Savoring real Peruvian food in Jakarta

Maria Endah Hulupi, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

People know pizza is an Italian dish, vodka is Russian and sushi is Japanese. But do you know where pisco sour traditional drink comes from?

It's sad to know that Peru, the country where this refreshing drink was originally concocted, has a diverse range of dishes, yet very little is known of them. It is said some of its most popular ingredients have been used since the Incas, an Indian tribe with a highly developed civilization which dominated Peru before the Spanish conquest.

According to www.culturalexpedition.com, Peruvian culinary history has been influenced by other countries, with the earliest being Spain and later by Chinese, European, African and Japanese immigrants who entered the country.

The website also quoted Garcialzo Inca de la Vega in the Incas Chronicles as saying that Incas' meals were prepared in abundance as it was served not only to the Inca royal family but also to his extended families, guests and a large number of servants.

The most important meal of the day was served between 8 a.m. and 9 a.m. while dinner was served at dusk. Drinks were not taken during the meals but afterwards and though the Incan Emperor had a group of chefs, his food was cooked by his concubines.

During the pre-Hispanic period, maize was toasted or boiled and on special occasions it was made into bread and humitas (tamales), while potatoes were cooked, roasted or used in stews.

The website also said that apart from fish, other meats were also consumed in the coastal areas, including llama, duck and in certain areas, dog.

The Spanish conquest brought European cooking items like lettuce, eggplants, onions, spinach, asparagus, figs, cilantro, peaches, vine grapes and olives to Peruvian cuisine.

In later developments, local markets also provide Asian ingredients because of the growth of Chinese restaurants, spurred by immigrants, who had entered Peru since the mid 19th century. Now, Peru is a country with the highest number of Chinese restaurants in Latin America.

Angelica Ballon of the Peruvian Embassy explained that in general, modern Peruvian cuisine could be differentiated into two characters based on the region.

"People living in the coastal areas serve mainly seafood items, while those in the highland areas use chicken and corn with more spicy flavors," said Angelica during a Peruvian food tasting function at the Java restaurant at the Hotel Inter- Continental MidPlaza, Jakarta.

Angelica further added that ancient ingredients like maize and potatoes were still the average Peruvians' main source of starch, with about 300 different types of potatoes known to locals.

As for its most popular ingredient to spice up the meals, Peruvians usually keep aji, a sort of big chili, readily stocked in their kitchens. "It's very hot but people who do not like a hot flavor substitute it with paprika to give a milder taste," she explained.

The food tasting was held to precede a 10-day Peruvian food promotion at the same restaurant, where popular Peruvian dishes will be served from Aug. 1, 2002.

Among those dishes and beverages are pisco sour, a distilled grape brandy made from the quebranta grape grown in the Ica Valley and around the Pisco and Ica rivers, turron de donna pepa, (a festival cake prepared to celebrate special occasions), anticuchos (chicken roasted on a spit), lomo saltado (beef tenderloin with onion), papa ala huancaina (boiled potatoes with chili and garlic sauce) and ceviche (lime marinated snapper).

Maybe it is the typical Latin American cuisines that several of the dishes would remind you of food from other countries. Pastel de choclo (corn pie with minced meat and cheese) is also similar to Mexican food and the alfajores (biscuits filled with slow-cooked caramelized sweet condensed milk) is also known by the same name in Argentina, where the caramelized filling is called dulce de leche.

Apart from researching Peruvian dishes from various sources, the hotel's executive chef, Donald J. Pezar, said that he had also received input from representatives from the Peruvian Embassy on traditional recipes and flavors so as to ensure that his team could bring out the food's character.

"The cooperation (with the Peruvian Embassy) is to fine tune the flavors," he said, adding that some of the well-liked food served in last year's promotion, were also prepared for this year's event.

Hopefully, Angelica said, the festival would help introduce Peruvian cuisine to Indonesians.