28-04-2016
Those arriving these days at Lima’s international airport, in the great baggage reclaim area will only find posters presenting the Global Forum on Gastronomy Tourism scheduled from the 27th till the 29th April in the Peruvian capital
An invitation, a yes and here I am now in Lima, in front of the Pacific Ocean, after a trip via Amsterdam, on Monday 25th, that looked endless because I hadn’t paid too much attention to the details, except for the time of departure and arrival. The invitation came from the Basque Culinary Center in San Sebastian which, together with the World Tourism Organization and with PromPerù, organised the Global Forum on Gastronomy Tourism, three days of works from the 27th till the 29th April. I’m curious to find out how many other Italians will be there. It looks like none will be on stage, and at least one will be in the audience.
Together with me, I have the Rough Guide recently published in Italy by Feltrinelli and Manuale di sopravvivenza amazzonica per signorine di città written Sara Porro, and just out for EDT. I’m not a miss but you just need to adapt thoughts and recommendations to your own case. Apart from the excuse given me by the Basques, I owe much of my presence to the passion Amora Carbajal puts in her work. In Milan she guides the Peruvian Trade Office, the Mincetur, and I owe her the pleasure of having as my guide her cousin Gonzalo, another XXL-size enthusiast. We click.
First night in Lima, on Monday 25th April, at hotel Marriott in the Miraflores neighbourhood, and a sushi and ceviche based dinner as this in the photo, with Tiger’s Milk Ceviche that is to say, as chef Julio Ferradas writes to me, catch of the day, octopus, prawns, calamari, scallops, white corn, sweet potato, (it’s orange and given its look you’d think it’s pumpkin) lime and chilli pepper sauce. Very refreshing and very brilliant
The arrest of their leader Abimael Guzman in September 1992 put an end to terrorism. The drug trade plague remains, but Peru is doubtlessly different today, it attracts foreign investment and opens up to the world with pride. And his great chefs, such as Gaston Acurio and Virgilio Martinez, Mitsuharu Tsumura and Hector Solis, are its admired and envied ambassadors. To sum it up: Peruvians had other problems to take care of instead of thinking about how spicy can ceviche be before an American or European will feel their mouth burst into flame.
Breakfast in the hotel and first curiosity satisfied: what are tamales? The answer: rolls, basically of three different types, two savoury ones, which I had, and a sweet one I left for another occasion. The dark green one is the classic tamal, banana leaf filled with pork (or chicken) and corn flour from two different types of dry corn. The pale one gets its light colour from corn leaves while the dough, made with fresh white corn, is green thanks to coriander. Finally humida, like the previous one but without coriander and more on the sweet side
The lobby on the second floor of the 25-floor skyscraper where the Marriott hotel in Lima is located
1. To be continued
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born in Milan in March 1955, at Il Giornale for 31 years dividing himself between sports and food, since 2004 he's the creator and curator of Identità Golose. blog www.paolomarchi.it instagram instagram.com/oloapmarchi