In one part of the Lima Reader it talks about food and restaurants in Lima. One line that I really liked was, “The tables we eat around aren’t just social spaces. In Lima, food has long been its own landscape, a haven of beauty and comfort.” Food and the spaces where it is prepared and eaten are important. They bring people together and create bonds. People feel safe and have fun together as they enjoy a good meal. I find people are much happier and much more reasonable when they are eating. It is like a mutual agreement that people will sit down together to eat, catch up, socialize, and exist peacefully together in that moment. Often there is a feeling of acceptance and often sharing a meal is an important event between people of different groups. Breaking bread is a tradition that has often been used in history to foster peace and alliances.
Food is a big part of home and can be very comforting. I think this is why people who leave their homes, whether they are forced to leave or they choose to, will look for places that serve food from home and set up restaurants that serve their traditional food. The importance of food can be seen in this section with descriptions of memories of family and eating together in Lima and the connection from those experiences. It makes me think about our visit to the Amaru community. While we were there we had a meal and while we were sharing this meal there was a sense of camaraderie and togetherness. It is important what we eat and how we eat it. This is something you can see in a lot of indigenous cultures as it is part of traditions being passed down and has a connection with the land, community and ancestors.
During the time of the Shining Path when there were attacks all the time and people were being killed constantly there would have been an atmosphere of fear and wariness and apprehension. There was mention in the Lima Reader of the streets being empty and that people were afraid to be going out. I would be curious to know what effect this had on the community during that time and after. Did this loosen community connections? Were people disconnected from each other as going out seemed dangerous? Even things as small and seemingly trivial as places to eat and being about to go out to eat can have important aspects that are often taken for granted until they are taken away.
Thanks for sharing about the important role that food and eating plays in culture and community! I felt most connected to the Andean community that we visited when they were sharing their cooking practices and a meal with us. I also felt really good that we had first worked before we ate their food (even of our work wasn’t productive lol).
Hi Anya! You bring up a really interesting point about food that I don’t think I’ve heard mentioned by anyone else so far! I have listened to entire archeological research presentations simply based off of cooking practices of the past. It is actually very insightful about social and cultural values.
Your blog makes me think of the painting we saw of the last supper in the Cathedral in Cusco where the bread was replaced with a guinea pig. I would be interested in exploring this idea of food as a source of connection in Peru!
“Did this loosen community connections? Were people disconnected from each other as going out seemed dangerous?” What a deep question. I think that yesterday’s film seeks in some way to explore the consequences of living in constant suspicion (whether it manages to tell it is another question). Perhaps Indigenous communities have strengths that we don’t know about either, because they have resisted centuries of attempts to disintegrate them.
Hi Anya,
I loved what you said here “I find people are much happier and much more reasonable when they are eating.” Too true! I am someone who gets hangry when my blood sugar is low. I found your questions interesting, about the effect the threat of Sendero had on community traditions like sharing meals together, etc. Oftentimes, when a population is under attack, they are actually drawn closer together; the psychology of war is fascinating that way. I hope the soup kitchens remained open, as I read about some run by women in the Peru Reader that sounded really cool.