Inca foods and farming

Farming

Inca society relied on a simple method of dividing agricultural yields from crops and livestock. The fields of Inca towns were split according to the density of the local population and available land, with one portion belonging to the local community who tended the land, one going to the temples and religious institutions, and the other supplying imperial activities. A similar division was made with domesticated livestock, including the grazing fields and pastures they lived in. With many communities located in the highlands of the Andes, fields were commonly the terraced steps seen in many photographs of Inca ruins. Allocation of land between state, Sun and community took advantage of these natural divisions, typically using units of one step or strip of land.

With a philosophy of mutual assistance, the community and state provided for the hungry, infirm and elderly in a simple socialist system, and if a farmer's crop failed, his family would still usually have food on their table. Despite this system, life for the farming communities of the Andes was far from easy. Sometimes the Inca would resettle entire communities in regions foreign to them, and the labor system (named Mit'a, "to take a turn") of the empire required peasants work on local and state projects at the command of the authorities instead of using a market system relying on supply and demand.

In addition to the division of land in local communities, massive farms dedicated to supplying the state and Sun were also set up by the empire. At Cochabamba in Bolivia, Wayna Qhapaq ordered the building of a large farm dedicated to supply his armies, resettling 14,000 farm workers to work the fields. 2,400 storehouses were built nearby, where the crops were stored before being shipped to wherever the army needed them. Farms for military use were also built at Arica, Arequipa and Abancay. Farms built at Arapa, on the shore of Lake Titicaca, and in the province of Chiquicache, were dedicated to Inti, the Sun. Small plots in many villages were tended to supply nearby temples, though in general the holdings of the Sun were not as large as those belonging to the state.

Food and drink

Most of the crops grown in state and Sun farms were maize and coca, which were vital to state activities. Cotton, peppers, fruit, potatoes and other tubers were also grown, and large herds of llama and alpaca were kept. In the coastal regions, fish and salt were harvested from the sea. The food made in the households of Inca communities, cooked over fires fuelled by llama dung or firewood in more wooded areas, was usually vegetarian, as the herds were valuable for their wool.

Maize was toasted or cooked in small cakes, with popcorn a delicacy. Potato dishes were made from chuno (a freeze-dried potato) or fresh potatoes. Quinoa and canihua grains were also staples, along with other tubers such as oca, mashua and maca. Flavoring for these dishes used herbs or chili peppers, and in coastal regions fish stew was very popular, though in general meat was saved for the elite classes.

Throughout the empire, fermented drinks broadly called chicha were consumed by all. Usually prepared from jora maize, chicha could also be made from other fruits or grains. It contains only a small amount of alcohol, usually between one and three percent, and was consumed in vast quantities by people throughout the empire, particularly during religious festivals and rituals. The Spanish priest Cobo observed that it was "so much part of the cuisine that being forced to drink water was a form of punishment".

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