By Branton Worrell, CRC, Contributing Editor
Once seated at the restaurant Astrid & Gastón in Lima, Peru, we were given our menus and greeted with these words on the inside cover:
Peru, country of a thousand tales
To live and to tell
Peru, country of unlimited ingredients,
Of many cuisines, of infinite dishes and flavors
Peru, country that the world is just starting to discover
If you don’t recognize the name of the restaurant, don’t worry, few do. I didn’t until just before my 2008 trip. This restaurant and its chef, Gastón Acurio, were—and still are—on the front lines of a Peruvian food revolution (some would say “revelation"…) to show the world Peruvian cuisine as never seen before.
Defining factors
“The world is starting to finally see and taste not only the ancient cultures of Peru, but the cuisine that has sustained its people over many millennia. If one is to define Peruvian cuisine, one must look in two places: Peru’s geography and history. Peru’s history, like its geography, is a complex subject. Like Peruvian rivers that start in the lush tropical rain forests of the Andes Mountains to the east and head west to the Pacific running through the dry, arid plains on the coast; these rivers run like Peru’s ever-changing history: long, winding, but never stopping until they reach the ocean."
I don’t know the author of this passage. I would like to think Chef Acurio penned these inspiring words, but there was no signature at the end to signify this. I will say that whomever did write these words could not have summed up better what is going on now in Peru.
A series of cultural factors helped define the shape of today’s Peruvian cuisine. The Incas, who absorbed many Andean communities as the empire grew, started the first organized agricultural system in Peru during their reign from the 13th through 15th centuries, growing corn, potatoes and high-protein grains like quinoa in terraced plots cut into the mountainsides. The Spanish followed with their rich European influences.
The last wave of immigrants to make an indelible mark on the modern cuisine of Peru came in the mid- to late-19th century. Slaves from Africa, followed by Chinese and later Japanese laborers, were brought over to work the fields and mines of Peru. Their influences helped Peruvian cuisine separate and define itself from other regional cuisines.
Collectively, these influences—from pre-Columbian society through the Incan civilization and its Spanish conquerors, to African and Asian influences and beyond—created what is known in Peru as criollo cooking. This method uses earthen pots and remains active to this day. Dishes such as sancochado criollo—a hearty stew of vegetables and meat, with the broth served separately—still exemplify this tradition.
Flavors of Peru
Common ingredients found in today’s Peruvian cuisine run the gamut from the Inca’s New-World ingredients, such as hot peppers, tomatoes and squash, to pork, beef, rice and citrus fruits from Europe. Add ingredients, such as onions, garlic and fermented sauces, brought by Asian transplants, and you have a complex palette of ingredients to choose from.
One point to note: Peruvians use meat sparingly, something they’ve done since the time of the Incas. With such a varied plant-based bounty, anchored by potatoes, and little grassland for large domesticated animals, there really wasn’t a need for a lot of animal protein in the diet. Meat tends to be a smaller portion of a complete dish; potatoes, vegetables and grains become the main focus of the modern diet.
One dish I had several times, lomo saltado, really brings together all the classic elements of Peruvian food and culture. This dish was comprised originally of chopped beef, generally lesser cuts, from Spain, and was eaten by the always-resourceful African slaves. The french fries that accompany the dish are a combination of an Old-World technique and New-World ingredients. Take onions, garlic and soy sauce, a stir-fry method of cooking from Asia, and some local vegetables and fresh ají amarillos (yellow Peruvian chiles), and you have in front of you modern Peru on a plate.
