The Universidad San Martin de Porres press has just published a notable book: The Magical Ashaninka Cuisine, by Pablo Macera and Enrique Casanto. Joining the renowned historian is Casanto, an Ashaninka born in the community of Belén, Oxapampa, dedicated to compiling and publishing the ancestral histories of his people, spread through much of the Amazon. He also contributes the lively illustrations found throughout the book.
The book’s more-than-300 pages include information on traditional game- with deer, tapir and peccary the most important, as well as agriculture, led by yucca, beans and corn, and fruits of the Ashaninka.
There are also complete maps, information on fishing, studies of insects and traditional oral narratives about food customs.
“We can’t understand the Ashaninka and their cultural richness (including their cooking habits), except from a vision of Peru which recognizes it as part of its cultural multiplicity,” Macera says. Later he adds “It’s within this context that we must place the efforts of the Amazonian societies to preserve their own traditions. The Ashaninka are no exception. The cuisine represents a form of cultural struggle, a line of resistance.”
This situation is going through change. “The unit of production is the conjugal union, with gender-specific tasks. Nevertheless, recently there are changes as a result of the entrance of the market economy,” the authors write.
The women’s work, which included the production of household goods, there is more emphasis on helping the men in the agricultural field, to commercialize the products. Pottery is losing ground to the wave of aluminum. This book compiles, with text and images, the native tradition.
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