Preliminary Ethnographic Analysis of Infant Complementary Foods in a Peruvian Quechua Community

Veile A.; Chávez Cabello R.; Chung Y.; Mbongo S.; Rojas Bravos V. · Ecology of Food and Nutrition (2025) · DOI: 10.1080/03670244.2025.2462934

Resumen

This study examines infant feeding beliefs and practices in a rural Peruvian Quechua community. The aim was to assess which infant foods are considered culturally meaningful, and if concordance exists between beliefs and practices. Mothers were asked to free-list their child’s “actual” first foods (n = 85), then to free-list “ideal” infant foods (n = 87). Food lists were analyzed for cultural salience. Mothers listed 43 foods; four (potato, mazamorra, egg, and liver) were culturally salient on both lists. Some discordance was found between beliefs and practices. Culturally salient “ideal” foods were animal-source and protein-iron rich, whereas salient “actual” foods were plant-source and carbohydrate-based.

Instituciones: Universidad Nacional Hermilio Valdizán