HISTORY OF THE PERUVIAN CUISINE
 |
South American Cooking, by,
Felipe Rojas Lombardi | The Moors, the Spaniards and their African slaves
During the first 150 years of the Spanish presence in South America, Lima formed the center of one of only two Viceroyalties in the Americas. The Spanish brought the social niceties of court life to Peru and, with great mining and agricultural wealth plus a large native population to provide labor, the leisure class flourished. The biodiversity of Peru's many ecological zones in close juxtaposition is unrivalled in any part of the globe. This newly created leisure class had the time and the wealth to indulge in the fruits of their new land.
Theirs was literally the 'best of both worlds'. The Conquistadores brought with them new species of animals and plants, which rapidly flourished and greatly increased the number of ingredients. Unprecedented integration with the indigenous people gave birth to a colorful new Creole or criollo culture and food.
Dishes came to include different types of meat from the goats, chickens, cows and sheep that the Spanish introduced. These were added to the local llama's camelid cousin, the alpaca, and to guinea pig, wild hare and various types of fowl. Dairy products were added to the original ají sauces. Rice, wheat and barley were introduced, along with olives, oils and vinegars, and myriad new vegetables, fruits, notably the grape for winemaking, spices and flavorings. They also brought ovens and introduced new techniques such as pickling and frying.
The new cuisine was an exciting synthesis of ingredients and techniques from the two continents and at all levels of society new dishes began to appear which have evolved into the characteristic motifs of the food that Peruvians love today. For example, Ocopa, the signature sauce from the southern city of Arequipa, is a mixture of ground pre-Columbian peanuts and ají with the addition of dairy products introduced by the Spaniards.
Iberian peninsular cooking was itself the result of an exotic fusion of Mediterranean influences. As the Conquistadores were natives of Andalusia and Extremadura, the most significant influence for Peruvian cuisine came from the seven hundred years of Moorish occupation of southern Spain. From this culinary inheritance, the Spanish brought with them cumin and coriander, as well as cinnamon and cloves, which went into the famous criollo desserts.
The arrival of sugar cane was a delicious surprise to Peruvians and a perfect complement to their herbs and spices. Such a collective sweet tooth evolved that in colonial times the Peruvian Viceroyalty was the largest consumer of sugar in the New World. An angelic touch to desserts and candies came from the many newly established convents in and around Lima. Each convent had it's own delicious specialty. Convents developed most of these confections, which assured the continuity of both the convents and the confections from generation to generation. Still today, almost all Peruvian desserts are Eurocentric with African overtones.
A central ingredient in these new ambrosial mixtures was the vibrant color and style brought to criollo dishes by the African slaves who cooked in the kitchens of the Viceroyalty. Peruvians loved and adopted the captivating rhythms of African music and dance, and the aromatic African spices and syrups that they added to the original corn puddings of the Incas resulted in the perfection of a heady mix of blancmanges and custards. African slaves also are credited with the creation of the anticucho.
|
