Uncovering Peru’s Ancient Vegan Heritage on our Group Tour

By Ahimsa Travel Club

One crisp afternoon in the Sacred Valley, the sun rises over ancient Inca terraces in Ollantaytambo and a gentle mist clings to the Andes. I find myself cradling a warm bowl of quinoa porridge after getting a little sick the previous night. It's a simple, nourishing meal that could have fueled an Inca farmer centuries ago. In that moment, I feel a profound connection to the land and its history. Peru has long been a paradise of plant-based abundance, though it hasn't always gotten that reputation. After all, this is the land of quinoa, thousands of potato varieties, and Incan corn that is so delicious and makes me question what went wrong with corn in the United States. Long before the modern vegan movement, the Incas and their predecessors thrived on vegetables, grains, and fruits, forging a culinary legacy that beckons today’s compassionate travelers.

Long before Spanish colonization, the people of the Andes developed a diet and culture centered on the bounty of the earth. The ordinary Inca diet was largely vegetarian (meat from llamas, guinea pigs, or wild game was a rare luxury reserved for ceremonies and special occasions). Instead, everyday meals featured hearty plant foods: potatoes, corn, quinoa, beans, squash, and roots cultivated in diverse climates. The Incas inherited and enriched an agricultural heritage from earlier civilizations, domesticating an astounding variety of crops. The Andes are the birthplace of the potato, with over 4,000 native varieties still grown across Peru’s highlands Each potato.. red, purple, yellow, or blue, held such importance that the Quechua language has hundreds of words to describe them. Quinoa, a high-protein seed, was revered as the “mother grain” (chisaya mama) by the Incas. In fact, the Inca emperor himself would ceremonially plant the first quinoa seeds each season with a golden shovel, underscoring this grain’s sacred status. Alongside quinoa, the Incas grew corn (maize), legumes like tarwi (Andean lupin beans), kiwicha (amaranth), and countless tubers – creating a rich tapestry of flavors and nutrients.

Such plant-based abundance was deeply intertwined with Andean spirituality and respect for nature. The earth was seen as a living mother (Pachamama) to be honored for her gifts. Farming itself was a sacred act: before planting, farmers would ask the Apus (mountain spirits) and Pachamama for permission to disturb the soil. At harvest, they gave thanks by returning part of the yield to the earth. Even today, many communities follow the ancient ritual of burying the first or largest potato of the season as an offering, a “gift” back to Pachamama in gratitude. During our coca leaf ceremony on our vegan group tour of Peru, we actually participated in a similar ritual to give something back to the Earth. In Inca times, priests included potatoes, corn, coca leaves, and chicha (fermented corn beer) in ceremonial offerings, seeking blessings for fertility and good harvest. This spirit of reciprocity and reverence known as ayni ensured that what was taken from the earth was also given back, fostering a sustainable cycle of life.

The Incas were ingenious agriculturists, sculpting steep mountains into terraces to grow crops at impossible altitudes. On these stone-stepped plots (andénes), they nurtured everything from potatoes and quinoa to corn and beans. Terracing not only expanded arable land, it created microclimates. These became warmer niches where quinoa or maize could flourish higher than nature intended. The result was a stable, plant-rich food supply resilient to the mountains harsh extremes. Coastal and jungle communities also contributed to the plant-based cornucopia: trading tropical fruits, peanuts, avocados, and peppers in exchange for highland tubers and grains. While coastal people did supplement their diet with abundant fish from the Pacific, highlanders mainly relied on their harvest of plants, with dried fish a rare treat brought up the mountains. Across regions, meals were centered on plants, thick stews of tubers and corn, griddled breads from maize or quinoa flour, fresh chuño (freeze-dried potatoes) rehydrated into soups seasoned with wild herbs and hot rocoto peppers. This cuisine was not only nutritious and hearty; it was an expression of harmony between a people and their land.

Lima: Where Ancient Grains Meet Modern Gourmet

In Lima, Peru’s vibrant capital, the echoes of this plant-based heritage reverberate in bustling markets and innovative kitchens alike. Lima is a city of contrasts, colonial architecture and huaca temple ruins, cevicherías lining the coast and quinoa vendors in the markets.. but at its heart is an extraordinary culinary scene that draws on Peru’s indigenous crops. Stroll through a local mercado in Lima and you’ll find pyramids of giant choclo corn, baskets of multi-colored potatoes, purple maize for making sweet chicha morada drinks, and fragrant fruits from every corner of the country. Peru’s diverse ecosystems (coast, high Andes, Amazon rainforest) supply an incredible range of plant foods; truly “a rainbow of plants” flourishes here. We took our travelers on a vegan food tour in Lima and marveled at a dinner table centerpiece that displayed the country’s bounty from native fruits to cacao and, grains, and tubers of every hue. It was a delicious and visual reminder of how Peru’s cuisine is built on plant foundations.

