Native Peruvian food include maíz (like corn), potatoes, quinoa, and ají (chilis). They also grew and ate cuy (guinea pigs) and alpaca, fished trout, and developed dishes such as ceviche from seafood along the coast. Hundreds of years of Spanish influence incorporated rice, wheat (in the form of bread), and other meats such as chicken, beef, and pork into their traditional cuisine. Interestingly, Peru has a large Chinese immigrant population. The immigrants had to use available ingredients to make Chinese food, which has evolved into what is now called Chifa - a Chinese-Peruvian hybrid cuisine such as fried rice with Peruvian ingredients or lomo saltado (beef stir-fry with rice). Japanese make up a very small immigrant population in Peru, but is the second largest Japanese population in South America (next to Brazil). Japanese food has influenced the way seafood is prepared in the form of tiradito. Peruvian "comfort food", or food that would typically be eaten at home is called criollo.
[Below: HUGE pile of cebiche (Peruvians spell ceviche with a "b"): white fish marinated in lime juice, with red onions and ají chilis. Los Organos Beach.]
[Below: similar to ceviche, but called tiradito. A Japanese influenced dish where the fish is sliced more like sashimi. It is still raw and marinated, but usually does not come with the traditional red onions. This one was accompanied by sweet potato, roasted maíz, Lima beans, and a salad. Máncora Beach.]
[Below: Cristal was our favorite Peruvian beer brand. We also enjoyed Pisco Sours made from Pisco, a grape brandy from Peru, mixed with lime juice, egg whites, and a dash of angostura bitters. We saw a lot of "chicharrones" on menus, which we knew as the fried pork skin snack. However, chicharrones in Peru translates to deep-fried nuggets of meat. So, this was a chicharrones de pescado (fried fish bites). Los Organos Beach.]
[Below: Chupe is soup or stew in Peruano. Chupe de camarones is popular but contains shrimp, which Akiko is allergic to, so she had Chupe de Pescado or fish soup, flavored with chili, potato, broth, and milk. Los Organos Beach.]
[Below: we were getting a little worn from all the seafood, so we found this unexpected place in the small town of Los Organos making great thin crust pizzas in a wood oven. Who knew?? Cabaña de Wielo. We went back for good pasta as well. They had a very busy delivery business. Guessing the fishermen want something other than seafood as well.]
[Below: empanadas aren't just a Peruvian dish, but they got lots of them. Lima]
[Below: this place, a Puerta Cerrada, was one of our favorite local restaurants in the Barranco neighborhood of Lima for the best deal in good traditional Peruvian fare. Appetizer, entree, and drink for US$3-4!! Pictured is the rocoto relleno. Relleno just means stuffed. Rocoto is a Peruvian red chili that packs some heat. If you take a look at what's written on the menu, this is typical Peruvian criollo, or "comfort food".]
[Below: a staple dish in Peru is the pollo a la brasa (rotisserie chicken) or pollo a la parrilla (grilled chicken). They eat A LOT of chicken here. It was usually accompanied by both fried potatoes and white rice, as with most meats. The amount of starch was astounding. Sometimes, we would get potatoes + white rice + yucca + plantains!!!! Death by carbs, good grief. This meal with salad cost US$5. Chicken was our go-to safe meal when we didn't feel like being adventurous. Lima.]
[Below: here's more pollo a la brasa. The chicken scallopine looking dish with beans and rice was part of a set menu that included a huge bowl of chicken soup and a drink for US$2!! Cuzco.]
[Below: a common condiment that comes with meat is crema de ají or ají amarillo sauce (yellow chili pepper creamy sauce.]
[Below: in the Andes, trout is eaten a lot, so we had some trucha frita (fried trout), and of course it came with rice.]
[Below: in the Andes, quinoa is incorporated into many dishes. It is used as cereal, as part of dessert, many soups include quinoa, and this here is quinoa risotto, which was accompanied by none other than...rice. Machu Picchu Pueblo.]
