Culinary Delights - Adventures in Eating

Peru is thought to have one of the finest cuisines in Latin America. The country’s ecological and climactic diversity provides an ample supply of fresh produce. The rich Peruvian fishing grounds abound in fish and shellfish species, the basis of many coastal dishes.  Rice, fowl and goat, meanwhile, are the key ingredients of Peru's north coastal cooking.  In the Andes, delicious ingredients such as the potato and corn, plus cuy (guinea pig) and ají chili pepper are the basis of highland cooking. The jungle adds its own touch, wild game with a side serving of fried banana and manioc root. Local fruit varieties such as chirimoya (custard apple) and lucuma produce tasty deserts.  Here are some of the things we tried:

Aji de Gallina: Shredded chicken is used for this dish. Other ingredients are milk, cheese, chilies, garlic and onions. It is served with rice.

Alpaca: The alpaca is a smaller, cuter version of a llama - it has a kind of venison-y, porky, beefy taste and it has only 1% fat.

Causa: Causa is a sort of casserole made from layers of potatoes and avocado, and sometimes containing tuna, meat or hard-boiled eggs.  It’s made into a cylinder, sliced and served cold – sounds strange, but it was quite good. 

Ceviche: One of the classic dishes of Peruvian coastal cooking is ceviche -- raw fish and shellfish marinated in lime or lemon juice and hot chile peppers, and served with raw onion, sweet potato, and toasted corn. It's wonderfully spicy and refreshing.

Chicharones:  A delicious pork sandwich made of roast pork, red onion relish and a spicy sauce.

Chicha: An ancient Andean tradition is the brewing of chicha, beer made from fermented maize. The best place to get it is at a simple bar or home that flies the chicha flag.  Served warm in monstrous tumblers for a few pennies, it may be a good way to go native, but it didn’t make our list of favorite drinks!

Chicha morada is a drink made from blue corn.  It is sweet and nonalcoholic, and it actually tastes good (especially with ceviche).

Chirimoya: a fruit which you can find in shops and markets. It looks kind of like an avocado but it tastes like strawberry-and-cream.

Churros: In our eyes, all the other Peruvian desserts and treats fall by the wayside when compared to churros. Mainly available in Lima, imagine a doughnut shaped like a head of corn. Now fill it with caramel. Then coat it in sugar. Then deep-fry it. Now coat it in sugar again. Ready? Now deep-fry it again. Then coat it in sugar once more, just to be sure, and serve warm.  Even better are the ones filled with chocolate.

Cuy: Cuy is the whole Guinea pig roasted. Coy is served whole (head, paws and all) on a platter with potatoes and vegetables. Sometimes it is cut into pieces and served, but most cases it is served as a whole. It may taste like chicken, but it has a gamey flavor which is of its own. It was the food for Inca royalty and for our birthday celebration.

Empanada:  Pastry stuffed with meats or cheese, then baked or deep-fried.

Inca Kola: This bottle of yellow-colored liquid is a teeth-melting bubblegum-flavored soda.  It must be an acquired taste.

Lomo saltado: Lomo Saltado is one of the most popular menu items at local restaurants. It is a dish of marinated beef steak, fried potatoes and vegetables. This dish is served with white plain rice.


Lucuma:- Lucuma is a tree fruit that looks like a mango, but it has a custardy taste akin to maple syrup. It’s usually used as a flavoring in desserts, and is popular as a variety of ice cream.

Mate de Coca: Coca-leaf tea, a perfectly legal local drink that has been a tradition in the Andes for centuries, is a great way to deal with the high altitude of the mountains.  Most hotels have it ready for their guests – and we put away lots of it!

Piccarones: A fried doughnut often sold by street vendors.  The dough was made from flour and water, plus zucchini, white potatoes, sweet potatoes and yeast.  Served with honey drizzled over … nice snack.

Pisco Sour: Peru's national drink is the pisco sour, a delicious concoction made from the white-grape brandy called pisco. Made frothy when mixed with egg whites, lemon juice, sugar, and bitters – it’s the closest thing to a Peruvian margarita.

Polla a la brasa: There are pollerias everywhere in Peru and they essentially do one thing very well: spit-roasted chicken and French fries. Perhaps with a salad, but that's about it. This jack-of-one-trade really pays off, though - it's probably the best grilled chicken in the world and you can be in and out in 15 minutes! This is what fast food should be about.

Potatoes:  Peru is the world's potato capital. The potato originated in the upper reaches of the Andes and was first domesticated in Peru between 8000 B.C. and 5000 B.C.  Today, there are more than 4,000 potato varieties, many of which are found only in Peru. They range in color from purple to blue, from yellow to brown. Sizes and textures vary as well. Some are smalls as nuts; others can be as large as oranges.  The taste of different potatoes varies broadly, explaining why these vegetables are used in all kind of dishes from appetizers to desserts.   It seems like we tried at least three-fourths of the 4000 varieties.

In areas above 10,000 feet altitude, potatoes exposed to the cold night air are turned into chuño, or freeze-dried potatoes.  After harvest, small potatoes are spread on the ground and allowed to freeze with low night temperatures, for approximately three nights.  After the first freezing night, they are exposed to the sun, and they are trampled by foot. This eliminates what little water is still retained by the potatoes, and removes the skins, enabling subsequent re-freezing for two additional nights.  Once dried, and with minimal care in storage, the product can last for a long time, even years.

Quinoa:  A tiny grain-like cereal first cultivated in the Andes over 3000 years ago.  Quinoa is highly nutritious, a good source of protein and fiber.  We had it as hot cereal, soup, dessert, and roasted – and probably in other dishes we didn’t recognize.