25 August 2008 1,149 views No Comment Print This Post  Email This Post

Peruvian cuisine is considered one of the most diverse in the world and is on par with French, Chinese and Indian cuisine. In January 2004, The Economist said that “Peru can lay claim to one of the world’s dozen or so great cuisines” [1], while at the Fourth International Summit of Gastronomy Madrid Fusión 2006, regarded as the world’s most important gastronomic forum, held in Spain between January 17th and 19th, Lima was declared the “Gastronomic Capital of the Americas” [2].

Thanks to its pre-Inca and Inca heritage and to Spanish, Basque, African, Sino-Cantonese, Japanese and finally Italian, French and Britain immigration (mainly throughout the 19th century), Peruvian cuisine combines the flavors of four continents. With the eclectic variety of traditional dishes, the Peruvian culinary arts are in constant evolution, and impossible to list in their entirety. Suffice it to mention that along the Peruvian coast alone there are more than two thousand different types of soups, and that there are more than 250 traditional desserts.

There are many restaurants specializing in Peruvian cuisine in many different cities throughout the world.

The great variety in Peruvian cuisine stems from three major influences:

* Peru’s unique geography, 84 of the 104 possible life zones according to Holdridge
* Peru’s openness and blending of distinct races and cultures
* The incorporation of ancient cuisine into modern Peruvian cuisine

Ceviche