Reddit reviews The Body of the Conquistador (Critical Perspectives on Empire)

Rebecca Earle has an excellent book on this subject called The Body of the Conquistador. The main thrust of her argument is that the ways in which sixteenth century Europeans, and Spaniards in particular, saw the body was very different than we do today. In those days, notions of well-being were guided by humoral ideas according to which "each individual possessed a particular, characteristic humoral balance, but that balance was always in uneasy equilibrium, subject to the impact of external forces, of which food was the most important." Therefore, consuming the wrong food was thought to produce terrible perturbations in someone's physical and emotional condition. This also had the interesting corollary that bodies were labile, so that, by consuming the wrong foods Europeans could become more like Amerindians, but, conversely, Amerindians could also become more like Spaniards if they consumed the right foods.

With this in mind, it is not too surprising that Europeans were extremely preoccupied with what foods were available in the New World, for themselves and the natives. There was a lot of effort invested in importing wheat bread, wine and olive oil from Europe, as a way to preserve their health. Europeans were suspicious of much of the perceived diet of Amerindians (there was a lot of talk of eating toads, and lizards and insects) though they were enthralled with fruits (especially pineapple which was called the fruit of kings), chili peppers, cocoa and sweet potatoes. They also really liked iguanas which they decided were fish and therefore could be eaten on fast days. New world starches were also held in very high regard, but for the most part, it was recommended that not too many of these were eaten at once, since its excess could be dangerous to the European constitution. Those who did, were often seen with suspicion. In the end it is important to remember that the regard with which Europeans held food in the New World was intimately tied with the regard they held for its inhabitants. The question of whether Amerindians were toad-eating savages or their cornbread could offer sustenance to Europeans as well was also the question of whether Amerindians could ever become good Christians.

I’ve run across it in various books over the years. Most recently in this one—although it isn’t the central purpose of the book. It will be in lots of accounts of the period to some extent because they really were part of a dual empire, both material and spiritual.