ABSTRACT
This chapter will examine the circulation and appropriation of European food and goods in the New World. It will demonstrate how circulation and appropriation were associated both with the reproduction and presence of consumption patterns maintained on the American continent and with the disruption of social hierarchies in areas where precious metals and the conquest promoted Spanish of humble social origins in their homeland to privileged positions. The modification of Spanish social positions favored a sumptuous consumption that shocked clergy and individuals including Poma de Ayala. At the same time, this chapter examines how the use and consumption of European goods legitimized natives who acted as the Crown’s intermediaries in their own communities.
