ABSTRACT
Kitchens are universal and configured in a wide variety of ways. In the western world, we usually think of kitchens as private spaces but public, or community kitchens, are common in many low-income countries. In the Andean countries of Peru and Bolivia, community kitchens tap into women’s unpaid kitchen labor and have become a vital part of many families’ strategies for surviving economic crisis. Soup kitchens, or community kitchens, in Peru and Bolivia have received a great deal of scholarly attention in the development literature and they provide an excellent example of how kitchens can be spaces of both women’s autonomy and women’s oppression. Community kitchens in the Andes are both public and private spaces. They are ostensibly open to all, but usually run by a fairly small group of powerful women. They are showcases of women’s entrepreneurial abilities and an indication that the state has abdicated its responsibility to the poor as it adopts neo-liberal policies. This essay will examine communal soup kitchens in the Andean countries of Peru and Bolivia to demonstrate the complexities of these spaces and their potential to empower and subjugate women.
