The Journey of an Ancestral Seed: The Case of the Lupino Paisano Food Network in Cotopaxi, Ecuador

“Lupino paisano” refers not only to an Andean seed (Lupinus mutabilis Sweet), but also to a nature-culture food network. We argue that this network is based not on a modern ontology separating culture and nature but on what we refer to as a “rhizomatic association of actants.” Informed by Bruno Latour's actor network theory (ANT) and Tim Ingold's relational model of thinking, we follow the seed's path from the highland community of Guayama San Pedro (place of production) to the valleys of Cotopaxi (places of processing and consumption) and its subsequent return to the Guayama San Pedro, analyzing this as a series of actant transitions. We conclude that the lupino paisano network comprises a group of entities and the dynamic relationships among them; it is not centrally organized or an “organizing memory.” The geographies, the actants, and their relationships are defined during the work processes and dependent on the translation processes generated.