About this book:

*Foodways of the Americas* provides a comprehensive social history of corn and potatoes, tracing their journey from Indigenous staples to global commodities. The narrative begins with the domestication of maize in Mesoamerica’s milpa systems and tubers in the Andean highlands, highlighting the sophisticated agricultural technologies like nixtamalization and freeze-drying (chuño) developed by ancient civilizations. These crops were not merely food but were deeply embedded in ritual, cosmology, and the urban provisioning systems of empires like the Aztec and Inca.

The book examines the seismic shift of the Columbian Exchange, which launched these American staples into Europe, Africa, and Asia. While corn and potatoes fueled global population growth and industrial revolutions, their adoption was fraught with the politics of prestige and the tragedies of monoculture, most notably seen in the Irish Potato Famine. In the Atlantic world, these crops were repurposed into rations for plantation labor and slavery, cementing their role as engines of colonial extraction and first-wave globalization.

As the narrative moves into the modern era, it explores the rise of "Corn Belts" and "Soy Republics," where agribusiness, government subsidies, and trade agreements like NAFTA transformed farming into a standardized industrial process. The text contrasts this industrialization with the persistent cultural power of food, seen in the migration of tamales and arepas across borders and the rise of culinary nationalism in Mexico and Peru. It highlights the tension between the "Green Revolution" of high-yield hybrids and the growing movements for seed sovereignty and food justice.

Ultimately, the book frames the history of these staples as a lens for modern challenges, including climate change and biodiversity loss. By analyzing recipes as archives and markets as social centers, the author argues that the future of food depends on blending scientific innovation with ecological wisdom. The conclusion calls for a "more just table," where the resilience of Indigenous practices and the dignity of labor are honored to ensure sustainable food security for a changing world.