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Exotic Kitchens, by
Copeland Marks | Japan: The Rising Sun comes to dinner
In 1899 the first shipload of immigrants arrived from Japan and throughout this century Japanese cooking has left its distinctively 'modern', elegant, and essential mark on culinary trends in the kitchens of Peru. In fact, in the hundred years since the Japanese first arrived, they have been quietly responsible for nothing less than a gastronomic revolution.
Like the Chinese, the first Japanese immigrants initially came to work the coastal plantations. In the beginning they, too, suffered hardship but by the 1920's their families had joined them, their numbers had reached 18,000 and they were economically established.
At this time the first Japanese restaurants gently introduced their own subtle touch to traditional Peruvian dishes. Peruvian cuisine incorporated a delicate hint of shoyu and a dash of miso.
At home with their families the Japanese ate something that well-to-do city-dwellers were largely uninterested in - fish! In the first half of the 20th century, eating fish was still seen to be less desirable than meat, but by the end of the 1950's there were a small number of Japanese restaurants that were introducing their clientele to the delights of a whole range of fresh seafood dishes.
Although the Inca ate ceviche marinated in chicha made from corn and several sour or astringent fruit juices, it was the introduction of limes and onions by the Spaniards and a new approach to fish by the Japanese that gave us the ceviches and tiraditos that we know and love today.
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