From tradition to nutrition: wild and cultivated Aymara food plants as sustainable resources in the Andean neotropics of Bolivia

Introduction Traditional food systems of Indigenous communities embody sophisticated ecological knowledge essential for thriving in marginal environments. However, these practices have yet to be systematically documented, leaving significant gaps in our understanding of their complexity and value. In the Andean Altiplano, Aymara communities maintain complex ethnobotanical practices involving diverse food plants and specialized processing techniques, likely related with the detoxification of naturally toxic species—knowledge whose documentation is essential for understanding the role of traditional systems in sustaining agrobiodiversity. Objectives This study characterizes the diversity of food plants and traditional processing methods used by Aymara communities in the Bolivian Altiplano, documenting the range of species and techniques employed in their food systems. It situates ethnobotanically documented food resources and processing practices within a nutrition-sensitive interpretive framework. Materials and methods Fieldwork conducted between 2001 and 2015 combined semi-structured interviews with 288 informants—following Prior Informed Consent procedures—with participatory observation, yielding a systematically categorized dataset of plant uses and processing practices. Results The study documented 213 food plant species from 71 botanical families, with autochthonous species accounting for 70% of all entries, underscoring the deep reliance on locally evolved biodiversity. Eight pre-culinary processing categories were identified, including alkaline ash use, freeze–thaw cycles for chuño , and extended fermentation for tunta . These methods illustrate that Aymara culinary knowledge forms a structured, empirically refined system, reflecting deep ecological and technical expertise. Conclusion To our knowledge, this study provides the most comprehensive documentation of Aymara food ethnobotany to date, offering a taxonomically and technically detailed ethnobotanical reference. The documented diversity of food plants and processing techniques contributes to the understanding of traditional knowledge systems in climate-vulnerable highland communities. While this study does not assess household-level outcomes or nutritional intake, it establishes a foundational record of ethnobotanical practices that can inform future research and policy discussions related to agrobiodiversity and food system resilience.