ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Sustain. Food Syst.
Sec. Social Movements, Institutions and Governance
Volume 9 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fsufs.2025.1626780
Donkey milk as a traditional remedy in the Andean community of Peru
Provisionally accepted
Edgar Gutiérrez-Gómez*
José Luis Ñaupa-Figueroa
Rosa Cecilia González-Ríos
Jaime Carmelo Aspur-Barrientos- Universidad Nacional Autónoma de Huanta, Huanta, Peru
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Donkey milk was ancestrally used in the Andean communities of Peru as a natural remedy to treat various ailments, including asthma, gastritis and bronchitis. This qualitative ethnographic research explores the traditional knowledge associated with its use, therapeutic value and marketing practices in rural and urban contexts. In-depth interviews, participant observation and focus groups with producers, vendors and consumers in the city of Ayacucho and surrounding communities were used. The results show that donkey milk is considered an alternative to conventional medicine and, in some cases, a substitute for breast milk. However, its sale is informal, without sanitary regulation, and loaded with cultural stigmas. Information is transmitted orally, mainly in Quechua, which limits its scientific systematization. It is concluded that it is urgent to revalue this ancestral knowledge and integrate it into intercultural health and food security policies.
Keywords: Customs and traditions1, donkey milk2, culture3, Andean community4, oraltradition5
Received: 13 Jun 2025; Accepted: 04 Sep 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Gutiérrez-Gómez, Ñaupa-Figueroa, González-Ríos and Aspur-Barrientos. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Edgar Gutiérrez-Gómez, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de Huanta, Huanta, Peru
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