Modern Peruvian chefs, known worldwide for fusion and innovation, have also begun to champion these ancestral ingredients. In fact, many of Peru’s most famous dishes can be made completely plant-based because their key components are vegetables and grains. Potatoes and corn remain cornerstone foods, especially in humble, home-style cooking. Dishes like papa a la huancaína (potatoes in spicy peanut sauce), tamales of corn masa, and solterito salad with lima beans and corn celebrate produce in its starring role. Even ceviche, Peru’s iconic dish, has a vegan twist in “ceviche de hongos” – swapping fish for mushrooms or heart of palm marinated in lime and chili. In Lima’s upscale restaurants, you can taste the old and new worlds on one plate: for example, at a renowned rustic kitchen in Miraflores, a classic anticucho skewer might be reinvented with vegetables (think charred purple corn, baby potatoes, and peppers) instead of beef. Peru’s leading culinary ambassador, Chef Gaston Acurio, has embraced native plant ingredients in his menus. At one of his eateries in Cusco, an entire side of the menu is devoted to the harvest of the Sacred Valley – an earthy quinoa stew brimming with local mushrooms, fava beans, and wild greens. It’s clear that Peru’s gastronomic revolution is about re-discovering the power of indigenous crops much to the delight of vegan and omnivore diners alike.

Lima’s forward-looking chefs and its traditional cooks share something in common: a respect for the natural richness of Peruvian produce. As a vegan traveler, you’ll find that the city’s offerings from high-end farm-to-table restaurants to street vendors blending lucuma fruit smoothies prove how seamlessly plant-based eating fits into local tradition. In between museum visits and walks along the Pacific coast, be sure to savor Lima’s many vegetable-forward dishes. Try a causa rellena, a whipped potato terrine (born of Inca potato culture) layered with avocado and tomato; or quinua atamalada, a savory quinoa “risotto” dating back to pre-Hispanic times. Or just come on one of our vegan tours of Peru such as the one coming up in Septmber of 2026 :).

Cusco: The Inca Capital’s Plant-Powered Legacy

High in the Andes, the city of Cusco was once the capital of the Inca Empire, a place where roads from all corners of Tahuantinsuyo (the Inca realm) converged, laden with agricultural riches. Today, Cusco welcomes travelers with its stone streets and thin mountain air, and it still delights the senses with the flavors of the Andes. Here, the past is palpably present: you might start your day with a steaming cup of coca leaf tea and a bowl of api...a traditional hot porridge made from purple corn or quinoa, spiced with cinnamon. This ancient vegan breakfast warms and energizes you for a day of exploration, just as it has sustained Quechua families for generations. On our tour, we didn't get to try this breakfast but upon post-tour research, we realize that we need to include it in the next tour. As you wander the lively San Pedro Market in Cusco, you’ll see why this region is nicknamed the breadbasket of the Andes. Stall after stall is heaped with produce: dozens of potato varieties in colors you didn’t know existed, sacks of quinoa and kiwicha grain, dried peas and broad beans, fresh herbs, and ropes of garlic. Elderly Quechua vendors, wrapped in vibrant woven shawls, preside proudly over these piles. They might teach you the names of a few favorites like suq’oy (a creamy yellow potato for soups) or oca (a tangy, apricot-colored tuber) – and explain which are best for roasting, boiling, or curing a stomachache. The market is a living museum of Inca food heritage, where the sheer diversity of plant foods on display connects directly to millennia of experimentation and cultivation.

Although Cusco’s restaurants offer everything from alpaca steaks to international fare, the everyday cuisine of the local people remains heavily plant-based. In fact, in the small villages surrounding Cusco, many families still eat a predominantly plant diet, much as their Inca ancestors did. Hearty soups and stews are mealtime staples, packed with potatoes, corn, tarwi beans, and wild greens. Chuno (dried potato) might be rehydrated into a filling soup, and corn cakes or ocas baked in the ashes add extra sustenance. Meat is often absent or used sparingly perhaps a few pieces of llama or guinea pig on festival days but largely, the highland diet relies on Mother Earth’s bounty of grains and vegetables. “We have everything we need from the land,” a Quechua farmer might tell you, just as one American dietitian observed: In the Andes, a family may keep a pig or cow for manure and milk, but that animal is “too precious to use for food” except on rare celebrations. This perspective, born of both economic necessity and cultural tradition, means that Andean communities historically got most of their calories and protein from plants AND they thrived on it. Notably, chronic diseases like obesity and heart disease have traditionally been low in these highlands, a fact often attributed to the wholesome, vegetable-rich diet and active farming lifestyle

