Spuds and more

          As food goes, potatoes have figured prominently in the story of many nations.  I think of the Irish, and the devastating potato famine; the panic-driven temporary name change to Freedom Fries in the USA; and sweet potatoes in many other cultures.  Much of Peru's food begins and ends with the lowly tuber.  Potatoes are from Peru, and there are literally hundreds of varieties, some say as many as 3000.  Some are grown only on a family farm, where they trace the beginnings back several centuries.  Those are the potatoes that will never be tasted by people outside of the village or maybe even the family.  Like other crops, there are varieties that grow only at certain elevations and temperatures.

In the markets, we saw the dozen or more varieties of commercially grown potatoes, in colors and shapes that made me stare.  Purple, bright yellow, large, small, oddly shaped, even dried.  Sometimes, I saw women in the markets furiously peeling, chopping or grating potatoes, bagging them for sale.  Convenience foods!  In the restaurants, we ordered dishes such as ocopa - potatoes in a spicy peanut sauce; papa huancaina - potatoes bathed in a creamy cheesy sauce; causa - an architectural potato salad stuffed with all kinds of things; papa rellenos - a mashed potato stuffed with ground beef and deep fried.  The order of ceviche in a restaurant always came with a pretty, deep orange potato, that was sweet but not like the sweet potatoes I know.  We tried them all, and loved every bite.  Fortunately, we could also eat other foods.  Some people are so poor they eat potatoes three meals a day.

In the markets, we saw lots of other beautiful vegetables and fruits.  We bought fruits to taste, asking for the name, but not always getting it correct when we repeated it!  The giant pumpkins/squash were the most eye-catching, because of their size.  They were often sold in slices, cooking one of those whole, giant squash would be the definition of eternity!

The fruit we really liked the best was called pepina, with the texture of a peach and the flavor sort of like that of an apple.  The lucuma, which we never visually identified, was delicious in a milk shake and I detected the flavor of it in a couple of stews, too.

Peru is a country for foodies, with specialties such as cuy (roasted guinea pig) and potato dishes dreamed up by artists, chinese chifa (stir-fried rice dishes) and seafood in every imaginable preparation.  Chicharron (deep fried pork), chicha ( a sweet drink made from purple corn), estofado de res (beef stew), and sopa criollo.  And, conchas, a specific large-kernaled yellow corn that is soaked and cooked in a dry skillet until it puffs.  Not at all like popcorn, but served with ceviche and other dishes, and often as a nibble before the meal is served.

There is no reason for a tourist with a few soles in her pocket to go hungry in this country.  Provecho!