It started out as a vision to share my Colombian Identity and South American Culture with the world through foods. As a Horticulture Major who been studying in the field for the last 6 years, it seemed like a brilliant and perfect idea. Growing up, it was hard to find anything positive representation of South American culture and identity and I always hear my mother complain that she couldn't find anything from or that reminded her of her home country Colombia here in U.S.A. So, I thought why not I do it? At the time, it was originally for a classroom project and I had just come into contact with a friend of mine's son who was moving up to Oregon to take over ownership of a 40 acres property that they acquired over decade ago to turn into farmland. When I met Dominic and his wife Jordan back in January of 2021 they ask me what would I want from the business as a way compensations for my pro bono work. I told them that I would like to have ability to buy seeds and plants from or known in South America and have it be a part of the business; they agreed among other things they agreed too,but, that is a story for another time. Excited, by this fact that the owners would let me use their farm to share my identity and culture with the world and having a class project that required I start or make a horticulture businuess model plan which included what plants I wanted to do. I begin to research what plants are native to South America?! Just, asking the search engine that one question opened a whole a lot of cans of worms and facts I never knew, but wished I had known earlier in my career as horticulture major and as an individual with South American Heritage! By researching native South American crops I discovered that many crops from South America are already mainstream and widely popular and I bet most people can't live without. Take, Potatoes, Tomatoes and Peppers for example, not only are these three crops part of the same family and what most of us could not imagine living without these days the fact is that they are native to The Andes Mountains of South America! Potatoes are one of seven Ande Tubers others include the Mashua, and the Yacón. When I found this out I was shocked, Mexico and chili pepper have become so interwine that most people would think the chili peppers are from Mexico when in reality The Indigenous Communities got through traders from South America! The more I researched, the more shocked I became which in turned into anger and raged! My mother always told me growing up how foriegn governments would exploit workers in South America thanks to the continent being so close to the equator. She would tell me horror stories of how Union Leaders and their families would be kidnapped and killed by local authorities for daring to ask for better pay or how hundreds of banana plantation workers who slaughered in cold blood for peacefully protesting against exploitation in the field. Governments have been topled, Cous have occured so many times that many countries in South America have had at least 2 or 3 Dictators. All this while, businuess make millions off South American crop yet 75% South Americans live below the poverty line. How is this justified?! In an age where Food Justice and Food Sovergienity are becoming a global movement how is that my people aren't recognized?! This question, I ask myself all the time and I have come to realize through my profession and obsession with Pacific Northwest natives including First foods that most people just don't know, like me. I mean didn't myself about First Foods until I started doing research for class asignments, projects, and internships. Like I said before, I have an obsession with Pacific Northwest(PNW for short) Natives, mostly thanks to my dad. It started out with the Oregon White Oak(Quercus garryana) also known as Garry Oak, but my classes required that I do fruits and vegetables, so I decided I wanted to do First Foods. Orginally, it was only First Foods of North America, then I was able to start doing First Foods of the PNW as my education when futher along. By the fall of 2019, I landed an internship with an Indigenous Farmer whom I met through a workshop in the Salem Area. Javier who's ancestral roots are from Mexico wanted to research First Foods of the PNW, so he could get a better understanding of the local Indigious Communities which he was beginning to partner with through his work. As his intern I was tasked with finding out what foods the Indigenous People of Oregon ate before Colonization. It wasn't easy, big surprise there; Oregon did a fantastic job of wiping out all knowledge retaining to the Indigenous People had to spends days at the State Library looking for information about First Foods and was only allowed 3 hours per day from 1-4 five days a week thanks to budget cuts. Sometimes, I had rely on out of state resources because information had been lost other times I had rely on books published in the early 1900s and late 1800s to obtain the information I was looking. I probably could have saved me a lot of time and energy if I had just gone The University of Oregon Longhouse located in Eugene, Oregon which I had just moved back to from Salem at the start of my internship, but the longhouse was difficult to find and I rather enjoyed looking through all these books. In fact, I got so inspired that I wanna write book, again another story for another time. Any ways getting back to First Foods, by the end of my 2019 internship I presented Javier with my findings of PNW First Foods, p.s. he liked it so much so that he offered me a job when I am done with school! So, after my internship I had to retake my Greenhouse and Nursery Class for the 3rd time which was needed for my degree(finally got that summer 2020). Because, I had taken the before, I already had a lot of research done, so completely starting over from scratch would be pointless. However, I would do South American crops instead my usual PNW crops. It was suggested that I add Yacón, this time since Oregon State University a land grant school was already experimenting with the tuber here in the Willamette Valley. Before, redoing my project I never heard of Yacón, but by adding Yacón to project, I began to get expose more of the idea of Firstfoods native to South America and how North American and rest of the world are relying on them for everyday needs and how foreigners are taking our crops and we getting no credit for it. Yacón is a great sugar substitute and it was with Yacón where I started to see a underlying problem. You see, in the past getting anything directly from South America was impossible in large part thanks to economic sactions, racism, ignorance, now