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Zenú Foodways

Zenú

Indigenous

The ZENÚ of Córdoba and Sucre built one of the great pre-Columbian engineering works: a HYDRAULIC SYSTEM of canals across the floodplain of the San Jorge and Sinú, covering a very large area, which managed flooding and made an annually inundated savanna into farmland for maize, yuca and fish. That is an agricultural food system recorded in the landscape itself. Today the Zenú are among the largest Indigenous populations in Colombia and their food is the sinuano kitchen — maize, ñame, yuca, plantain, river fish, MOTE DE QUESO, and the caña flecha from which the sombrero vueltiao is woven. ⚠ THE ZENÚ LANGUAGE IS NOT IN THE LANGUAGE REGISTRY and is generally reported as no longer spoken; the people are named and no language link is invented.

Atlas — where and when

Where in the world

Communities and languages

  • Zenú community documented

Languages: Spanish

What is recorded

  • The Zenú constructed an extensive pre-Columbian hydraulic system of canals across the floodplain of the San Jorge and Sinú rivers, managing seasonal flooding and converting inundated savanna to agricultural and fishing use. The Zenú language is not recorded in the canonical language registry and is generally reported as no longer spoken; the people are named and no language relationship is asserted. documented
  • The Zenú hydraulic canal system across the floodplain of the San Jorge and Sinú, managing seasonal flooding for agriculture and fishing. documented

Recipes

No recipes are filed under this cuisine yet.