A Sunday tasting of Peruvian cuisine

 
Roaming around the streets of Lima on a given Sunday afternoon, and coincidentally during lunch time, we came across a food festival displaying examples of Peruvian dishes from all around the country! SCORE!

Customers waiting with hungry eyes

From the coast, highlands and the Amazonian region of Peru,

here are some of the suggested delicacies:

Mixed ceviche and fried calamari

Causa rellena: Lima style stuffed potatoes

Peruvian Chanfainita: a stew of beef and potatoes, here served with a side of noodles

Cuy: roasted guinea pig. A favorite in the Andes!

Piqueo Criollo: snack size portions combined, with a little bit of everything in one plate.

Papa Rellena: mashed potato stuffed with meat and vegetables, golden fried.

Pachamanca: typically from the Andean region, a variety of meats are cooked with hot stones.

Rocoto Relleno: mildy spicy pepper stuffed with meat and cheese and a side of baked layered potatoes.

Seco de Cabrito: lamb stew served here with baked beans. Hearty food to keep you warm in the highlands!

Juanes de Gallina: perhaps one of the most iconic dishes from the Peruvian Amazon. Balls of rice stuffed with minced chicken, wrapped and steamed in banana leaf for a fresh green scent.

Grilled Chicken: this dish preparation might not be as typically local as the previous, but its ubiquity makes is worth to be included here.

We got ourselves a little variety of “old time favorites” plus some new flavors – watered it all down with chicha morada, quite probably the most popular refreshment in the country, along with Inca Kola. This wine looking drink is made my boiling purple corn with sugar and pineapple and tastes quite syrupy.

Feasting our Sunday away!…

It was almost impossible to find a place to sit down to enjoy our food. After a little bit of waiting we managed to get a seat right next to the speakers amplifying the live music. We became half deaf after such sound blast, but also became a fan of this lovely singer called Antonio. He was really intense in his performances – so much that I almost felt bad that some people wouldn’t lift their heads from their plates at the end of each song to applaud. I do understand it is hard to focus on something else when the food tastes so good, but the music was really sentimental. At the end of the performance, Antonio “visited” the Sunday dinners to ask for some contributions. We gave him some coins and got to click a photo after complimenting him on the performance. I think we might have made his day – he looked extremely happy and proud! Still, wasn’t successful at trying to sell us one of his CDs!..

Z making contacts in the local music industry!