Beyond nutrition, food in Cusco is tied to community and ritual. If you’re lucky to visit during a local festival, you might see how food and faith intertwine. During Inti Raymi, the Inca festival of the sun, offerings of corn and chicha beer are poured out to bless the earth. At village fiestas, communal meals are prepared: enormous pots of corn stew (locro) bubble over wood fires, and everyone shares humitas (sweet corn tamales) wrapped in husks. Even the act of eating together is a form of gratitude a way Cusqueños honor their ancestors and Pachamama. As a vegan traveler in Cusco, you are not just accommodated but welcomed into this ethos. Many eateries now cater to plant-based diets, and you’ll find creative vegan versions of Andean dishes think quinoa burgers or alpaca-free lomo saltado made with mushrooms. Yet perhaps the most meaningful vegan meal is enjoying a simple potato-with-aji chili or quinoa soup prepared by a local family, knowing the ingredients come straight from their fields. It’s a taste of hospitality and history in one bowl.

Sacred Valley: Fertile Heartland of the Incas

As the Urubamba River snakes between Pisac and Ollantaytambo, it passes through the fabled Sacred Valley of the Incas. This valley earned its name not for any single temple, but for its extraordinary fertility and the reverence it inspired. Flanked by terraced mountains and quaint villages, the Sacred Valley feels timeless and we got to do a beautiful yoga class and celebrate to live music when we visited. In this valley, many of the ancient Inca terraces remain in use, growing potatoes or corn on narrow ledges of earth that were ingeniously designed to catch water and solar heat. Visiting a place like Moray, an amphitheater-like arrangement of concentric terraces, reveals how advanced Inca agriculture was. These terraces functioned as an experimental farm, each level creating its own microclimate to test which crops thrived at which temperature. The Incas’ deep understanding of ecology allowed them to cultivate a myriad of crops in this valley, truly making it the breadbasket of their empire.

Driving through the Sacred Valley today, agriculture here is still largely small-scale and organic, carried out with methods passed down over centuries. Villagers rise with the sun to work the land, often singing Quechua harvest songs that echo off the Andes. Nothing goes to waste, as one traveler noted: every little plot of land grows something, and canals channel glacial water to irrigate crops in harmony with natural rainfall. It’s a living lesson in sustainability. The Sacred Valley’s peoples maintain a spiritual relationship with the land that city folk might envy. Farmers will often scatter a few coca leaves on the ground as a gesture of thanks before planting, or dedicate the first alpaca shear or first sack of corn to the Apus.

Traveling in the Sacred Valley with Ahimsa Travel Club, we make it a point to connect you with these traditions. And of course, you’ll taste the results of this fertile valley at their freshest: choclo corn roasted over coals and handed to you hot on diverse plates, its kernels as large as pearls; quinoa soup ladled from a clay pot, thick with vegetables from the garden; and ucha de olluco, a rustic stew of native root vegetables spiced with local herbs. Each meal in the Sacred Valley is farm-to-table in the truest sense.

Machu Picchu: A Sustainable Sanctuary in the Clouds

Our vegan journey through time and taste reaches its pinnacle at Machu Picchu, the famed “lost city” perched high above the Urubamba River. Arriving at this ancient citadel, you’ll instantly grasp why it’s considered a marvel and not only for its breathtaking temples and vistas, but also for its hidden agricultural wisdom. Machu Picchu wasn’t just a royal retreat; it was a self-sufficient sanctuary. Tucked around its edges and on adjacent slopes, the Incas built extensive agricultural terraces to feed the residents of this mountaintop city. Standing on the terraces, one can imagine Inca workers carefully tending crops with the clouds drifting below. These terraces, like giant green steps, grew the staples of the Inca diet: potatoes, maize, quinoa, beans, and peppers. Remarkably, the Incas even experimented here with crops from different climates... the varying terrace elevations allowed them to grow lowland foods that normally wouldn’t survive at 2,400 meters above sea level. Machu Picchu’s agricultural sector is thus an enduring symbol of sustainability and harmony with nature. With a sophisticated design of stone retaining walls and irrigation canals, the terraces prevented landslides and captured water, doubling as an engineering feat and a giant garden. In essence, Machu Picchu was able to sustain itself on a predominantly plant-based diet grown right on site, a testament to how advanced and adaptable Inca farming was.

