Exotic Kitchens of Peru

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Description: Continuing his quest for the preservation of foreign food cultures, celebrated writer and food-historian Copeland Marks has set out to capture the feel of Peru by exploring its Creole kitchens in thorough detail. Marks reveals the richness of the Peruvian diet, which all begins with the high protein grain quinoa, potatoes, corn, and aji, an orange/gold-colored group of hot chilies. Starting with these pre-Incan vegetables that form its basis, and on to the influences of the Spanish colonization, and that of Chinese, African, Japanese, and Italian immigrants, this book contains over one hundred great recipes for salads, spicy sauces and side dishes, peasant soups that stick to your ribs, and dishes like ceviche — a raw, Peruvian paélla. 

Marks details the ingredients commonly found roasting over a wood fire in the natural pottery pots of the Peruvians. He recounts the backgrounds of dishes made with fresh cheeses, peppers, beans, cassava and yuca, various potatoes and squash (just to name a few). In the "Beef, Pork, Lamb, and other Meats" section, Marks explains that for a poor country like Peru, "meat is money" and is stretched to last in dishes such as Loma a lo Pobre (Steak for the Poor) The historical is covered with recipes like kapche, the Spanish dish of fava beans, mushrooms, and Chinese melange — a highly inventive (and delicious) invention of the seventeenth-century Spanish colonials. He also supplies local context for each recipe — such as the vegetarian dish Plato Huanchaquero (Potatoes and Seaweed), which is sold on the beach in Huanchaco by the seaweed divers themselves. 

The Exotic Kitchens of Peru is beautifully illustrated throughout with the original seventeenth-century line-drawings of Guaman Poma de Ayala, a Peruvian prince, and contains a full glossary of culinary terms specific to the locale. From the sparse to the sublime, anyone who loves the variety and succulence of South American cuisine will love discovering The Land of the Inca. 

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Condition: Good condition.