When I travel to foreign countries, one of the first questions I ask myself is: what do they eat there, what ingredients are available to the locals? In Peru, the first and clear answer is: CEVICHE – acid-cooked fish, and I’m already really looking forward to it! I’m also looking forward to corn beer and pisco sour.
.
A few days ago, a newsletter from the great guys at Hennes Finest fluttered into my mailbox: they describe the QUINOA plant, which also grows in the high Andes at an altitude of 3,500 meters. In addition to quinoa, Peru has something else special: around 2,300 different varieties of potatoes, unimaginable. I am excited to see the many ways in which I will encounter potatoes and quinoa.
To see how quinoa can be prepared, check out Sophia Schillik/Hennes Finest’s recipes, which are wonderful as always here
.
This year’s best restaurant in the world is located in Lima and is called Central. And that’s not all: two other restaurants from Lima are in 6th and 28th place. The most highly awarded German restaurant is in 40th place: Tim Raue, Berlin.
.
Why is there such a high density of top Peruvian chefs?
Peru has three very different landscape zones and therefore three climate zones: the coast, the Andean highlands and the rainforest in the Amazon lowlands. This diversity means that the variety of flora and fauna is as wide as possible, which is certainly a challenge, but also a great source of inspiration for every chef/cocinero.
.
An excerpt from Wikipedia: “The cuisine at Central Restaurante is contemporary Peruvian, and founder Virgilio Marténez Véliz has sought to redefine Peruvian cuisine by introducing little-known native ingredients from Peru’s coastal region, the Andean highlands and the Amazon rainforest. Examples of such ingredients include kushuru (cushuro), an edible cyyobacteria harvested in high altitude wetlands; arracacha, a root vegetable from the Andes; and arapaima, a freshwater fish found in the Amazon.” more here
.
Comments