In search of cheap labor to work the fields and the highly profitable guano-producing islands, the Peruvian government looked to China.
The first arrivals
In 1849, the first group of workers arrived on the Peruvian coast, and another 90,000 followed during the next quarter-century.
Once freed from their contracts, many opened small grocery stores selling ingredients from their homeland in Asia, as well as restaurants that replicated their dishes (mostly Cantonese) with any Peruvian products they could find.
The peruvian gastronomic scene was forever transformed.
Mixing techniques
Naturally, Chinese culinary techniques merged with those of Peruvians, especially since the ingredients were mostly local, such as yellow chili peppers (ají amarillo) used in Lomo Saltado.
And so, with a very hot wok, marinated beef, and rice in hand, Lomo Saltado was born.
Many Chinese-Peruvian dishes have become so popular over the decades that they migrated into criollo buffets, cevicherías, and chicken roasts.
Head to any Peruvian restaurant and be sure to find chaufa on the menu. This fried rice dish gets its name from the Chinese chao fan (literally "fried rice") and isn't very different from the original Chinese version, at least on the surface.
El lomo saltado transcends class divisions, racial tensions, and migratory history to present itself as the ideal vision of what Peru could be.
