It had already been declared the gastronomic capital of the Americas and the home of one of the world’s twelve great cuisines. Now the city of Lima continues is rapid climb to the top of food-lover’s travel itineraries after gastronomy magazine Bon Appétit declared it their Destination of the Year 2009.
Category: "Peruvian Food"
Curich and the cremolada
It’s summer in Lima. The days are hot and they are long. The sun pushes you down with its full force, as if a heavy weight on your shoulders, and the humid air is thick like treacle. The gentle sea breeze along the cliffs of the Costa Verde in Miraflores seems to disappear during the hottest hours of the day, just when it is needed most. Ice cream sellers whistle as they ride by on their ice cream dispensing bikes… but you are thirsty and a thick ice cream won’t refresh you beyond the 30 seconds it takes to devour it. What is there that can save you from collapsing into a heap in the middle of the street?
A cremolada, a cremolada from the home of cremoladas, a cremolada from Curich.
El Verídico de Fidel
I had heard of the place with the famous leche de tigre once or twice, but when I was bombarded with news of it from three different people in the space of 3 days, I knew I had to pay a visit. Surprisingly this spectacular little restaurant its on one of my well-trodden roots in the heart of La Victoria.
The story begins in 1989…
Papanetón
Panetón, as described here, is widely enjoyed in Peru around Christmas. But I doubt I’ll be buying any more now that I’ve tried the version made from potato flour. Softer, spongier and tastier. It’s even cheaper!
Just when you thought Peru couldn’t possibly fuse any more traditional foods of its immigrant communities with indigenous ingredients to create something new, original and mouth-wateringly tasty… along comes the Papanetón.
Panettone Madness [Featured]
US Expat Barbara Drake sums up the madness surrounding the sweet Italian treat known in Peru as panetón. By my conservative estimate, the average Peruvian eats 2.5 metric tonnes of panettone each Christmas. Well, that might not be entirely accurate, but it sure looks it to the casual observer. How this affects Peru’s miraculous weight-loss power, I’m not sure.
Loosing weight in Peru [Featured]
Rachel Gamarra explains how Peru’s abundance of fresh, unprocessed, nourishing, tasty and cheap food can help keep you slim, and tells of her first experience in a Peruvian supermarket and how it compares to one in her home country, the super-sized United States.
World’s Biggest Ceviche
As the birthplace of ceviche, Peru just couldn’t stand by and let another Latin American country hold the Guinness World Record for the largest dish ever made.
El Fayke Piurano
I’ve been spending a lot of time in central Lima recently, so naturally I have been using a significant amount of that time to eat. After serious study, I have come to the conclusion that the best place to eat in central Lima is… drum roll… El Fayke Piurano
Gastón’s La Mar in San Francisco [Featured]
Talented food critic taster Juancho (critics criticise while Juancho praises) of Camina El Autor was recently able to visit Peruvian celebrity chef Gastón Acurio’s and wife Astrid Gutche’s newly opened La Mar restaurant in San Francisco – the first in North America. Receiving rave reviews, Juancho adds his opinion.
Perú, Mucho Gusto – Primera Feria Internacional de Lima
Lima’s top chefs unite through the Peruvian Society of Gastronomy and Peru’s tourism and exports promotions agency PromPeru to bring the world the First International Fair of Lima, a gastronomic fair of epic proportions.
Bar Maury and the Pisco Sour
Californian immigrant Victor Morris arrived in the city in the early 1900s and set up a bar that operated until 1933.
It is said that it was here in Bar Morris that the Pisco Sour was first conceived, invented either by Victor or one of his bar staff, based on the recipe for whiskey sour.
The new cocktail was a huge hit, and the city’s biggest hotels, such as the Hotel Bolivar and Hotel Maury began serving their own versions to their international clients.
Bar Maury took up the mantel, and according to barman Eloy Cuadros, who is now part of the furniture, it is here the recipe was perfected and it is their version that has spread across the country. It seems very plausible – Eloy served me the best Pisco Sour I have ever had.
Peruvian Pisco Conquers the World
It was not much more than a century ago that, thanks to a bar in San Francisco’s Bank Exchange, the then little-known national spirit of Peru started making an impact on the international stage. Since then, due to under-appreciation by Peruvians, Chile sneakily claimed ownership of the Pisco brand, making and exporting a greatly inferior mass-produced imitation product that had run the spirit’s reputation abroad into the ground. For many outside Chile, Pisco was now considered junk.
