Muisca cuisine describes the food and preparation the
Muisca elaborated. The Muisca were an advanced civilization inhabiting the central highlands of the
ColombianAndes (
Altiplano Cundiboyacense) before the
Spanish conquest of the Muisca in the 1530s. Their diet and cuisine consisted of many endemic flora and fauna of Colombia.
The main product of the Muisca was
maize, in various forms. The advantage of maize was that it could be grown in the various climatic zones the Muisca territories experienced.[1] It was the basis for their diet and the alcoholic drink,
chicha, made from fermented maize and sugar.
In the
Muisca religion their agriculture and celebration of harvests, conducted along the complex
Muisca calendar, were protected by
Chaquén and
Nencatacoa. The Muisca ate a variety of roots and tubers and even had a specific word in their
Chibcha language for eating those: bgysqua.[2]
Muisca cuisine
The Muisca cultivated many different crops in their own regions, part of the
Muisca Confederation, and obtained more exotic culinary treats through trade with neighbouring
indigenous peoples, with as most important; the
Lache (cotton, tobacco, tropical fruits, sea snails),
Muzo (emeralds, Magdalena River fish, access to gold, spices),
Achagua (coca, feathers, yopó, Llanos Basin fish, curare).
The climatic variation of the Muisca territories allowed for the
agriculture of different crops.
Javier Ocampo López describes the Muisca diet as predominantly vegetarian:
potatoes,
maize,
beans,
mandioca,
tomatoes,
calabazas,
peppers and numerous fruits. The Muisca also used grains known today as
quinoa.
Quybsa, or Ají have also been made by the Muisca in the Pre-Columbian era, especially as a spice for foods.
The main base for the Muisca cuisine was maize, considered a holy crop. The Muisca roasted
corn (maize), ate it off the plant or converted it into
popcorn. The Muisca also made the corn into
arepas, the first presence of the arepa in the
Altiplano Cundiboyacense dates to roughly 3,000 years ago.[3]
Main meat was the
guinea pig,
endemic to
South America, which they farmed in their homes. In special cases they ate
llamas,
alpacas,
deer,
capybara (chigüiro in Spanish), and fish from the rivers and lakes of the
Altiplano Cundiboyacense and Magdalena and Llanos through trade. The Muisca drank a lot of
chicha, a fermented alcoholic drink of maize and sugar, served in
ceramic pots called urdu or aryballus.[4]
Paleodietary studies performed on the
Bogotá savanna, where 18 Muisca skeletons ranging in historical age from 8th to 10th century AD and 26 skeletons from the 12th and 13th century AD, together with analysis of 10
mummies of the
Guane,
Lache and Muisca were analysed, have shown that about 60% of the food of the people consisted of vegetary products and 40% of meat and especially fish.
After the Spanish conquest, the access to meat was drastically reduced changing the diet of the Muisca and other indigenous groups of central Colombia. Studies from
Tunja, called Hunza in the time of the Muisca, have shown the people did not suffer from malnutrition though.[5]
Words for maize
As maize was the most important crop and food for the Muisca, their language (
Muysccubun) had many different words for maize, parts of the plant and the different processes and eating habits.[6]
The Muisca cultivated their crops in so-called camellones, artificially elevated surfaces that allowed the roots of the crops to be sufficiently irrigated with the average 700-1000 mm of rain a year and drainage systems regulating the water levels.[7]
Main plants to be cultivated were:
Canna edulis or achira, one of the first plants cultivated in the Andes[8]
Arracacia xanthorrhiza or arracacha, ideally grown at altitudes of 1,800 metres (5,900 ft) and above, used in soups, grilled, boiled, fried or baked[9]
Oxalis tuberosa—although this root is not native to Colombia, it was used by pre-Columbian societies in Cundinamarca and Boyacá, after being introduced from its place of origin in Peru, where the majority of varieties are found[11]
Manihot esculenta or
yuca, a very important tuber in the diet of the South American indigenous people, cultivated as of 1120 BCE and still one of the most important ingredients in Colombian and other Latin-American cuisine[14]
Using the abundant
coal of the Muisca territories, they heated their ovens and cooked their food.[44]
Eating habits
The Muisca sat down on the ground while eating and they did not use cutlery, and ate with their hands. The food was served on leaves or in ceramic pots.[44]
Daza, Blanca Ysabel. 2013. Historia del proceso de mestizaje alimentario entre Colombia y España - History of the integration process of foods between Colombia and Spain (PhD), 1-494.
Universitat de Barcelona.
Ocampo López, Javier. 2007. Grandes culturas indígenas de América - Great indigenous cultures of the Americas, 1–238. Plaza & Janes Editores Colombia S.A..