During a backpacking trip in early 1995 through South America, I came for the first time to Peru. In those days, elements of the Shining Path, a Mit aoist terror organization, were still roaming around Macchu Pichu. Everything went well and taking the banana train from Cusco to Aguas Calientes and climbing up to see the Inca citadel high up in the Cordillera for the first time with my own eyes was a dream come true.

When my wife and I came back 20 years later, the Shining Path was luckily a story of the past. Now, Lima was shining, as the best foodie destination in South America. Food was exactly why we came.The first great food idea in Peru had already come from the Inca. These are believed to have been the first to cultivate potatoes on the shores of Lake Titicaca and all the way up in the high Andes. A few hundred years later in Lima, I ate delicious Papas a la Huancaina, Andean roasted potatoes with two different spicy cheese sauces, created by Gaston Acurio, who is no descendent of the Incas but also has great food ideas.

I learned that there are obviously more than 4000 potato varieties in Peru. Gladly, the Inca were no veggies but liked cuy, a barbecued guinea pig, as well. At Cusco Cathedral I discovered a “Last Supper” painting depicting Jesus and his apostles gathered around a table preparing to dine on a cuy. Obviously Jesus had been no veggie neither. Even more than on cuy I myself rather feast on anticuchos. If possible from Tia Grimanesa in Lima. Her cows’ hearts come on skewers, spiced with a vinegar-pepper-cumin-garlic marinade. Better than the best steak.

Thankfully, Lima has probably the worst weather of all capitals in South America. Everytime I was there it was either rainy or misty, mostly both. Always a good excuse to eat, eat and eat. And not to forget that Lima is also the South American capital of ceviche (best to be paired with a Pisco Sour). Apart from the eroticism of eating, I like the eroticisms of its two best museums: Museo Lardo’s pottery collection evokes desire, attraction and the coming together of the opposing yet complementary forces that enable life to endlessly regenerate. MATE, Mario Testino’s museum on photography, just makes me jealous, in a positive way.

Back to Peruvian food: There is even more than anticuchos, cuy, ceviche and potatoes. There is Central. When eating there my stomach was taken through a dozen ecosystems of Peru: I skipped the “Amazonian Water” dish and opted instead for “Blue – Green Ocean“. The culinarily journey took me from 10 meters below sea level (fresh Pacific ocean scallops, sargasso and cucumber) high into the Andes, 4000 meters above, with a spotlight on heritage plants, herbs, and fruits that probably not even most Peruvians have never heard of: cabuya (an Andean maguey plant), muña (a medicinal plant known as Andean mint), and solle (a marigold-hued flower).

Peru is just the greatest pantry of the earth. And if someone ever argues about the benefits of immigration, let’s finally talk about Chifa. In the 19th and 20th century, lots of Japanese and Chinese (mostly Cantonese) immigrants came to Peru. They brought their thousand-year-old food culture along and wonderfully mixed it with ingredients only found in their new home Peru. The result was Chifa food. I love to roam around Lima’s Barrio Chino and indulge into Chifa Dim Sum, Lomo Saltado (stir-fried beef) and duck with lychee and orange.

Chifa just means “Time to eat”.