La Comida Peruana

Here in Peru, people are serious about their food! In fact, the first week that I was here, many students asked me if I liked the Peruvian food. I have liked just about everything I have tried - from ceviche to parihuela to chicha morada to anticuchos to pollo a la brasa!

Each day we walk to Daniel's house for our meals. His mother and their helper prepare each meal in their kitchen and serve us at the dining room table. We typically eat with Daniel, although sometimes his mother or brother Roberto joins us at the table. Depending on the meal and our conversation, we can be at the table for more than an hour chatting! I love our conversations, but sometimes we end up late for school because we were talking for so long! :)

Erin and Monique starting lunch at Daniel's house. We all sit around the table and chat for an hour or more each mealtime!

Breakfast is a larger meal than in the US and can include anything from yogurt to eggs to hamburgers! A typical breakfast is yogurt with cereal, a cheese or avocado sandwich, and warm milk that you can add powdered coffee or chocolate (like Quik!) to. However, as I said before, we have had eggs with hot dogs, chicken patties, and even hamburgers for breakfast! The drink can take many different forms, although usually we have the drink I described earlier. This morning, we had a very thick hot chocolate, and we have also drank a very concentrated coffee that dilute with hot water.

Lunches are our largest meal of the day. We return back to Daniel's for lunch - school is over BEFORE lunch so the school does not serve a meal! A typical lunch includes rice and potatoes with a side of meat, plus a postre (dessert) of course. :) I like the consistency of the lunches - that I generally know what to expect and love having something sweet at the end. For those of you who know me, that shouldn't come as a surprise. Usually I cannot finish the whole meal - there is a TON of food! We don't get a whole lot of exercise here so I have less of an appetite, although it is hard not to eat the food when it tastes so good. 

Another aspect of lunch that I LOVE is fresh juice. Cheverita, the Berrospid's family helper, makes a different juice almost every day! Chicha morada is a typical juice made from corn and pineapple. My favorite (so far) is jugo de maracuya - passion fruit juice. I could drink a whole pitcher, but I try to hold myself to two glasses.

A typical lunch for us - with potatoes, rice, and some meat. I think there is chicken with the potatoes here. YUM!

Another delicious lunch. Rice, veggies, and some very tasty meat. I LOVE this meat - it is very tender and has some delicious spices. It reminds me of Chipotle! Postre is served on the side - today, pudding!

Yesterday's lunch! Chicken, rice, corn (You can eat it off the cob! I'm not missing that part of summer :)), and yuca - similar to a potato. The long thing is a bean! 

Supper is a small meal and is served around 8 PM. A typical supper is some kind of soup with bread. Last Tuesday, after eating our whole bowl of soup, Daniel told us that Tuesday is Pizza Day! He then proceeded to order Papa John's delivery. When it arrived, we all sat around the table and had our second course - meat lover's pizza! :) 

Daniel also takes us out to eat - especially on the weekends. He loves taking us to restaurants that serve traditional Peruvian food, like ceviche, pollo a la brasa, and anticuchos. Sometimes we go together, and sometimes with his WHOLE family. It is a fun adventure trying to follow their conversations! :)

Ceviche is a VERY popular food here - all of my students asked me if I had tried ceviche. Ceviche is seafood that is prepared with lemon and spices; the fish or shrimp is cooked when it reacts with the lemon. I liked ceviche, but the texture and appearance of the fish were difficult to get past. However, it really didn't taste like fish at all!

Parihuela was a delicious, but kinda spicy soup that we ate with the ceviche. You can see the crab sticking out of the soup - there were many other kinds of seafood inside the soup as well! I liked this a lot, but preferred to stick with crab and shrimp meat. 

Last night, Daniel took us all to La Norteña. I LOVED this place - it is very popular with the native Peruvians. It isn't fancy, but they serve good food and lots of it! Their most popular dish is anticuchos... aka, beef heart. Yes, the heart of a cow, served on a stick! Maybe it'll hit the MN state fair in the next few years! :) I tried it and although it wasn't my favorite, it wasn't awful, either! I definitely was happy to eat my chicken, but I am glad that I tried it. This place also served many other types of organs of animals, including (I think... this vocab is all new for me!) liver, gizzards, stomach, and others. This is very Peruvian - people eat the WHOLE animal here. It tastes some getting used to. :)

The famous ceviche! Served with corn and sweet potatoes.

Parihuela, a Peruvian soup with seafood, obviously! There were shrimp and other seafood pieces in the soup, and it was a little spicy. 

All of the workers preparing anticuchos and the other meals at La Norteña.

Daniel with his anticuchos, potatoes, and corn.

Daniel´s family sitting around the table at La Norteña.

Picarones - our postre for the night! Fried dough with miel (honey) on top. I thought it tasted like a french toast sticks!

Finally, I do need to emphasize one amazing thing that I have tried here in Peru - Inca Kola. It is a very yellow-y pop that is served just about everywhere. Someone told me that Peru is one of the only countries where Coke is not the #1 pop - it is Inca Kola! It is very fizzy, like Mt. Dew, but it tastes like a big piece of bubblegum! 

The FABULOUS Inca Kola.  Daniel says it is best served in glass bottles - YUM.

I am looking forward to trying MORE delicious Peruvian food. Can't wait to share it with you!