Flavors of Peru

The cuisine

Traditional food of Peru

Peru’s cuisine changes with the landscape. On the coast, the cold sea and the irrigated valleys amid the desert provide fish, shellfish, grapes, and sugarcane. In the Andes, potato, corn, and ají are the basis of everything, and religious festivals have their own dishes. On the Titicaca high plateau, the lake’s fish go into everyday broths.

Centuries of encounters shaped this table. Andean peoples were already cooking potato with ají before the arrival of the Spanish, who brought milk, wheat, vineyards, and sugar. Colonial convents created sweets that are still sold in the streets today, and enslaved Africans and their descendants left recipes tied to Lima’s processions.

The Peruvian state protects part of that heritage. Pisco was the country’s first designation of origin, and Indecopi, the intellectual property institute, registers recipes as Traditional Guaranteed Specialties, among them ocopa arequipeña, papa a la huancaína, and seco de chabelo. Arequipa’s picanterías, where the city’s traditional dishes are served, are National Cultural Heritage.

Many dishes have a day and a festival: shambar on Mondays in Trujillo, the October turrón in Lima, the chiriuchu of Corpus Christi in Cusco. Ceviche, the country’s best-known dish, has its preparation and consumption practices inscribed by UNESCO as intangible heritage; it is eaten throughout Peru, not tied to a single place.

Each specialty here is linked to a city or a department that represents it. That does not mean it’s only eaten there: many have spread across the country. Each page explains the relation to the place, the ingredients, and the serving custom. Pisco and other drinks are part of the country’s culture and should be enjoyed in moderation.