Peru's culinary rise: from ceviche to the Amazon
Once overlooked, Peruvian cuisine has become one of the world's most celebrated, built on extraordinary ingredients.
In little more than a generation, Peruvian cuisine has risen from obscurity to become one of the most celebrated in the world, its restaurants regularly topping global rankings and its flagship dishes winning devotees everywhere. The foundation of this ascent is the country's extraordinary natural bounty.
Peru's geography — Pacific coast, towering Andes and Amazon rainforest — gives it one of the most diverse larders on the planet. Thousands of varieties of potatoes and corn, ancient grains like quinoa, countless fruits and fish from one of the world's richest fishing grounds provide the raw materials.
The emblem of Peruvian cooking is ceviche — fresh raw fish "cooked" in the acidic juice of lime, seasoned with chilli, onion and coriander — bright, clean and utterly addictive. But the cuisine is also a fascinating fusion, shaped by waves of immigration: Chinese influence gave rise to the stir-fried dishes of chifa, while Japanese immigrants inspired the elegant Nikkei style.
At the high end, pioneering chefs in Lima have turned Peruvian ingredients into globally acclaimed tasting menus that explore the country's ecosystems from the ocean floor to the high Andes. But the everyday food, from hearty stews to the street-corner rotisserie chicken beloved across the country, is just as rewarding.
To eat in Peru is to taste a cuisine of remarkable diversity, history and pride, built on some of the finest ingredients anywhere. Its rise has been one of the great food stories of recent times, and a compelling reason to travel.