Food and Traditions in Peru!

Peru has been awesome and is so rich with culture and tradition that it's hard to remember all the details but I'll try.

Okay so I know I'm not alone when I ask who would be willing to eat Anticucho, Heart of Cow?  All the Peruvian people say how delicious it is but I'm not convinced!!  Landon wants to try it though.  He's much braver than I am?!?

This women is one of many preparing heart of cow on the street in Arequipa!

Many of the food here is so different from what we would prepare at home:
- Chicha drink - made from purple corn
- Mazamorra dessert - also made with purple corn and pineapple and has the consistency of pudding
- Ceviche - fish 'cooked' in lemon juice (no heat) the acid from the lemon juice cooks it
- more than 500 different types of potatoes, including freeze dried where they leave the potatoes in a very cold running stream for about a month.  Potatoes only cost 1 soles for 2 lbs. (that's about 38 cents).
- Cactus fruit they call Tuna
- Granadilla fruit which has bitter jelly & seeds inside but when it's blended and sugar is added tastes wonderful.
- Coca Tea (more on this below from JC)
- Inca Kola, yellow pop that taste similar to cream soda
- All the yogurt is liquid which we pour on cereal or fruit
- fresh lime/lemon juice, they look like limes but are called lemons?!
- Guinea Pig, how could we ever eat Guinea Pig, I had one as a pet when I was a kid.  RIP Ottis!
The one food we have all been missing from home is peanut butter and were so excited to find it in the grocery store.  We all did a happy dance!  It cost $19 soles which is $7.30 for a small jar...of course we bought the last jar on the shelf and then went back for more a few days later!

I will try to explain the Easter week traditions of the Catholic population in Peru which is about 90%.

JC & I at the Plaza

The celebrations begin on Palm sunday and every day of the week leading up to Easter has it's traditions including what food you eat on each day.  There is a procession every night of the week where each church will march with statues of Mary and come together in the Town Square.  


JC & I helped(a little bit) with preparing a Peruvian meal compliments of Giannina.  It was called Lomo Saltado which consisted of fried potatoes, saute onions, beef steak seasoned with cumin & pepper, tomatoes & parsley.  It was soooo good!  
After our meal with the Posner's, Giannina, Joel, JC & I ventured down to the Plaza where thousands of people gathered to visit 12 churches.   We made it to 3!  On this day the Peru people will eat 7 meals!!  We definitely feel this is more about tradition than a personal relationship with Jesus but it's interesting all the same.  Something you don't see everyday that we witnessed at the Plaza was suddenly all these women running down the street holding benches over their heads, I guess the street was just closed off to traffic and these women were running to secure the best spot to sell their food!  My new Peruvian friend Giannina is going to help me get this right so I will add more or make corrections as needed!  

  

Compliments of Giannina's website!

Easter in Perú

Holy Week is one of the religious dates venerated in Peru with great devotion there are processions, carpets of flowers, the aroma of incense, sorrowful hearts, slow pacing, grief-stricken by the death of Jesus, temples with candles welcoming devotees begging pardon for their sins. Just a few of the demonstrations of their faith.
Food is an important part of Easter, especially on Friday where eating meat is not allowed but people instead eat fish in a variety of preparations,most people eat the typical Chupe de Viernes (Friday Soup) made with Crabfish, cheese, milk, potatoes and vegetables. People eat as well variety of desserts like Mazamorra Morada (Jelly made from starch and fruits and colured with purple corn) or rice pudding. On sunday it’s typical to eat in Arequipa the “caldo blanco or seven meats soup” made with beef, lamb, chicken, pork, charqui (dried meat), goats and potatoes and vegetables to celebrate that Jesus is alive again.

Here are JC's thoughts:

The Catholic traditions and idols are much more intense here than in North America, down to what to eat on which day of the week (during lent) including 12 meals that must be consumed, all day, I believe on Easter Sunday? Shelley and I went down to the main city square, each community in the city has their own square, all complete with a statue of Mary holding Jesus. The streets downtown where closed off due to the thousands of people who goal was to visit 12 Church's yesterday alone...great experience however no personal relationship with Jesus, more of the "Pharisee" outer stuff!!

Kissing on the cheek is the norm for Peruvians, everyone from little children to the elders kiss you on the cheek upon saying hello and goodbye.  

Even little Dennis who is only 1 year old knows to kiss you on the cheek!

Not so much a tradition, more like an observation....we noticed that Kid’s aren’t in car seats, no one wears a seatbelt or uses a helmut – seems to be very few laws even though there are plenty of policemen on every corner?!


Something I don't think I will ever get used to is the lack of toilet seats, even in some of the fancy malls or nice restaurants.  Sometimes you even have to pay to use the banyo but still must squat since there is no seat!!


Now back to JC's explanation of what Coca tea is:
Coca tea is a herbal tea drank daily by the Southern Peruvian people. This leaf is also chewed on for centuries throughout the day by the (Andean’s) highlanders, as the coca plant with a complex array of mineral nutrients, essential oils, and varied compounds creating a benefit to human health yet is not addictive.  The traditional method of chewing coca leaf, called “Acullico”, consists of keeping a saliva-soaked ball of coca leaves in the mouth together with an alkaline substance that assists in extracting ingredients from the leaves. When chewed, coca acts as a mild stimulant and suppresses hunger, thirst, pain, and fatigue. It has also shown to be an aid in the relief of high altitude sickness. There is an increasing use of coca flour as a food supplement.

Now if you are wondering coca is similar to an ingredient used in the making of Coca Cola…well in a word yes, the coca leaf was used at one time as an ingredient in Coke, due to it’s stimulant effect, however it was removed and now a decocainized coca extra is used as one of the flavoring ingredients. It is however the main ingredient in the making of cocaine!! Yes, amongst an entire laboratory process this is the plant used in the street drug, yet it has no drug effects when chewed or steeped in a tea. It is illegal to take out of the country and does leave traces of cocaine in your system for a few days after drinking or chewing it...so place a "note to self" those of you planing on competing in any upcoming international sporting events!!

A word you don’t want to use when speaking to the local police is Papuse, which means cocaine.  In Costa Rica we wanted to buy ingredients to make Pupusa, a local fried soft taco like product with beans, veggies and cheese, but accidently said Papusa!!  Yikes!