The gastronomic past of Anaga

When today we walk through Anaga, we do it in a region very different from the one where the Guanches lived before the arrival of the Europeans. To walk through the Biosphere Reserve today is to encounter agriculture, irrigation ditches, potatoes, sweet potatoes, bananas, oranges, lemons, yams, mangos, papayas and many other species that arrived after the conquest, some from Europe, others from America. And that brings us to a question….

What did the Guanches, the first humans to inhabit Tenerife, eat? Let’s try to go back in time…

The sea was evidently a great source of resources. It does not seem, from what the Europeans said when they arrived, that they knew how to sail, but they did know how to fish. Hooks were made from goat bones or horns. There are remains of what look like nets, made of reeds, which were used from the coast. They also used to catch fish that were trapped in the intertidal pools by pouring tabaiba or cardon milk into the water, which made it easier to catch them. It would be, of course, rockfish, the same species that predominate today and are typical on the island. Another marine resource, mollusks, should be added to fishing. The shells are evidence of its exploitation, especially of the burgado, which is still highly valued today.

But despite being islanders, the Guanches were mainly shepherds. They had sheep, goats and pigs, from which they used not only their meat but also – as is usual in all societies at the Guanche’s stage of development – their skins, bones, horns, tusks and milk, from which they made cheese or butter and lard. It is a matter of debate how frequent meat consumption was and how widespread it was, whether it reached everyone or was a consumption of elites. The Guanches also lived with cats and dogs. Both species, occasionally and perhaps for ritual reasons, were used as food. It is highly probable that they hunted birds, such as guirres, crows, pigeons, shearwaters or quails, and also fed on rats and giant lizards.

And did they know about agriculture? Yes, despite the fact that for a long time the idea that they were not, that they were only collectors, prevailed. Agriculture became very advanced in some parts of the archipelago, with even rudimentary irrigation systems. Today it is known that they cultivated two types of cereals. The main crop was barley, but they also knew wheat. With them they made the most characteristic food of the Guanches: gofio. The chronicles of the first conquerors also mention beans, peas, lentils, beans or the cultivation of fig trees. It seems that they knew about honey and consumed it, even if there were no domestic beehives.

It remains to be told what they could collect in that Anaga free of species from other continents. Today we have lost that eye for food, that survival instinct, but there were many possibilities: wild fruits, mushrooms, strawberry trees, bicácaros, dates, bramble berries, huckleberries… The mummies give us a clue about what they ate and in them have also been found pine seeds, different roots or flour of some ferns.

It is perhaps the plant species that have changed the most over the centuries, but it is clear that the Guanches found enough to live on the island, without needing anything from outside.