JAVIER CID Peru
Peru
Updated Thursday, March 7, 2024-00:05
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There is an old ritual anchored in the slopes of the Andes, which have always been lands fertile ground for magic and legends, according to which the mother-in-law will know if a woman is suitable for her son if she is capable of peeling a potato in one go, without breaking the skin in the arduous peeling process.
However, the test has to be done with a special tube, full of curves, meanders and nooks that will make the challenge for the future woman even more difficult.
If she achieves it, she will be fit, diligent, patient, a good wife.
This is just one example of the role of the potato in the culture of Peru, where it acquires an almost cosmic relevance;
In addition to their obvious use in pots and casseroles, the more than
7,000 types of potatoes
that exist in the Andean country have had all kinds of applications over the centuries: there are those that, boiled, have served as a medicinal infusion to treat worst evils of mother earth;
There are some in the shape of a puma to instil strength in whoever bites them;
There are those that flow with the cycle of the seasons and, thus, are beautiful and sweet like spring or terribly ugly, hard and strong like the worst of winters.
The Potato Research Center (CIP)
tries to put science into this entire cosmos of tubers
, where they have been tracking, identifying and researching this jewel of Peruvian agriculture for more than half a century, strongly linked to its culture since pre-Inca times.
Of the more than 7,000 types of potatoes that are believed to exist (some in such remote corners of the Andes that they may not even have been discovered), the CIP has managed to rescue a total of 5,000 in a genetic bank;
It is something like an armored in vitro chamber that guarantees the survival of this giant of the country's gastronomy.
And each Peruvian consumes 150 kilos of potatoes per year, an amount only surpassed in the world by Ukraine.
This example serves where science and ancient magic go hand in hand to understand the importance of this food in a gastronomy that, in recent times, has positioned itself as
one of the best in the world
.
To decipher the richness of its dishes, it is enough to immerse yourself in its history and its terrain: of the 104 microclimates on the planet, Peru enjoys 84, which makes it one of the countries with the greatest biodiversity on Earth.
For this reason, on your table there are recipes from the Pacific Ocean as well as from the Amazon jungle, from the driest desert to the most fertile plains, from the Tropics to the snow.
Quechua women cook pachamanca in the Sacred Valley.SHUTTERSTOCK
An old popular saying goes that the Andes are as unpredictable as a woman's heart: as soon as it is dry it rains without reason or remedy.
This mantra summarizes the power of a territory that has always been a magnet for the development of civilization (see the Inca Empire, which had one of its most fascinating cities in Machu Picchu) and migrations (of African slaves from the Spanish conquest to 1,700; from the Chinese in 1,880; from the Japanese in 1,900...).
Peruvian kitchens drink from all this incessant cocktail of climates and cultures today.
Traveling to the Andean country is no longer just about going up by train through the mountain gorges to the imposing ruins of Machu Picchu or
getting lost in the colonial streets of Cusco,
peppered with picturesque architecture, crafts and markets at every turn.
It is also about enjoying one of the 491 typical dishes with which its tireless gastronomy is catalogued.
But there is even more: along its coast, more than 2,500 types of soups are registered and more than 250 traditional desserts have been recorded.
On the podium of this Olympics of flavors is, of course,
ceviche,
if anything the most exported dish from the kitchens of Peru and declared Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in 2023.
This potion of raw marinated Pacific fish is the spearhead of a recipe book that, in recent years, is highlighting many other ingredients dubbed as superfoods.
Fruits, grains, tubers, vegetables and legumes, some of them unique, that have earned Peru the nickname of the world's pantry.
Camu, custard apple, lucuma,
soursop, chili peppers, cañihua, kiwicha,
sacha inchi, giant corn, quinoa, chia, maca, sweet potato, yucca, muña or cat's claw are part of this shopping list of the miracles that have supported Peruvian chefs at the top.
And if there is an ambassador of this fantasy of seeds and tubers, of blue fish and legumes that the Incas already believed had magical properties, he is
Gastón Acurio
, whose Lima restaurant
Astrid & Gaston
was recognized as the best in the world in 2013. Máximo responsible for the globalization of Peruvian flavors in the first 2000s, today it has some successors who keep the country's flavors very alive in international rankings.
This is the case of Virgilio Martínez, who at 46 years old is considered "the new star of the Lima gastro firmament" thanks to his Central restaurant - catapulted as the best in the world last year and five times the best in Latin America.
Ceviche at two temperatures.COSME
It is not necessary, however, to reserve a table at the almighty Central to learn the ins and outs of contemporary Peruvian cuisine, and where
Virgilio Martínez
has played like no one else with indigenous elements, taking them to the ultimate avant-garde consequences.
A more accessible option, but no less suggestive, is the
Cosme restaurant
: ceviches at two temperatures, potato brioche with crab and water chestnuts, sweetbreads with corn and wine sauce or quinoa croquettes, grana padano and Cajun sauce make up the universe of this little gem that pays tribute to the popular neighborhoods of the city, and which is ranked 59th in the ranking of the best restaurants in the world.
Far from the cosmopolitan bustle of Lima, a vibrant city of 11 million inhabitants marked by the flavors of the Pacific, the Sacred Valley of the Incas is revealed to tourists with all the force of the mountain.
At the foot of
Machu Picchu,
where the first foothills of the Amazon rise, the gastronomy in the fertile plains watered by the
Urubamba River
changes completely.
With Cuzco as the center of operations, there are several options to enjoy the flavors of corn, alpaca meat, tubers and fruits of the land that grow at more than 2,000 meters above sea level.
Still life of ingredients from the restaurant Mil, by chef Virgilio Martínez.MIL
And once again the Lima native Virgilio Martínez comes to the fore, who has wanted to infuse all these Andean peculiarities, bathed by the indigenous culture of the Incas, present in every inch of land, in one of his most interesting projects.
This is
MIL
, which is much more than a restaurant: it is also a
Research Center
that feeds culinary proposals, and where a constant relationship between the kitchens and the farmers of the area is proposed.
And so, visitors will not only enjoy an eight-course tasting menu that represents each of the high altitude ecosystems of the environment, but they can also visit the crops and establish relationships with some locals.
Once back in civilization, Cusco offers many more Andean cuisine proposals.
From the endless street food stalls to the fascinating
Central Market of San Pedro
- where you can taste everything from crunchy empanadas to the famous Cuzco chicken broth - the flavors of the city are also spread through many haute cuisine restaurants.
MAP Café
serves
as an example of this fusion that never abandons Peruvian flavors.
Located in the city's Museum of Pre-Columbian Art, a few meters from the Plaza de Armas, it offers a menu where Peru's past is linked, once again, with the most avant-garde future of a country to eat.
PRACTICAL GUIDE
HOW TO GET.
LATAM flies to Lima from Madrid from 600 euros.
WHERE TO SLEEP
.
Pullman Lima Miraflores
(www.pullmanlimamiraflores.pe).
Perfect for getting to know the country's capital, in the cosmopolitan neighborhood of Miraflores.
Premium Andean House
.
This colonial hotel is the ideal operations center to discover the Sacred Valley of the Incas from Cusco (www.casa-andina.com).
MORE INFORMATION: Tourism of Peru
: www.peru.travel/es.
About
superfoods
: https://sites.peru.info/es-pe/superfoods
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