Peruvian Cuisine

It's taken me awhile to recover from Peru. For a vacation, it was exhausting, grueling, filled with highs and lows -- literally and figuratively -- but it was worth the cold, the numbness, the illness and the exhaustion. I finally got to see Machu Pichu! One of the things I was looking forward to was the food. It did not disappoint. When I was in Lima, I got some great food suggestions, one of which was Astrid and Gaston -- a local celebrity chef restaurant. I went for lunch and it did not disappoint. Because I was in Peru, I had to have chivche. It's suppose to be eaten in the morning and lunch -- never for dinner -- because the fish is fresh. I got the mixed catch of the day. It was spicy with good texture and flavors. My main course was fish -- cooked and topped with a parsley sauce over a bed of roasted quinoia and vegetables. I ate lots of quinoa on this trip and enjoyed it immensely. But what I remember most was picking at the sauce. It was rich and reminded me of barbecue sauce. I did not have room for dessert, but they brought me out some small bites of candy -- one was chocolate the other a gummy sweet -- which honestly I didn't enjoy much. I also got some local white wine which was wonderful. It was my main meal for that day and honestly one of the few meals I completely ate. I hadn't gotten sick at this point and was still enjoying food!
I felt bad about getting sick because the chef that traveled with us hikers did some really great meals in the middle of nowhere. We always got three courses and our lunch and dinners were wonderful -- pasta, a barley risotto, fish, stewed fruit (granted, I wouldn't have eaten them anyway -- and I was too sick to eat it. I was totally passed out when they had the local feast of cuy (guinea pig) but since I'm still in my year of vegetarianism, I would have had to pass. Well, I might have made a small exception. In fact, once we hit Cusco I didn't have much of an appetite. One dinner consisted completely of an appetizer for me. But it was pretty and good. They shape mashed potatoes into little cylindars and top it with avacado, tuna, and chicken. I got two avacados instead of a chicken. Hopefully the n ext time I go to Peru, I'll be able to enjoy more of the food.