we're starting to see that change little by little, but there is a difficulty of getting crops from South America. Now, I know you'll probably saying "Well that is because of import and laws" and "We don't want pest and disease" etc. Well, guess what, you have a much easier time of getting plants from Asia and Europe than you from South America! So, as you can see I started to see an underlyning problem, but I put into the back of brain until January of this year, but it was always on my mind every now then. Once, it became clear that I could have free range over the farm(Das's mein) I started to get more in more into South American crops that are already among the general population. The more I researched, the more furious I got and the more I wanted to share with the world where their beloved plants are from and who the people were that cultivated. Because of my experience with first food already it wasn't to know where to look or how to look. I started by looking into what I "First Names" like First Foods in the fact that they come from an Indigenous Community prior to Colonization. First Names are the names that the Indigenous people of where that crop or plant is native too and or by those who culivated and domesticated it in it's native region. If the crop or plant has a name from or given too by an indigenous community where that crop or plant is not native too then it is not considered to be the "Firstname" but the "Tradename" because the crop came about by trade therefore the crop is not native to that region so the name given by the Indigenous Community is not the First Name" and has no purpose being used as such, but still important non the less because it may be closes thing we have to a "Firstname". Also, there can be just like common names be more than one "First Name" so long as it is where the plant is native too;however, the idea of "Firstname" is that it is name given to the crop by the community that domesticated and cultivated it this is not always the case, so in order to decolone our source we must be open to idea that the "Firstname" may not always the original "Firstname" but is still a "Firstname" in the idea that it came from a First Nation where that crop or plant is native too. So, we have "Firstname" "Tradenames" now we have "Occupied Names" "Occupied Name" are the names given to the crop or plant by the Colonizers, " Occupied Names" can also refer to other Indigenous Community that Conquered the community who orginally cultivated/domesticated the crop but instead gave it's own name; however, often times or in most cases "Occupied Names" come from what name Settlers gave and not the people already living here. Let me, give an example, 'Mashua' which an Andean Tuber is in fact the "Firstname" of the crop because it is what Indigenous People of Andes call it;therefor, 'Mashua' is in fact the "first name" of the crop because it is where the plant is native too and a First Nation" gave it, its name. Chocolate is from the Cocoa plant is the "Tradename" the Cocoa plant which what chocolate is made from is native to the Amazon Rain Forest located in South America, but the word chocolate is from derived from The Aztec Empire which acquired the crop through trade. Though if you were to look this up it would tell that the Aztec Empire cultivated Chocolate and that the Cocoa is a gift from the Gods. Personally, I refuse to believe that the Atzec Empire cultivated and domesticated the plant when they got through trade. "Occupied Name" would be names like Quinoa or Pineapple both are native to South America! "Occupied Names" also included The "Scientific Names" which took off in the 1600s in the idea that Latin is a dead language therefore it will never change and we need a universal system for naming plants, diseases, pest and anything else among the scientific community. As I mentioned above Quinoa and Pineapple are "Occupied Names" while Quinoa is named in honor of the First Nation who domestic/cultivated it, it was not the name Inca Empire used. They called Quinoa, 'Chiya Mama' which means "Mother of all Crop" but Quinoa the word we know of it was given by a colonizer. Pineapple, is similar in the fact that the name Pineapple was given by a colonizer. Pineapple is native to Brazil and was cultivated by The Tupí People of Brazil the closes thing I could find to what they called Pineapple was 'Hoyriri' sadly the Tupí People would later be Enslaved and sold into Slavery throughout Brazil. Scientific Name are "Occupied Names" for a couple of different reasons one the language used for giving plants scientific names is Latin which is a Europe Language, second many scientific names are not in honor of the plant's native region or the people who domesticed it though there are expection, but in honor of themselves or in someone else honor. Take the Oregon White Oak native to the PNW, a keynote species and has cultural sufficient to Indigious People yet it is name after a Settler who was one of the presidents of the Hudson Bay Company. Quercus garryana, garryana the specie name is the name given to the plant in honor of. Another example being Oregon's state tree which has the common name Douglas Fur in honor of the man you "discovered" the tree. There are many examples of "Occupied Names" and these are only a few of them. It is important we understand where our food comes from and the people who grew them. Because, by not knowing we have allowed practices like "patented" and "trademark" to happen which can make millions in royalities for the individual or the company when those who orginally cultivated the crop being exploited by the very company making millions for a crop they discovered yet because they are not recognize or have credit for this crops a foreign company is making millions while they and their family starve!
In my quest for identity and culture I have discovered the importance of decolonizing our food source and giving the people who gave us the these crop recognition and credit. We are made in today's society give credit to the author or creator though I will admit not everyone does that and that is why having copyright laws are important. So, we must as a society have the same standards as we do for authors and creators with our plants. So, the next time you go to the store to decolonize your food by finding it's "Firstname" and if you only find it's "Tradename" that is ok, but remember that just because the name comes from an Indigenous Community doesn't that were the original cultivators and alway or at least try to remember that most crop or plant names are the "Occupied Names" were not what the First Nations called them.
Sincerally Yours