Peru, the gastronomic powerhouse and biodiversity superpower, was on full display at this year’s MISTURA festival in Lima. Every year it seems the country grows in pride and prominence with its cuisine blending European, Andean, Amazonian, Asian influences and an incredible array of ingredients from its varied landscape and rich Pacific waters.
Over 2000 varieties of potatoes, the world’s greatest diversity of chili peppers, scores of varieties of quinoa, sacha inchi, goldenberry, camu camu, gigantic freshwater arapaima, yacon, lucuma, the list goes on and on – and is a joy to eat your way through.
It’s been fascinating to see how this process of culinary vindication has done so much to strengthen national identity and pride and act as the locomotive pulling a long train of suppliers of natural ingredients.
In 2013, half a million people visited Mistura, billed as the largest culinary fair in Latin America. Bringing together farmers, restaurateurs, chefs, bakers, ingredients suppliers and a hungry public in a unique experience. Look for it in September 2014.
