Cooking and eating in times of conquest. Rebuilding culinary packages from ceramic and archaeofaunal analysis (Mendoza, XV- XVII centuries)

Abstract

In this article, we study the manner of consuming and preparing food at “Güentata Valley”, the present-day city of Mendoza, between the 15th and the 17th centuries. The aim is to reconstruct part of the culinary package by integrating two separate lines of evidence –indigenous pottery and archaeofaunal remains– to study the materials from the archaeological excavations undertaken in the Founding City Area of Mendoza. Within the framework of food archeology, we analyze the presence of these materials in the successive stages of obtaining and distributing food, preparation and cooking, their presence in serving and consumption, and in contexts of cultural change marked by Spanish conquest of the region. In addressing this, we took into account three central elements: the environment, cultural practices (techniques and diet composition) and ideology. The results allowed to establish that the Pilastra Noroeste Sector of the Ruinas de San Francisco area was originally a context linked to the kitchen, where indigenous tradition cooking techniques were combined with both local and exotic ingredients.