CONTINUE….

Coca Leaves

Colorfully-dressed Incas greet us with cups of hot tea as we enter the airport terminal. “¡Bienvenidos a Cusco!” A delightful welcome to the two-mile high Andean city, but the tea also serves an important purpose—the prevention of altitude sickness.

The tea we are offered at the airport, and again in our hotel lobby, is mate de coca—brewed from leaves of the coca plant. Coca is best known to North Americans as the source of the drug cocaine, which is actually a highly processed derivative of the coca leaves. Because of its association with the drug, coca is banned in the U.S.

In the Andes, where it is legal, coca is an age-old tonic and a remedy for many ailments. It enhances mood, without dependency or toxicity; is a natural energizer, similar to coffee; is rich in vitamins and minerals; relieves dizziness, headaches and stomach problems; and aids in weight loss and child-birth.

Coca leaves can be chewed, brewed, smoked, or made into candy and baked goods. Shamans in the Andes smoke it for “magical” purposes—to enter the spirit world and to prognosticate the future in the tea leaves.

Coca Sale

In the Incan empire, coca was considered to be very special, sometimes magical, and its use was controlled. After the conquest, the Catholic Church tried to forbid it, because of its ties to the old religion, but they found that in the high altitude without the coca, the natives had trouble working the fields and mining the gold, so the church itself cultivated the plants and distributed the leaves to the workers.

The world’s most popular coca product is Coca Cola™. Made from the extract of coca leaves mixed with kola nuts, it was created in 1885, and sold as a tonic. Coca Cola™ did contain cocaine (commonly used in 19th century patent medicines) until 1929! When it became known that cocaine was potentially harmful, the company had a problem. If it removed the coca from its recipe, could it still call its product Coca Cola™? On the other hand, if it did not remove the cocaine, there could be a boycott of the drink. Their solution was to devise an extraction process in which the coca leaves were ground, mixed with sawdust, soaked in bicarbonate of soda, percolated with toluene, and steam blasted. The result was then mixed with powdered kola nuts and pasteurized—preserving the taste while eliminating the drug effects. Pepsi™, by the way, does not use coca leaves in its recipe!

Today there are opponents and supporters of coca, but for visitors to Peru and other Andean countries, the tasty coca tea is a harmless antidote to the ills of altitude.

Chicha Preparation

Have a thirst for a real native experience? While traveling in Peru, stop at a house displaying a red flag on a long pole. There you can join the locals in a glass of chicha, an ancient Andean drink made from fermented corn.

The strange-tasting drink, yellowish in color with a bubbly froth, is served warm for just a few coins, and is quite strong. It is not usually found in restaurants (a similar drink, chicha morada, made from blue corn, is sweet and sold everywhere like a soft-drink), but is sold by individuals, usually in the lower socioeconomic bracket, who have passed down the traditional recipes since pre-Inca times.

Recently, in the mountaintop city of Cerro Baul in southern Peru, archeologists from the University of Chicago unearthed remains of an ancient brewery dating back to the Wari Empire (AD 600-1000). It is believed that the brewery was used to produce massive amounts of chicha, which was used both for ritual purposes and festivities.

The ruins indicate that the last gathering at this brewery ended with a ritual burning of the entire facility. As the Wari’s threw their cups into the fire, the beams and thatched roof collapsed, leaving what was underneath in very good condition. Scientists have found remains of fire pits and fifteen-gallon ceramic vats.

The first step in preparing the chicha is boiling the fruits and grains (now corn) with water. After boiling, the liquid is transferred to fermenting jars and is ready in two weeks. It must be consumed soon after—it does not have a shelf life!

So, join your Peruvian neighbors in a glass of chicha, if you dare, and carry on the ancient tradition.

2006

# Peruvian Night – Washington, EEUU

The Peruvian gastronomy could be enjoyed by more than 300 guests in a event organized by PromPeru, Mincetur and the Peruvian embassy in USA, it was celebrated in the famous Capitol. Among the visitors, there were representatives of the American congress, who enjoyed dishes prepared by the Peruvian chef Maritza Guiulfo.

