What is your favorite ethnic style of food and why?

PERUVIAN CUISINE, THAT WONDERFUL STRANGER

Historical evidence indicates that Peruvian Cuisine -a culinary tradition of astonishing diversity- traces back to the time when the inhabitants of the Andean regions of Western South America started the domestication and breeding of animals and hundreds of plant species to incorporate into their diet. The ancient Peruvians scoured the Pacific Ocean with its cold currents, the Coastal deserts, the high plateaus and mountains of the Andes and the Amazon basin, searching for new edible elements. Undisturbed for thousands of years, Pre-Hispanic Peruvians created a cuisine that was uncomplicated but rich in variety of ingredients, one of bold almost insolent- flavors, and even more daring textures. With the arrival of the Spanish, in the 15th Century, influences of Mediterranean, Arabic and Black African origin were grafted, as it were, on the main stock of Andean culinary habits. Since then, this enrichment has continued, with successive waves of immigrants from Italy, China, Central Europe, Japan, and most recently, Pakistan. Present-day Peruvians, the offspring of that diverse mosaic of immigration, have adopted the best ingredients that Peru’s eighty-four life zones (there are 108 such zones on earth)* have to offer. They have borrowed techniques from each other; they have experimented with fusion and have conducted historical research to resuscitate forgotten recipes and lost Andean crops. The result is of planetary transcendence. Not only for the incredible variety and number of dishes that have been created, or for the display of ingenuity in the elaboration of these recipes, nor for the sheer volume of “new” flavors the world’s palates did not even dream could exist. The most extraordinary aspect of the reality of Peruvian Cuisine is that it is almost completely off the radar for the majority of the world’s consumers. East Indian, French, Italian, Mexican to cite a few- culinary traditions have justly won a place on the global table. Peruvian Food is yet to come of age. As if watching an iceberg, travelers and food aficionados have only started to fathom the depth of this cultural mystery, judging it merely by its visible tip. Peruvian Cuisine has the telluric force of a volcano, one that has been asleep for long, and it has recently been awakened. World class cities are witnessing the apparition of restaurants serving Peruvian fare, and its citizens are marveling at the newcomer. A new generation of Peruvians, young people who are very proud of their cultural heritage, have taken to heart the task of making their tradition acknowledged in the world. Becoming a chef or a cook, professions that were traditionally looked down by seoritos -middle and high class males- is now thought to be a mark of prestige, an exciting career. Drawing from their overseas training and from their exposure to modern cooking trends, these young men and women are adding yet another layer to an already complex structure. They are blending Inca lost crops, little known tubers, grains and spices, with techniques and styles that come from all corners of the world, nevertheless retaining the quintessential Peruvian flavor. These people are reaching back to five thousand years of culinary tradition to bring it to the world. The time is ripe to welcome the newcomer to the global table.