Today’s Chicha

 

Modern Day Chicha

Chicha de Jora

Modern day chicha is much different from the old Indian version but sometimes it’s possible to find the real thing. Nowadays it’s produced in mass form and comes in varieties of alcoholic and nonalcoholic versions.

Chicha in it’s traditional sense declined into a specialized, ancient secret when bottled, commercial beer was brought from Europe. The beer became more valued and prestigious which led chicha to be considered less desirable and less produced. Chicha recipes and quantities vary greatly so it became an artisan market whereas beer was systematic, consistent and merely brewed for profit.

Vendors Chicha is now made by women mostly for their own household or occasions with guests. Usually, when it is seen in markets, it comes from the brewer herself being sold in jugs or glasses. Occasionally it will be made in larger quantities by a few village members to sell but even then, chicha remains specialized and representative of the sellers relationships with their buyers. Vendors and clients have a special bond so that buyers go to the same vendors because they know they will get good quality and price and the vendors keep certain clients happy because they maintain loyalty and friendships. It goes back to the strong morale indigenous people hold in reciprocity.

 

 

http://www.jstor.org/stable/658100

Orlove, Benjamin and Ella Schmidt. “Swallowing Their Pride: Indigenous and Industrial Beer in Peru and Bolivia.” Theory and Society Vol. 24. No. 2 (Apr., 1995): pp. 271-298. Online.

Picture 1-http://wiki.sumaqperu.com/es/Chicha_de_jora

Picture 2-http://blogs.gestion.pe/anunciasluegoexistes/2014/10/la-moradita-de-inca-kola.html

Picture 3-http://perusolyluna.blogspot.com/2011/04/chicha-beer.html

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