entered the fertile valley where Cuzco is located to find a lush, green countryside filled with fields of corn and golden and purple patches where kiwicha and quinua – varieties of amaranth, a high protein grain, where planted. Corn was a food staple that appeared in everything from main dishes to the alcoholic chichi, prepared by young women who chewed the corn, the spat it into jars where it fermented with their saliva.

The amaranth, a grain high in protein that grows well despite extremes in temperature and moisture, nearly fell victim to the Spaniards’ attempt to “civilize” the Indians. The conquistadors called it the “subversive grain”, as it made the Indians heal, and thus harder to enslave. Pressured by the Spanish, the Vatican outlawed its cultivation and consumption. But now, for centuries later, kiwicha and quinua once again flourish in the Sacred Valley and are used in everything from soup to cookies.