# Gastronomic Festival MADRID FUSION 2006:

“Perú, mucho gusto” was the name of the stand that presents the gastronomic and tourist product in the festival MADRID FUSION 2005, celebrated in Madrid, Spain. Among permanent and gastronomic tasting, the participation of our chefes Gaton Acurio and Toshiro Konishi were outstanding who with Jhonny Schuler with his amazing presentation of the Peruvian Pisco, all these things make of Peru an ideal gastronomic destination.

2005

Europe:

# Gastronomic festival MADRID FUSION 2005:

Madrid was the place of one of the most important gastronomic events in the entire year and Peru couldn’t be absent. A sample of the Peruvian gastronomy and the tourist in Peru were presented in the stand “Perú, mucho gusto”. The Peruvian “banban”, Emilio Vivanco accepted the award of the Best Author Cocktail by his Pisco Sour called Inti de Oro.

# Gastronomic festival Girotonno:

Peru competed with Spain, Italy and Japan, tree of the most important cuisines in the entire world, in Cerdeña Italy. The dish “Tiradito de atun in yellow chili sauce” got the second place and a class about the Peruvian Ceviche was taught directed by the gastronomic professionals and people who were interested in. There were over 150 people between professionals, authorities and the press.

# Gastronomic festival Germany (from September 21st to 27th 2005):

There were an average of 90 people per day in the Trader Vics Restaurant of the Radisson Hotel SAS-Hamburgo and the organization of the one night of press with 30 tourist journalists, the main objectives was to know the destination Peru in Germany.

# Gastronomic Journeys France (October 18th and 19th):

These gastronomic journeys were celebrated among magistral classes in the technical schools of Le Cordon Blue and Ferrandi and special dinners directed to the gastronomic press and members of French cooking associations.

# Gastronomic Festival Suiza (from November 2nd to 8th 2005):

The festival was celebrated in the restaurant Le Jardine of the Richemond-Ginebra Hotel; there ware launch with the press, tourist operators, restaurant owners, hoteliers and authorities of the entire world, Ginebra.

# Gastronomic Festival Italy (from November 24th to 27th 2005):

The restaurant II Milanese Curioso, of the hotel Sheraton Diana Majestic-Milan, was the center of this festival, where a dinner with the press was celebrated, there were 17 journalists.

# Presentation of the Peruvian Gastronomy (Madrid, November 29th 2005):

The Peruvian gastronomic product was the center of Madrid because of the recognized Spanish chef Sergi Arola who organized a presentation of the Peruvian gastronomy in the restaurant Arola Madrid. It had the participation of chefs like Toshiro Konoshi, Pedro Miguel Schiaffino and Omar Frank, an over 100 guests, we could find among them people of the media, gastronomic criticizers, opinion leaders, chefs, tourist operators and airlines.

North America:

# Gastronomic Festival in Vancouver – Canada:

There were over 40 opinion leaders, Vancouver was the center of the promotional opening of the destination Peru: An advertisement was published in the newspaper of Vancouver Sun and the TV presenter, Claire Newell of the TV show of traveling – British Columbia of Vancouver spreads a video about Peru.

# Gastronomic Festival Seattle:

From November 30th to December 03rd, the cities of Seattle and Tacoma were the scenery of an amazing gastronomic promotion, el Pisco and the destination Peru.

South America

# Gastronomic Festival in Bogota – Colombia:

There were over 600 people, this festival was celebrated thanks to the support of Taca, Hotel Sofitel Royal Park Lima and Sofitel Bogota Victoria Regia.

# Gastronomic Festival Sao Paulo Brazil (from June 17th to 26th 2005):

There were over 150 guests and 800 fellow diners, 3 Peruvian chefs made a demonstration of the Peruvian gastronomy for the greatest 25 chefs of Sao Paulo. They showed their talent in a dinner offered for the specialized press in gastronomy and in the inauguration cocktail of the festival.

Entrees and soups: “antojos de queso en salsa de maracuya” (cheese cake and spinach), fresh salad of snails with quinua, cheese cream caramel and barley pancakes, yucca cake, apio cream and poro with barley pancakes.

