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The gastronomic gem at the end of the world

Article (news)

Joel Binamara

<p>An episode from the Netflix series &quot;Chef&#x27;s Table&quot; featuring the Peruvian chef Virgilio Martinez piqued my interest in Peruvian cuisine. Chef Martinez skyrocketed to fame with his &quot;Mater Elevations&quot; menu at his restaurant, Central, in Peru&#x27;s capital city of Lima. Each dish on the 17-course menu was attributed an altitude (in meters above, below, or at sea level) where the ingredients for that particular dish were sourced from. There were over 100 esoteric and unusual ingredients creatively incorporated into thought-provoking and delectable dishes.</p><p>Central was ranked the number one restaurant in Latin America, and number five among the world&#x27;s best restaurants, where two other Peruvian restaurants count themselves in the Top 50. But it wasn&#x27;t the lofty rankings that caught my interest, it was Chef Martinez&#x27;s proudly nationalistic, intellectually focused, and passionately creative intensity that made me stop and wonder, &quot;So what&#x27;s going on in Peru on the culinary front?&quot; That mesmerizing hour of television was a catalyst for our bucket list journey to South America—Peru to see the ancient ruins at Machu Picchu, the Sacred Valley, and Cusco; and Chile to see the natural wonders of Chilean Patagonia. Needless to say, we ate our way through our holiday. Peruvian cuisine has been attracting global attention for several years now, not only because of a cadre of innovative and leading-edge chefs, but also from a serendipitous confluence of topography, climate, produce, and history. All were responsible for laying down the foundation for one of the most unique and exciting cuisines today.</p><div class="embed-wrap"><figure data-feedback="fb:likes,fb:comments"><img src="http://sa.kapamilya.com/absnews/abscbnnews/media/ancx/food-n-drink/2018/09/1peruvian.jpg"/><figcaption>Machu Picchu</figcaption></figure></div><div><strong>THE TERROIR</strong></div><p>Peru is the world&#x27;s twentieth largest country in terms of land area, at 1.28 million square kilometers (nearly four times that of the Philippines). It has a lengthy Pacific coastline, several arid and desert areas, the stunning Andes (with the highest peak in Peru at 22,000 feet above sea level), fertile valleys, and the elevated plains called the altiplano. Nearly 60% of the country is made up of a tropical rainforest that forms part of the Amazon basin. Lakes and rivers dot the varied landscape. In short, Peru is blessed with an incredibly varied terrain matched by few other nations on the planet. Temperate, sub-tropical, and tropical regions located in varying altitudes mean the conditions exist to grow an incredible array of ingredients. There are warm and cool conditions year round in different parts of the country. The rain, the melting snow, and the continuous irrigation ensure the variety of crops that can be grown. Peru is one of the few places where seasons seem to be repeated in the course of a year, each one occurring in different parts of the country.</p><div class="embed-wrap"><figure data-feedback="fb:likes,fb:comments"><img src="http://sa.kapamilya.com/absnews/abscbnnews/media/ancx/food-n-drink/2018/09/2peruvian.jpg"/><figcaption>Potato vendor at Cusco market</figcaption></figure></div><div><strong>PRODUCE</strong></div><p>Because of its terrain and climate, Peru has an incredibly diverse produce, both wild and cultivated. They come from the depths of the Pacific Ocean to the pinnacle of snow-capped mountains, sheltered fertile valleys, and hot, humid jungles. This is the global epicenter of potatoes boasting thousands of varieties, the home of tomatoes and healthy natural grains like amaranth, quinoa, and corn along with legumes, chilies, and avocadoes, to name a few. Peru also has an extensive assortment of medicinal plants and herbs that have been used for thousands of years. It is worth mentioning that over the last century, locals continue to cultivate hundreds of varieties of produce rather than adopting the streamlined and industrial cultivation methods that are the norm elsewhere.</p><p>During several visits to local markets on the coast and in the highlands, I was amazed by the breadth, quality, and modest price of ingredients like quinoa, cheese, strawberries, cherimoya, olives, dried fruit, nuts, potatoes, chilies, artichokes, avocado oil, and lake-dwelling bacteria. Yes, bacteria is a culinary thing. The markets were unlike any other I had visited—a mixture of European, Asian, and American ingredients presented together but looking like they all naturally belonged. Bok choy and gailan were displayed next to arugula and frisee lettuce. Cured olives were juxtaposed beside the most enormous pecans, almonds, and hazelnuts—all just a few feet away from fiery Amazonian chilies and dried alpaca meat.</p><div class="embed-wrap"><figure data-feedback="fb:likes,fb:comments"><img src="http://sa.kapamilya.com/absnews/abscbnnews/media/ancx/food-n-drink/2018/09/3peruvian.jpg"/><figcaption>Maras salt ponds</figcaption></figure></div><div><strong>FOREIGN INFLUENCE</strong></div><p>Peru&#x27;s history plays an integral part of its cuisine. Many hail Peruvian cuisine as one of the original and most receptive of fusion cuisines. The Spanish, who occupied the country for several hundred years, introduced wheat and rice. Locals had limited sources of protein, mainly cuy (guinea pig) for those living inland and seafood for those living by the coast. The Spanish also introduced other varieties of meat like beef, pork, mutton, and chicken, as well as cooking and preparation methods for delicacies like empanadas, sausages, and stews still in use to this day. Aside from the Spanish, a wave of migrants over the centuries heavily influenced Peruvian cuisine.