As a visitor, witnessing this integration of city and agriculture is inspiring. You begin to see Machu Picchu not just as mysterious ruins, but as the remains of a living community that thrived on respect for the earth. While exploring the urban sector, you might pass by the storehouses (qullqas) where surplus dried foods like potatoes and quinoa were kept like an an ancient food security system. Our guide may point out wild quinoa plants or native orchids clinging to the terraces, showing that even after five centuries, the biodiversity the Incas fostered continues to flourish. Take a moment to appreciate that the very diet that sustained Machu Picchu’s people was mainly vegetarian, long before anyone used the term. What kept them healthy in this thin air was oca and olluco, not oxen; maize and legumes, not mutton. This resonates strongly today as we seek sustainable ways of living. At Machu Picchu, the Incas proved that with ingenuity and reverence for nature, humans can live in even the most challenging locations without depleting their environment.

As you soak in the panoramic view of terraces and temples, you might also reflect on your own journey. As we journey across Peru together, fueled by veggie empanadas and avocado sandwiches prepared by the many thoughtful chefs many travelers report that being at Machu Picchu is a spiritual experience. For vegan travelers, knowing that this sacred place aligns with values of sustainable, plant-based living makes it even more poignant. You feel a kinship across time with the people who once lived here, who knew the power of plants to nourish body and soul.

From Past to Present: Embracing Peru’s Vegan Legacy

Stepping back from our journey through Peru’s highlights Lima, the Sacred Valley, and Machu Picchu and Cusco a clear theme emerged. The plant-based traditions of the Incas and pre-Inca cultures are not relics of the past; they are a living thread woven through modern Peruvian life. They invite us to travel not as strangers, but as participants in an ancient rhythm of compassionate coexistence with nature. At Ahimsa Travel Club, this ethos is at the heart of our tours. (“Ahimsa,” a Sanskrit word meaning non-violence, reflects our commitment to honor all living beings in our travels.) In Peru, we find a natural synergy with this philosophy: from the farmers who gently ask the earth’s permission before planting, to the chefs who elevate indigenous vegetables to haute cuisine, Peruvians demonstrate and have set the foundations for a deep-seated respect for life and land that mirrors the principles of veganism.

Traveling on a vegan tour in Peru is a feast for the senses and the soul. You’ll savor colorful dishes brimming with history, learn the stories behind them, and perhaps even pick up a few Quechua phrases and cooking tips along the way. More than that, you’ll forge a meaningful connection with Peruvian people, who are proud to share the heritage of their “plant-powered” ancestors. Our journey through Peru becomes a journey through time tasting what an Inca emperor might have eaten, visiting fields that have been cultivated for a thousand years, and gaining insight into a culture that saw food as a bridge between humans and the divine. As Padma Lakshmi often emphasizes in her own travels, food is never just food; it’s culture, history, and love on a plate. In Peru, this rings especially true.

So, to all vegan and veg-curious travelers: if you’re seeking a destination where your values of health, sustainability, and compassion are part of the cultural fabric, we welcome you to Peru with open arms. Come trek through cloud forests and ancient citadels, break bread (or rather, break potatoes!) with local families, and toast a day’s adventures with a cup of chicha or a pisco sour made with passionfruit. By the end of your voyage, you won’t just have seen Peru’s wonders, you will have tasted its heart. Embark on this plant-based pilgrimage with us, and discover the rich flavors of a civilization that knew, all along, the power of plants to nurture and unite us.

Sources:

• Sharon Palmer, Plant-Powered Eating in Peru – Insight into Peru’s traditional plant foods and modern observationssharonpalmer.comsharonpalmer.comsharonpalmer.com.

• Arxiv (2025) on Inca agriculture – Details on Inca diet being predominantly plant-based and use of terracesarxiv.orgcomeseeperutours.com.

• World History Encyclopedia / CSI Year 8 – Historical overview of Inca food customs (two meals a day, meat for special occasions, quinoa porridge, coastal seafood)incassite.wordpress.com.

• Inca Medicine School, The Sacred Potato – Cultural significance of potatoes (4000+ varieties, offerings to Pachamama, spiritual value)incamedicineschool.comincamedicineschool.com.

• Peru Explorer, Indigenous Food Heritage – Information on sacred foods like quinoa (“mother grain”) and traditional farming/ceremoniesperu-explorer.com.

• Salkantay Trekking Blog – Notes that rural Cusco diets are predominantly potatoes, corn, legumes (plant-based) and mention of Inca terraces in Sacred Valleysalkantaytrekking.com.

• IncaRail Blog on Terrace Farming – Explanation of how and why the Incas built agricultural terraces (crop diversity, microclimates)blog.incarail.comblog.incarail.com.

• ComeSeePeru Tours, Machu Picchu Terraces – Description of Machu Picchu’s sustainable farming system and crops grown on its terracescomeseeperutours.comcomeseeperutours.com.

• Ahimsa Travel Club (EscapeTo) – Company mission statement emphasizing cultural immersion, vegan cuisine, and respect for the Earth escapeto.in.