Ode to Women and to the Potato

Due to the efforts of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations and their worldwide partners, 2008 was declared the International Year of the Potato by the UN General Assembly. (For more information, please see http://www.potato2008.org/).

Included in the rationale for acknowledging the potato plant, was the understanding that the tuber is a central food source for many of the world’s vast populations. By food source, I am not talking about what we commonly see in mainstream settings—french fries, baked white potatoes or potato chips—all flavored with various oils, butters/fake butters, salts and preservatives. Instead, a nice example to point to is the potato of the South American Andes—or should I say potatoes, meaning the thousands of varieties of potatoes cultivated over thousands and more thousands of years.

In Peru, Andean Quechua-speaking family members tell beautiful stories of the potato—of its origins and symbolism of our humanity. Like corn and quinoa, potatoes occupy a special place in the lives of Andean people that link this food to our spirituality, to the earth and to the very practice of what it means to be a living, working human being.

As with other sacred crops, the women in my community in the Andean highlands plant the seeds. This is because women represent fertility, life and nurturance. From the very young to the very old, community members are taught to plant this crop, to care for it compassionately and to harvest the varieties we plant with great joy.

Once potatoes are harvested, they are of course, consumed fresh by family and community, taken to the local market for sale or barter, and also stored using special methods and herbs.

The potatoes stored in this manner will last in the dry Andean climate for over 10 months, feeding family members, friends and visitors.

While the stories, cultivation, harvesting and storage of various potato varieties is fascinating and wonderful, this piece is really a love letter to the women in my family—the women like my mother, my grandmothers, my aunties, who worked the land to plant these seeds, but who also prepared these potatoes with their deepest devotion to the art of cooking, and with love. Women the world over, like my cousin, Herminia, who today continue to pass on the tradition of farming and cooking to their children—this is my ode to you.

Everyone is blessed with gifts—gifts of mind and gifts of heart. An Indigenous scholar, Mary Eunice Romero (Cochiti Pueblo), conducted a beautiful project known as the Keres Studies (1994) that examined the way in which Indigenous people in her community understand the concept of giftedness. Her work revealed gifts of four domains—humanistic or from the heart, linguistic, knowledge or reflection of ingenuity, and creativity associated with psychomotor abilities. But what her work also revealed is that it’s not really a gift unless it’s used to contribute to community.

In this light, one of the highest expressions of giftedness is exemplified by cooking, and cooking with a conscience. One of my favorite Peruvian dishes of all time hails from Wanka lands and takes its name from one of the three regions that the Wanka people occupy—Huancayo. The dish is called Papa a la Huancaina (pronounced pa-pa a-la wan-ka-eena), and is essentially a yellow chile cheese sauce covered potato. YUM. Or as we would say in our Quechua language, Añañao! (Pronounced a-nya-nyow. Remember to say it with a flair!). There are many many recipes for this dish, but my favorite is the simplest.

What makes this dish, prepared at home in our village, so special is that the chile is grown locally in the community, pesticide-free. The Andean cheese (similar to a queso fresco) is made from my grandmother’s cows (who are fed only alfalfa and other products grown alongside our corn). The starchy potatoes that my cousin uses are also pesticide-free, grown from our own fields. Nevermind that a worm or two might have traveled through the potato, leaving it relatively unscathed—as the women say, “Poor thing, I suppose the worm has to eat too.” And to boot, everything is prepared by hand here in the highlands, even the grinding of the chile.

So without further delay, I present to you, Papa a la Huancaina, estilo Herminia (Herminia-style). And while we are no longer celebrating the International Year of the Potato, our conscientiousness can still make an impact, starting in our own kitchens and in our own “villages,” indeed wherever it is we call home.

Zomppa’s Papa A La Huancaina

Papa a la Huancaina

Ingredients: Yellow chiles, known as aji amarillo (4); Cheese (100 grams for 4 portions); Milk (1/4 liter); Eggs (hard-boiled, amount is your preference); Boiled Potatoes (1/2 kilo); Salt (to taste); Olives; Lettuce (for garnish)

1. Wash potatoes. Wash the chili. Remove seeds
2. Slice the chili to blend in a blender or use a stone grinder (If you use a stone grinder, the sauce will not be completely smooth)
3. Cook the chile for 30 minutes over strong heat until it boils and continue boiling at medium heat for the remainder of time
4. Let the chile cool

Preparation:

1. Use a stone and grinder to grind down the cheese (or use a blender for smoothness)
2. Stir the cheese into the milk
3. Combine the cooled chile with the cheese-milk mixture and mix well (or use blender, depending on your preference for smoothness)
4. Add salt to taste
5. Pour the mixture over the potatoes and sliced boiled eggs
6. Garnish with sliced olives and lettuce

Tags: Andean, Andean potato, Andes, cultural, food security, health-recipes, Huancayo, Indigenous, Indigenous farming, Indigenous food, Indigenous potato, International Year of the Potato, Native American, Native culture, Native food, Native land, organic, papa a la huancaina, Peru, pesticide, pesticide-free, potato, sustainable, sustainable development, UN Food and Agriculture Organization

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