Main dishes: Quinia taboule, grill alpaca, fish brine with algarrobina, “reventón ayacuchano” (cooked with the ingredients of the pachamanca and sancochado, but roasted in a clay pot, plus sauces), “risotto de quinua”, “carapulcra de yucca” and dry potato, lasagna con moron, broad beans stew, alpaca hotpot, stuffed trout, duck with pears and elder sauce, crab in coconut and pineapple sauce, “cabrito con pepian de choclo”, guinea pig in ostry sauce, squids with heifer calf.

Desserts: “imperial de quinua” (with milk and maracuya jelly), quinua froath and guanabana, oca cake (with oca and cherimoya), “misky sumac (kiwicha), “mazamorra de cañihua”, “turron de pacae”.

Beverages: Aguaymanto shake, quinua and mamey chicha, grape and cañihua chicha, “masca sour de lucuma – pear chapped fruit”, tumbo frozen and the “cumpa” (uña de gato, milk, pisco and eggs)

Humitas

The heat of a firewood oven, clay pots are the main protagonists of many smells and flavors connected with the value of the land. Meat, tubers, grains and herbs are used to a great diversity of simple and delicious dishes.

Among entrees we have corn with Andean cheese, corn salad (tarwi), “mote con chicharron” (boiled corn with pork), “cancha” (toasted maize), “humitas” (grinded corn or maize and wrapped in their own leafs to be cooked), “papa a la huancaina” (slices of boiled potatoes with cheese cream and yellow chili) and inchik uchu (boiled yucca served with peanut sauce, chili and cilantro).

Main dishes: “pachamanca” (roast beef, lamp, pork, guinea pig cooked over hot stones, with broad beans, potatoes and “humitas”, in a hole covered with leafs and earth), “patasca” (mote soup), cuy chactado (roasted guinea pig with the pressure of a stone), “cecinaa” (dry and dehydrated meat), “puka picante” (boiled pork and potatoes with seasoning of chili and beet), “cuchicanca” (roasted pig), “olluco con carne” (olluco stew and cured dry sliced beef or llama beef), “pesque” (quinua stew), “huarjata” (pig’s head stew), “sajta” (chicken stew with peanut), “chuñu lawa” (chuño cream with slices of meat).

Chairo

Soups: “chochoca” (corn flour), “sopa verde – green soup” (potatoes, egg, cheese and paico), “kapchi” (of broad beans), “lawa” (fresh corn coup, broad beans, dry yellow chili and huacatay), “chuño or morraya” (dehydrated potatoes), “llunca cashqui” (wheat), “chairo” (of roast beef and lamp, wheat, potatoes, broad beans, zapallo, and chuño and other ingredients).

Desserts : “chapana” (yucca flour jelly), “quesillo con mile” (curdled cheese and chancaca honey), “cicadas” (coconut and chancaca jelly), “tojosh api” (fermented maize mazamorra), “manjarblanco” (milk jelly) and jellies (of blackberries and other).

Aromatic herbs: cilantro, parsley, huacatay, paico, muña, hierbabuena.

Liquors: wines and handmade hard ciders, “chicha de maiz” (of maize and jora) and “quinua”.

Bread: a great diversity of bread (tanta wawas, santiagos, bolos, de agua, de tres puntas, semitas, made of wheat, barley, maize, oca, aniseed, potato and sweet potato), bread roll (of corn and quinua), cookies, schnecke and sponges (sweet).

Choclo con Queso

Rocoto Relleno

pepper with chopped meat, spices, cheese, eggs and milk), “soltero de queso” (just like the broad beans but with corn or maize, olives and chopped chili), “ocopa” (slices of cooked potatoes with peanut cream, onions and cookies) and “chicharrones”. Among the soups we have, the prefer ones like “caldo blanco – white soup” (lamp loin, potato, corn or maize, chickpea, chuño and spices) and the “puchero” (beef, pig and chicken with vegetables and spices).

