When I planed for my trip and searched for what I should do and eat in South America, I thought I might not fit with food overthere. Of course, such a long disstance can make such a difference about everything including cuisine. I have tried quite a few Peruvian foods and I conclude that exploring Peruvian foods is really a special experience because most of it is too salty with my taste. Haha.
1.Empanada
This is the first dish I tried in Lima, Peru. It is a typical bread of Peruvian. It has a crispy cover and a lot of things inside. It is customized and there are quite a few options to you to pick what kind of ingredients you want to put inside bread cover. I chose chicken. It was quite good unless it was salty. lol. And I felt a extremely strong smell from a kind of seasoning which I could not figure out and not only in this dish, I always felt this smell from most of dishes I tried in Peru. I didnt know what a slice of lemon is for. I tried to finish it with a bottle of water.
2.Huevos de Gaston
I tried this dish in an adorable restaurant in downtown of Lima. I just followed a recommendation from a Korean Blogger. It was not bad but too expensive. About 8$ for this dish. It is a kind of omelet with full of stuffs. I feel like Peruvians love to mix a lot of things in just only one dish. There are chicken, tomato, pineapple,... and something else I dont even know. It is served with 2 slices of bread. Huevos de Gaston was not salty but bread. lol.
3.Ceviche
A famous dish in Peru which I already wrote a post about it since it is really special and savoury with me.
You guys can check it out here.
4.Rice and beef
This dish has a special name but I forget it. lol. I tried it in a bar named Huacafuckingchina in Ica. This dish is one of the best Peruvian foods I have had so far. Because it is just rice and beef. As any Asian, I love rice and especially a kind a rice which is “original”, not put any seasoning inside rice as Peruvians normally do. And about beef, it is savory with tomato and chips.
5.Grilled pork with rice and potato and salad.
I had this food in a place for tourist in Cusco so it maybe not a Peruvian food actually. But i still put it in this list because of its taste - Peruvian taste. And it has a common thing with most of dishes in this list. That is salty. lol. I tried grilled pork in first bite, salty. And I thought “it is ok, I can eat with rice and it will be good”. Then I tried rice. Oh god. Even saltier than grilled pork. Salad was only one thing not salty but it had a strong smell of something which is also in Empanada as I said above. I think Peruvian food needs that smell, same with Vietnamese food need flavour of fishsauce. That smell is really weird with vietnamese like me, same with how terible fish sauce is with westerner.
6.”Peruvian Spaghetti”
I forget its name but It seems a kind of Spaghetti with Peruvian style. It is just noodles mixed with beef and tomato. Really good looking but I could not finish it since it was too salty. This dish made me kept wondering that why most of food I tried here is so salty with asian taste. Even though I tend to eat a lot slaty food in Vietnam, Peruvian food is still beyond my ability of eating salty food.
Somethings good
Beside, I really love bread and desert here. So tasty. But I think this kind of bread and desert is not something belonging to Peruvian cuisine.
Even though I really dont fit with Peruvian food but I love the way Peruvians make it special with their own flavours. It is worth trying and experiencing a different cuisine in the other side of the world.
And as far as I know, Peruvians tend to eat salty food especially in places which have high altitude as Cusco because salty food helps people avoid high altitude medical problem. It is also a new thing which is worth being aware.
