Pachamanca
The pachamanca is an Andean feast cooked in the earth: stones are heated in a dug pit, and layers of meat, potatoes, maize, beans and fragrant herbs are set over them, covered with leaves and earth, and steamed until done. The name comes from Quechua and means 'earth pot,' and the method is shared across the Peruvian and Bolivian highlands, where it is served at weddings, patronal fiestas, harvests and the raising of a new house. Before anyone eats, the first portion is set aside and offered to Pachamama, the earth mother, often with a splash of chicha or a libation poured on the ground, a ges