Puchero

Among main dishes we have: adobo (pig loin soup, chili, onions and chicha de jora, served with bread), “picantes” (of pig or beef, lamp or duck), “locro” (dish of beef or lamb), “chupe de camarones” (chopped prawns in chili and cooked with broad beens, milk, rice, corn or maize and potatoes) and the “Malaya frita” (boiled fees and cooked).

Among desserts we have: the “buñuelos” (of flour, eggs and milk covered with chancaca honey), “queso helado” (milk ice cream, cinnamon, coconut and

Chicharrones

spices), the chocolates and the toffees.

To drink, we have a good local beer, the regional sodas or the “chicha de jora” (liquor of maize). We have also some beverages which help to digest: el té piteado (tea with aniseed) or the Najar aniseed.

Chupe de Camarones

Arroz con Mariscos

Lima is well-known because of being the gastronomic Capital of South America, due to the originality of its cuisine. It inherited the pre-Hispanic and colonial culinary excellences, as well as the contribution of the oriental and occidental

In the other hand, the afro-peruvian

Anticuchos

The Creole

We have also adaptations of Chinese

The endless list of desserts we have: “suspiro a la limeña” (soft meringue in syrup with milk cake), “mazamorra morada” (dense sweet of purple corn with sweet potato flour, ripe fruit

Picarones

and spices), “arroz con leche” (rice, milk, port wine with milk wine), “turron de Doña Pepa” (baked pastry, flour, lard, eggs and aniseed with layers of fruit honey and sugar) and the delicious “picarones” (circular cooked pastry of

To drink we have the “chicha morada” (soft drink of

Tacacho con Cecina

The amazonian food is full of exotic delicacies. As starter we have the chonta salad that is much tasty. The meat and the banana are always present in every moment as main dishes, like tacacho with dried beef (barbecued bananas with pig meat, chopped onion and dry meat) and filled banana (pastry of banana with stuffing of peanuts).

Juane

Chachahuasi

The meat of bird, fish and wild animals are indispensable in the traditional dish: los juanes (rice pastry cooked sickly with slices of chicken, wrapped with bijao leafs), roasted of Picuro (very delicious rodent), apichado (prey of gilded pig cooked with grinded peanut and corn), patarashca (fish wrapped with banana leafs and it is roasted on fire).

Among soups, the inchicapi is distinguished (chicken with peanut dish, cilantro and yucca), carachama soup (carachama fish with bananas and cilantro).

Among beverages, aguajina is a very refreshing drink (based on aguaje fruit) and to cheer we have masato (cooked, crushed and fermented yucca with sweet potato), chuchuhuasi (fermented brandy with this root), uvachado (soaked of grapes) and chapo (cooked banana in water and milk).

Let me introduce myself. Peru is my name, nice to meet you.

Peruvian Dishes

A great understanding of cooking abilities and  the best cuisine is maybe the most widespread tradition between Peruvians. We eat everything and in any occasion. When someone is born, when someone dies, when the children become adults, when we want to tell the true or lie, to seduce, to convince or to love. A witness that don’t say nothing, a well-served table.

If sometime you hear a Peruvian say that our cuisine is the best one of the world, remember that we don’t say that because we like to brag, but we can say that two times. It’s true.

Our identity is represented in the cuisine: we are demanding companions at table, and many others, magic chefs. We live the democracy in our tables: there is going to be always a space where a cebiche takes place, a pisco sour or arroz con pato a la chiclayana (duck with rice – chiclayo style dish).

Our capacity to compose ourselfs, we express it by eating chifa, the name we give  Chinese food in Peru. Endless and colorful feasts that demand silence and discipline, mouthful after mouthful allows us to value what really means the diversity we have.

Geography? Eat gentleman, in Peru it’s like a trip. We have an amazing Peruvian ocean , crossing the Andes and the huge diversity of potatoes, even the Amazon, full of an exotic and natural cuisine, we have just one and a great route that makes Peru a unique territory. The route which outlines flavors.

Well, Peru is awarded with amazing lands and divinely abundant seas and for centuries we have thanked this talent, cooking, eating and creating, like gods do.

It’s a pleasure to introduce it. It is Peru and its flavors that invite you to get acquainted with it.