Peruvian cuisine's myriad roots, including Chinese, Japanese, Spanish, African and Italian, make it one of the world's first fusion cuisines. It's also highly regarded. Famed French chef Escoffier ranked it third after French and Chinese. It's certainly in my Top 10.
Last spring the Peruvian government announced plans to popularize Peruvian cuisine in the U.S. "We want our food to be as well known as Thai is in this country. ... We want Peruvian restaurants everywhere," Alejandro Riveros the head of public diplomacy for the Embassy of Peru, told The Washington Post.
The above video by Prom Peru, the country's tourism board, is part of the publicity effort. It's loaded with stunning shots of the Andes and the country's coast all set to traditional music.
But what I find most interesting about this video, apart from how damn hungry it makes me, is the dishes that I haven't heard of. One in particular comes to mind, alpaca con risotto de trigo. Now I've eaten cuy, or guinea pig, a Peruvian delicacy not included in the promo for some reason, but alpaca's a new one on me.









Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
10-05-2006 @ 8:50PM
teresa said...
Just a correction to your last paragraph. I'm sure that "alpaca" (an animal from the Andes) is a typo. The word has to be "albaca" which means "basil." That makes sense. Peruvians eat a lot of "albaca sauces" or pesto sauces. No, I've never heard of anybody in Peru eating alpacas!! PLEASE MAKE A CORRECTION.
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10-05-2006 @ 8:59PM
Joe D. said...
Teresa,
Thanks for the note. I'm well aware of basil-infused sauces like the one that's served with spaghetti. And I'd love to make a correction,but I can't. After a little digging, I learned that Peruvians do eat alpaca. Please see http://www.laritz.info/archives/000364.html for a fascinating description.
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11-06-2006 @ 12:55AM
Carlo Montero said...
The alpaca is an exotic plate from the Andes of Peru and The alpaca is a camelid of South America.
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