[Below: quinoa is used in a dessert. Quinoa caramel custard! On PeruRail train from Machu Picchu to Cuzco.]
[Below: we tried Peruvian wine...]
[Below: ...and Peruvian chocolate. We visited the Choco Museum in Cuzco.]
[Below: ...and Inca Kola. A Peruvian soft drink that is suppose to taste like lemon verbena (whatever that taste is), but tastes more like bubble gum. Yellow was a lucky color for Incans.]
[Below: lomo saltado is a very popular stir-fried beef dish with both (you guessed it) French fries and a huge pile of rice. We noticed all the beef is cooked to death here. The flavor was good but very tough to eat. We're not sure if this is for health safety reasons or not, but we did notice that at the local open markets, meat is not refrigerated. In a supermarket, they are packaged and sold in a refrigerated case.]
[Below: we love to find cheap places serving good food to locals, but on one occasion, we had a nice nouveau Peruvian meal at Inkaterra Lodge in Machu Picchu. The Peruvian salad was phenomenal with Andean queso fresco, Lima beans, maíz, and organic vegetables from their own garden. The entree was pan sautéed trout with vegetables.]
[Below: For variety, we searched for something a little more familiar. There is usually an Irish bar in most places, and Cuzco didn't disappoint. Here, we had a Shepherd's pie at Paddy's.]
[Below: Akiko was very happy to have found a noodle dish flavored with soy sauce! Cuzco.]
[Below: ...and an Italian meal at a nice Italian restaurant. Cuzco.]
[Below: sometimes, our meals were what we could scrounge up at the little tienda around the corner because we arrived late and the restaurants were closed or whatever. We've made an entire meal out of chips and beer! Here, we upgraded to ramen, chicharrones (fried pork rinds), and beer.]
[Below: we have no right to complain about FREE breakfast, but we are quite tired of bread and coffee, bread and coffee, bread and coffee. Some places will throw in scrambled eggs. The best breakfast we had so far was at Antawasi Hotel in Cuzco, where they had a buffet breakfast with a cereal bar, hot foods such as egg, pancakes, French toast, fried potatoes, ham and Andean queso fresco, fruit, yogurt, juice, coffee, tea, etc.]
[Below: We think people are waiting to see the photos of us eating cuy (guinea pig), but you will be disappointed because we did not. We've tried other rodent-like meat before which was okay, and didn't want to try it just for the novelty of the experience.]
[Below: we've had an amazing 3 weeks in Peru! To celebrate our last day in Peru, we treated ourselves to one of Gastón Acurio's restaurants in Lima. He is a celebrity Peruvian chef (we liken him to Emeril Lagasse!) trained at Le Cordon Bleu, with multiple international restaurants, including New York and San Francisco. La Mar Cebichería is the best ceviche and seafood restaurant in Lima, and we couldn't agree more.]
[Below: "Chips and Salsa" - plantain, yucca, sweet potato chips with rocoto chili sauce, aji amarillo sauce, and herb sauce. Roasted maíz (like corn nuts).]
[Below: Ceviche Chalaco with white fish, octopus, and clams. And drinking the Leche de Tigre (leftover juice) was great, too!
[Below: Tiradito Laqueado: tuna tataki with ají Amarillo sauce and Asian soy flavors.]
[Below: Causa Mixta. Causa is served cold with a mashed potato base mixed with key lime, onion, chili, and oil. It is usually either layered or topped with avocado, chicken, tuna, or shellfish, hard boiled eggs, olives, etc. These are the fancy versions. From right to left causa toppings: chicken salad, grilled octopus with kalamata olive sauce, white fish and crab salad, tuna and salmon tartare with crab salad, shrimp cocktail.]
[Below: palate cleanser of mint sorbet!]
[Below: at the airport, you can buy some last minute Peruvian sauces to take home with you!]
Adíos, Peru! What's on the menu next? Argentinian food. Stay tuned.