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Montology: an integrative understanding of mountain foodscapes for strengthening food sovereignty in the Andes

Abstract:

There is a growing trend for inclusion of the food sovereignty dimension as a driving force of biodiversity conservation. This is particularly important when dealing with agrobiodiversity in the tropical and temperate Andes, whereby complex agricultural systems and domesticates have incorporated ethnographic overtones in food production and consumption. One segment of this new imperative relates to foodstuff associated with rituals or religious practices and community-based observance of heirloom varieties and recipes of Andean food staples. These foods include specialty corn staples, potato races, quinoa varieties, rare lupines, and a collection of tropical fruits, seeds and fibers, including plants and animals, as former elements of a continuous forest cover that has now been reduced to patches amidst the herbaceous matrix of the Páramo, Puna and the temperate highlands. We use the case study of mountain foodscapes of the tropical and temperate Andes to exemplify the emphasis that a food geographies narrative entails for the sustainability of vernacular culture and nature, making specific reference to field observations and research projects conducted in these regions. As global environmental change comes closer on the mountain development horizon, we argue for the stewardship of heirloom practices and the cultivation of respect and observance of Andean traditions with syncretic undertones found in historical and contemporary foodscapes of the tropical and temperate Andes. For this, we use the framework provided by montology, as a way to fuse Western science (WS) with traditional ecological knowledge (TEK) via transdisciplinary applications in the complex socio-ecological systems of production landscapes as foodscapes.