Taking a journey through the different eras of Peru’s history, which spans thousands of years, we start with the nomads who crossed the Bering Strait and survived through fishing, food gathering, and hunting.
From the coast to the mountains
A vast coastline, rugged landscapes with mountains, jungles, and plains, provides an endless supply of basic products necessary for human survival, which have not disappeared but, on the contrary, have been exploited by various settlers who arrived in Peruvian lands.
Meat and fish appear in almost every dish of a Peruvian menu.
More recent immigration patterns, jumping from ancient civilizations to the period after Columbus, have seen Chinese, Italian, French, African, and Spanish populations land on coastal regions and spread throughout the rest of the country.
Carrying habits
With them, they brought a series of dietary habits, recipes, and customs deeply rooted. However, faced with the lack of key ingredients, they were forced to adapt their preparations and create new fusion dishes; this term is, in fact, the hallmark of foreign observers of Peruvian cuisine.
Nevertheless, there is no deliberate effort to cross boundaries between culinary practices; it is more accurate to say that Peru’s diverse gastronomies seek to maintain their roots while making necessary compromises based on locally available products.
This has led, for example, to Chifa cuisine, a Chinese-Peruvian hybrid that replaces the typical Chinese restaurants common in most nations.
One of the dishes born from this unlikely union is arroz chaufa, a fried rice dish prepared with pork, beef, or shrimp, Chinese onion, egg, and vegetables.