</p><p>African slaves brought to Peru as laborers in the 1600-1800s also brought with them their own particular cuisine and spices. Italian immigrants who began arriving in the 1800s brought pasta and other dishes with olive oil and tomatoes. The waves of Chinese and Japanese immigrants were so influential to Peruvian cuisine that they are referred to as Chifa (Chinese-Peruvian) and Nikkei for ( Japanese-Peruvian). And don&#x27;t forget, all that is layered on top of an ancient, complex, and proud Andean/Incan (and several other highly developed and agriculturally based civilizations) culture that thrived for thousands of years before any outsiders ever arrived!</p><div class="embed-wrap"><figure data-feedback="fb:likes,fb:comments"><img src="http://sa.kapamilya.com/absnews/abscbnnews/media/ancx/food-n-drink/2018/09/4peruvian.jpg"/><figcaption>Ceviche at Rafael Osterling&#x27;s Mercado restaurant</figcaption></figure></div><div class="embed-wrap"><figure data-feedback="fb:likes,fb:comments"><img src="http://sa.kapamilya.com/absnews/abscbnnews/media/ancx/food-n-drink/2018/09/5peruvian.jpg"/><figcaption>Selection of grilled meats</figcaption></figure></div><div><strong>A CULINARY EXPLOSION</strong></div><p>With this impressive foundation and solid building blocks, Peruvian cuisine evolved in the last two decades. In the late 1980s and 1990s, Peru was struggling economically and politically and terrorism dominated the headlines. The situation scared off even the most intrepid of tourists. Yet several chefs at this time started to focus on honoring the best Peruvian cuisine had to offer, emphasizing local dishes and elevating the ingredients, preparation, and presentation of well-loved, everyday food.</p><p>These &quot;first generation&quot; chefs ignited the current culinary explosion. They were soon followed by chefs like Gaston Acurio and Rafael Osterling, both of whom trained abroad in classical French techniques. They returned to their native Peru and opened restaurants that garnered accolades and served as training ground for future chefs. Acurio (and to a lesser extent Osterling) was legendary, and his kitchens served as the nurseries that gave birth to two more &quot;generations&quot; of chefs to follow them. I loved our meal at Chef Osterling&#x27;s Mercado restaurant and I only wish I had enough meals during our trip to taste more dishes on his menu. This was the heart of classic Peruvian food done abundantly well. No apologies for a slam-bam terrific ceviche, no esoteric intellectualization and re-interpretations necessary.</p><p>Virgilio Martinez (who worked with Acurio for a time) of Central and Mitsuharu Tsumura of Maido are third generation chefs that have really focused global attention on the culinary scene in Peru in the past few years. Martinez eschewed the classic dishes and found his calling in discovering unusual ingredients and presenting them in a way no one had ever done before. My wife and I had the pleasure of dining at Central and had the full 17-course menu that included dishes with names like &quot;Waters of Nanay&quot; (ingredients found at an elevation of 450 meters above sea level) featuring piranha skins, achiote, and huampo bark. &quot;Land of Corn&quot; (sourced from 2,010 meters ASL) included several corn varieties I had previously never heard of. &quot;Humid Green&quot; (found 3,700 meters ASL) included cushuro, a cyanobacteria that grows in lakes and streams and looks like a greenish black tapioca ball with a briny flavor.</p><p>All sounded wild, wacky, and wonderful. I didn&#x27;t actually love everything I tasted at Central but I absolutely got where Chef Martinez was coming from, and totally appreciated every ounce of intelligence, passion, and creativity that went into the dishes presented. An even younger set of chefs count themselves amongst the &quot;fourth generation,&quot; with a greater social conscience permeating their cooking. Not only are they nationalistic, highly intelligent, and creative, they also seek to balance the realities of food typically enjoyed by the elite but earnestly produced by compatriots with more modest means. Some go so far as to use literal kitchen scraps as the basis for their conscious menus. For me, this was taking the culinary evolution a bit too far intellectually. But I just loved all of the good food that was on offer in everything from streetside stalls and vendors, to markets and high-end restaurants. Peru is a must-experience culinary destination, steeped in history, natural and manmade wonders, and a people so warm and with so much in common with the Philippines that you&#x27;ll wonder what took you so long to visit.</p><div class="embed-wrap"><figure data-feedback="fb:likes,fb:comments"><img src="http://sa.kapamilya.com/absnews/abscbnnews/media/ancx/food-n-drink/2018/09/6peruvian.jpg"/><figcaption>Offal or innarda at Cusco market</figcaption></figure></div><div> </div><div><em>Photographs by Joel Binamara</em></div><div><em>This story first appeared in Vault Issue No.24 2018</em></div>

<p>I was amazed by the breadth, quality, and modest price of ingredients, and the markets were unlike any other I had visited—a mixture of European, Asian, and American ingredients presented together but looking like they all naturally belonged</p><p> </p>

I was amazed by the breadth, quality, and modest price of ingredients, and the markets were unlike any other I had visited—a mixture of European, Asian, and American ingredients presented together but looking like they all naturally belonged