Store

Kichwa Foodways

Kichwa

Indigenous

⚠ NOT ONE PEOPLE AND NOT ONE LANGUAGE. Ecuador’s Kichwa are the largest Indigenous nationality and divide into a dozen-plus recognised peoples — OTAVALO, KARANKI, NATABUELA, KAYAMBI, KITU KARA, PANZALEO, CHIBULEO, SALASAKA, KISAPINCHA, TOMABELA, WARANKA, PURUHÁ, KAÑARI, SARAGURO in the sierra, and the distinct AMAZONIAN KICHWA of Napo and Pastaza. The language registry keeps their varieties apart and so does this system. Shared across them: the CHACRA, maize and potato, the communal MINGA workday and the meal that closes it, the PAMPAMESA where food is laid on cloth on the ground and shared, chicha, and a festival calendar tied to the solstices. ⚠ WHAT DIFFERS BY PEOPLE IS NOT FLATTENED HERE.

Atlas — where and when

Where in the world

Communities and languages

  • Kichwa community documented
  • Otavalo community documented
  • Salasaka community documented
  • Puruhá community documented
  • Kañari community documented
  • Saraguro community documented
  • Panzaleo community documented

Languages: Imbabura Highland Quichua, Cañar-Azuay-South Chimborazo Highland Quichua, Bolivar-North Chimborazo Highland Quichua, Loja Highland Quichua, Calderón Highland Quichua, Tena Lowland Quichua, Northern Pastaza Quichua

What is recorded

  • Ecuador’s Kichwa are recorded as a nationality comprising more than a dozen distinct peoples with distinct highland and Amazonian language varieties, which the canonical language registry holds separately. Their foodways are not recorded as uniform, and Amazonian Kichwa foodways are not recorded as a variant of highland Kichwa foodways. documented

Related foodways

This foodway relates to

  • part of Quechua Foodways documented

    Kichwa is the northern Quechuan branch. ⚠ Recorded as part of the linguistic family, not as subordinate to Peruvian or Bolivian practice.

Regional cuisines

Recipes

No recipes are filed under this cuisine yet.