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Food and Culture in Chiloé: Potatoes, Curanto, and Chicha

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Chiloé

Part of the book series: Ethnobiology ((EBL))

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Abstract

This chapter explores the culture and botany of Chiloé through its food. Drawing from participant observation fieldwork and interviews carried out between 2006 and 2017, I focus on the history and social significance of potatoes (a staple of the region for millennia), curanto (a longstanding earth-bake tradition), and chicha (hard apple cider, the most common homemade alcoholic beverage in rural southern Chile). More than simple pastimes or sources of nourishment, these three foods are emblems of a larger islander identity today. They represent the fusion of Spanish, Huilliche, and Chono cultures, as well as unique work patterns and social relations that islanders uphold as representative of a rural and highly esteemed way of life.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Chiloé As Told From the Kitchen.

  2. 2.

    Interview with Renato Cárdenas, Castro , Jan. 2017.

  3. 3.

    The information in this chapter is drawn from participant observation fieldwork and interviews carried out by the author between 2006 and 2017, supplemented by primary historical sources and scholarly articles.

  4. 4.

    Benjamín, Achao , June 7, 2006.

  5. 5.

    The 1982 national census lists the town’s population at 3500. The population today is more than 25,000.

  6. 6.

    quoted in Stuart (2010).

  7. 7.

    Fieldnotes, Llingua , March 2006.

  8. 8.

    Interview, Calen, Nov.11, 2006.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Sociology, Anthropology, and Justice Systems, Truman State University, Kirksville, MO, USA

    Anton Daughters

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  1. Anton Daughters
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Correspondence to Anton Daughters .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Sociology, Anthropology, and Justice Systems, Truman State University, Kirksville, Missouri, USA

    Anton Daughters

  2. Department of Anthropology, California State University Dominguez Hills, Carson, California, USA

    Ana Pitchon

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Daughters, A. (2018). Food and Culture in Chiloé: Potatoes, Curanto, and Chicha. In: Daughters, A., Pitchon, A. (eds) Chiloé. Ethnobiology. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-91983-6_4

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