Fresh from the Andes
Peruvian cuisine is emerging from the shadow of guerrilla war and economic crisisBy David Koop, Associated Press writer 
LIMA, Peru -- A trip to a street market delivered a visiting American chef to a new world of strange fruits from the Amazon jungle, vegetables and herbs grown since the times of the Incas and rows of exquisite seafood.
Oblivious to the roar of bargaining shoppers around him, the fascinated chef rooted through the bins and discovered one reason why Peru's cuisine is gaining fame -- a multitude of ingredients available from its diverse geography and cultures.
"He was like a dog sniffing new bones. He couldn't believe all the fruits and exotic ingredients he'd never seen before," said Johnathan Cavanaugh, a British publisher in Lima who has edited the principal books on Peruvian cooking.
Recipes come from the ancient Incas of the Andes mountains, Indian tribes from the Amazon jungle, the Spanish conquerors who made Lima their South American capital, and waves of Italian, Chinese, African and Japanese immigrants.
Peru's best known dish, ceviche, is a delicacy made from sea bass, or a combination of shrimp, octopus and other seafood, marinated in lime juice, with hot peppers and onions. It is garnished with lettuce, sweet potato and corn. The raw bass and seafood is "cooked" by the acidic variety of lime grown in Peru.
Aji de gallina, a traditional Lima dish, mixes shredded chicken with walnuts, parmesan cheese and Peruvian peppers. It is served on a bed of rice and potato with a black olive on top.
Aji, omnipresent in Peruvian food, is a hot pepper considered the soul of Peruvian cooking by its chefs. There are dozens of varieties in Peru.
Papa a la huancaina, an entree from the Andean highlands, is potato covered in a spicy sauce made from cheese, milk, aji and peanuts. It is garnished with black olives, hard-boiled egg and lettuce.
Peruvian cuisine is emerging from under the shadow of years of guerrilla war and economic crisis that isolated Peru from the outside world as investors and tourists stayed away.
The capture of top guerrilla leaders in the early 1990s and record economic growth have allowed Peru, and its chefs, to open up to the world.
"There is an effervescence in interest in Peruvian cuisine, both locally and abroad," Cavanaugh said. "It is making its debut to the world."
A month-long Peruvian food festival at the United Nations in New York in October drew 400 diners a day and a road show of Peruvian chefs recently toured the world to rave reviews.
"The three best cuisines in the world are French, Chinese and Peruvian," said Roger Piaget, a Swiss chef who has opened two restaurants in Lima. "It is a convergence of pre-Hispanic and Spanish kitchens with European contributions. The ingredients available are extraordinary."
In Lima, dozens of expensive restaurants have opened in recent years, and a flurry of books on Peruvian cooking reflects the growing appreciation of Peru's culinary heritage.
"Peruvian cuisine is not that well known abroad because professional cooking in Peru is almost new. Before it was an oral tradition, but this is changing," said Isabel Alvarez, owner of El Senorio de Sulco restaurant, which specializes in traditional Peruvian cuisine.
She says Peru is home to 80 types of the world's 104 different biological zones, giving it a dazzling biodiversity to exploit in its cooking.
Chefs have identified more than 500 Peruvian dishes. Every region has a distinctive cuisine and is fiercely proud of it.
"Peru can have a cuisine as good or better than the European cuisines because of its ingredients. In Europe the land and seas are tired, but the fruits of our soil are rich and subtle," Alvarez said.
In her restaurant, Alvarez prepares a green "coca ice cream" using the coca leaf that is used to make cocaine. Coca leaves were being chewed, made into tea or used in religious ceremonies by the Inca Indians long before the Spanish conquest.
The ice cream, which has cinnamon flavor, has no narcotic affects, she said.
The adventurous eater can try cuy chactado, an Incan delicacy of the Andean highlands. The cuy, or guinea pig, is fried with a large stone on top to flatten it.
It is served with its feet and head intact, and garnished with yellow potatoes and aji. Many foreigners are scared away by its unnerving resemblance to a tailless rat and its frozen grin.
For 25 years, Melton Vasquez has prepared pachamancas, a pre-Hispanic Andean tradition that is like an underground backyard barbecue. He works at the Rincon Huanaqueno restaurant outside Lima.
In a pachamanca, pork, lamb, beef, sweet potatoes, string beans, corn and potatoes are wrapped in banana leaves and buried in a pit along with white hot rocks.
The food is steamed for several hours, and the banana leaves and warm earth give the food a special flavor, Vasquez said.
"I once left Peru to live with my son overseas, but I came back for the food," he said.
Photo by The Associated Press 1. A selection of Peruvian specialties is displayed at the Senorio del Sulco restaurant in Lima in photo at left. Clockwise from top are an assortment of sauces and condiments, a traditional Andean beef dish called Huatia, a seafood entree, Arroz con Mariscos, a potato, lime and seafood dish called Causa Limena, and fish strips marinated in lime juice and herbs, Tiradito. 2. Ceviche, Peru's most famous dish, is displayed at a Lima restaurant. Made from sea bass, shrimp, octopus and other seafood marinated in lime juice, it is served with sweet potatoes, onions, lettuce and corn. |  |
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