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exploring taste – Spring/Summer 2016 places – Lima’s new stars

photography Katja Kulenkampff

Peru’s rich culinary tradition, widely regarded as South America’s finest. This now blooming, in ways that are truly innovative. The ceviche is a Peruvian specialty, but is prepared in many other countries overlooking the Pacific Ocean: Chile, Mexico, Ecuador, Costa Rica
was 1994. Six years later, Astrid & Gastón was elected Peru’s best restaurant. Pachacútec is a shantytown, a difficult place to live in: located on a sandy and
Six more years pass (we are now in 2006) and we find Gastón Acurio opening deserted hill, until a few years ago devoid of electricity, running water and ONE WINE, TWO CULTURES:
the academic year at Lima’s top university. In his lecture, Acurio emphasizes paved roads. The establishment of la Fundación, has not yet, in such a short
how food has spearheaded the nation’s cultural and economic development, space of time, managed to radically lift the area from its poverty. And yet the HOW CEVICHE MET BRUT ROSÉ
bringing together tourism and the restaurant sector, agriculture and fishery. school receives over 600 applications each year, many of which are coming
What happened, exactly, in the space of these few, crucial, years? Gastón from disadvantaged communities. Out of these 600, only 150 can be accepted
Acurio and his pioneering efforts have proved successful beyond the scope of as part of the first four-month long foundation course, exclusively focused on
what he intended to achieve. The Peruvian food industry grew exponentially a challenging, and not only culinary, academic syllabus. The second selection In our globalized era there are no borders, at least when it comes to culinary culture, and a wine needs to be able to adapt to any kind of cuisine.Santa
between 2005 and 2013, at a rate of 8 percentile points per year. The Financial is even stricter: only 30 students will be admitted to the subsequent hands-on Margherita wines speak every language in the world, and they’ve proved it on more than one occasion. The first encounter between Santa Margherita
Times, quoting data collected by the Sociedad Peruana de Gastronomía cooking classes, and only half of them successfully graduate. Those who make and Peruvian cooking took place in the summer of 2015, in the context of the most important food event of the year: Milan’s EXPO. As part of the
(Apega), states that the number of restaurants has increased from 45.000 to it, however, stand a real chance to become the country’s best future chefs. La event Un vino, due culture (‘One wine, two cultures’) chef Diego Muñoz, from world-famous fine dining establishment Astrid & Gastón (Lima, Peru),
100.000: a 300percent growth. Fundación regularly hosts many guest chefs as visiting professors, some of the introduced a menu engineered to perfectly match the Santa Margherita Group range. Why Peruvian cooking? This cuisine is one of the richest in the
Food “is an agent of social change, a tool for wealth creation, peace and most exciting names of the international culinary world: Ferran Adriá, form world, privileging fresh ingredients and local produce from the Andes Mountains and the South American seas. The Peruvian table brings together
fraternity,” Acurio told the British paper. “As cooks, we have a role to the multi-awarded El Bulli, or Andoni Luiz Aduriz, head-chef of Mugaritz in the many diverse influences from the long history of immigration to this country, both from Europe and the Far East. Similarly, Muñoz’s advice is
accomplish, so we built the best cooking school in a place where there is San Sebastián, and Italian Giancarlo Morelli, to name just a few. wise and wide-ranging, providing a useful compendium for any aspiring chefs. To make the best-known dish in Peruvian cuisine, ceviche chalaco,
a high density of young people, probably without opportunities.” What he marinates his catch of the day in lime juice and rocoto chilli, adding sea urchins, avocado and crispy squid, and choosing a Metodo Classico Brut
Gastón Acurio is referring to as the “best cooking school” is the Fundación Rosé Athesis, DOC dell’Alto Adige (Kettmeir) as the perfect complement. He then moves on to the preparation of a Causa de pulpa de sangrejo, a
Pachacútec, the culinary institute he co-founded in 2007, in a difficult traditional potato and ajì amarillo chilli paste-filled pie, with crabmeat, tarragon and semi-desiccated tomatoes, to be paired with a Luna dei Feldi
slum on the outskirts of Lima. Such an evocative name, in Peru, comes Alto Adige DOC, 2014 (Santa Margherita). Then it is the turn of another great traditional dish from the Peruvian kitchen: arroz con pato, rice with
with expectations: Pachacútec (or Pachacuti) was the emperor who, in loche pumpkin, coriander, duck breast and a radish salad. A Chianti Classico Gran Selezione DOCG Vigneto di Campolungo 2010 (Lamole di
the second half of 1400, became leader of the Inca Empire: the country’s Lamole) really hits the spot with this one. To finish off, a great classic dessert – the name says it all: clásico peruano is made with purple corn, sweet
Gastón Acurio Jaramillo was born in 1967 in Lima.
national hero. Such revolutionary promises are being fulfilled today by His father, Gastón Acurio Velarde, is a former politician milky rice and red berries, and is a perfect match for a Moscato Rosa Athesis dell’Alto Adige, DOC, 2011 (Kettmeir). In Muñoz’s expert hands, food
Acurio himself. The seeds of change planted here almost ten years ago are of the Acción Popular party. becomes a gateway to a whole different culture, and through discovering different cuisines, we become in turn, real ‘explorers of taste.’

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