Tyler Cowen's Ethnic Dining Guide

See the Peruvian category.

Peruvian cuisine is considered one of the most diverse in the world. Thanks to its pre-Incan and Inca heritage and to Spanish, African, French, Sino-Cantonese, Japanese and Italian immigration (mainly throughout the 19th century) it combines the flavors of four continents.

Peruvian cuisine – from Wikipedia

The Economist magazine, for example, reported in a January 2004 article that Peru could “lay claim to one of the world’s dozen or so great cuisines”. Norman Van Aken, one of Florida’s most gifted chefs, acknowledged that Peruvian cuisine was possibly the most enticing of those he had studied. And Patrick Martin, academic director of Le Cordon Blue, said that one of the reasons why they had a branch of the school in Lima was the excellent quality of local cuisine.

“Peruvian Cuisine: An Introduction to Peruvian Gastronomy,” The Peru Guide

The guinea pig, or cuy as it is known in Peru (from its chirping cries), is a delicacy throughout the central Andes. It was domesticated nearly 5,000 years ago. “Raise guinea pigs and eat well,” enjoined an Inca saying.

“A guinea pig for all tastes and seasons,” The Economist, July 15, 2004

To outsiders, Latin American food may conjure up not much more than the smell of Mexican tacos. But Peru can lay claim to one of the world’s dozen or so great cuisines. Beyond its trademark dish of cebiche (raw fish marinaded in lime juice), Peruvian food is little known abroad. That may be about to change. Peru is in the throes of a “spontaneous revolution” in gastronomy, as Raúl Vargas, a journalist and foodie puts it.

“Peru’s gastronomic revolution,” The Economist, January 29, 2004 (subscription required)

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