The Andes Mountains of South America produced the most extraordinary agricultural achievement in human history — the domestication of more food plant species than any other region on Earth. The potato (Solanum tuberosum), quinoa (Chenopodium quinoa), corn (Zea mays — co-developed with Mesoamerica), tomato (Solanum lycopersicum), chilli (Capsicum species — co-developed with Mesoamerica), cacao (Theobroma cacao — primarily Mesoamerica but Andean cultivation significant), sweet potato, peanut, cassava, and dozens of other species that now feed the world were domesticated in the Andes and Amazonia. The Inca Empire was the largest pre-Columbian empire in the Americas and its food system — including sophisticated freeze-drying, fermentation, and storage technologies — was the most advanced in the pre-industrial world.
The Andean culinary foundation — its agricultural achievements and its specific techniques.
MOROCCAN/MAGHREB DEEP + ANDEAN SOUTH AMERICAN DEEP