FOOD in PERÚ

We were assured that there would be access to wonderful meals in Perú.  It's true. Tropical and temperate climate fruits and vegetables, dairy foods and treats of every kind, Peruvian traditional dishes such as lomo saltado, pollo a la brasa, ahi de gallina, and freshly baked breads and pastries are easy to find. The prices of fresh foods frequently astounded us: $10 US for a large basketful of pineapple, mangoes, oranges, limes, potatoes, carrots, tomatoes, corn, etc. You can select expensive restaurants and pay prices comparable to US prices, but you don't need to.  

There are dozens of suitable, reasonably priced restaurants in most areas of the city of Lima where a visitor would go. Lomo Saltado

This was a sure fire bet for us. Connie has allergies to shellfish, fish sauce, and it turned out also to the spice called AHI. Ahi has a smooth, slightly spicy flavor; lots of people love it. Pollo a la Brasa was another dish guaranteed to be delicious and widely available. In this picture with the Lima Temple in the background, we are at Pardos Chicken restaurant.  My friends Sylvia de la Cruz and her husband,

Gabriel Gabriel, and I all selected pollo a la brasa for our dinner. Notice the purple drink, chicha morada, on the table. Delicious! 

Other favorite Peruvian dishes are ceviche and roasted cuy. Many people love these dishes; we do not have pictures of these.

Since we lived in the neighborhood of La Molina in the northwestern part of Lima, we often ate out at Don Tito's on Avenida Flora Tristan, or at Molina Plaza at San Antonio's or Don Mamino's; these places are still open despite COVID, doing Take Out and Delivery. We both loved Don Mamino's for their freshly baked pastries and breads, their wonderful salads [and we never got sick from their salads], and delicious desserts.  Here you can see their ice cream bar:

. Don Maminos

 

 

Also from Don Mamino, this pastry: torta is a cake; lucuma is a fruit I found delicious and very interesting.  It also has such beautiful seeds; I wanted to make a necklace out of them. [But had to leave them in Perú due to restrictions about importing fruits and vegetables to the US.]  Most commonly, I bought the Lucuma Yoghurt.  The lucuma I see advertised in the US looks as though it is not ripe, so the flavor would be off. 

A favorite food of ours while we lived in Lima was the freshly baked pastries and rolls at Karlita's, a little bakery 20 steps from our apartment. They baked hundreds of rolls twice a day and customers bought them all.  To come into the shop at 6 pm as the second big load of rolls came out of the oven and the smell of the freshly baked bread filled the store was to be transported to another realm.  Customers waited patiently for those ahead of them; everyone scooped out of the bins the rolls they wanted, using tongs, and placed them in the brown paper bags provided. The sales woman or man was very friendly and we often chatted a bit when the shop was not so busy.  I think we learned to make change and get familiar with the Peruvian sole, and the coins used, by shopping at Karlita's several times a week.  I did not get a picture of the bread and rolls in their bins; how I wish I had! But here is a shot of some of the delightful chocolate brownies made at Karlita's that I bought Clair for his birthday in 2019.

Made at Karlita's on Avenida Melgarejo

We also loved the artisan bread we were able to get delivered to our Office by André Maldonado of the Pan Masana, a small business that started up in our neighborhood.

For food we bought and brought home, we used filtered water to wash it, and then immersed it in a bleach solution for 10 minutes. This proved to be very successful. We never got sick when we ate at home or with friends who soaked their vegetables and fruits.

Perú's carrots are huge, and very tender and sweet.

                                                                                           Some of the best meals were home cooked meals.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    

                     Dinner at Sister Winnie Graham's home was always a treat.  We all learned some things about cooking from her.  In our senior missionary group of over 30 people, we had some marvelous cooks!

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 Lomo saltado cooked at home

  

Prickly pear, pomegranates, aguaymanto. These are some delicious fruits. You can see chirimoya also.

                        persimmon, perhaps...                                          

                                                                                                       Sweet granadilla is a favorite:

All these fruits and vegetables for about $5.00 US.

Chirimoya [called custard apple in English] is one of my favorite fruits.  I could eat it and mango every day and be totally happy.

Eating is such a social occasion, and such a pleasure!

              Celebrating Valerie Bybee's birthday at San Antonio's, January 13, 2020

at Mis Costillitas with friends in 2019

      A marvelous Despedida for Elder Hugo Montoya and his wife Carmen.

Many of the north american wives participated in 'Lunch Bunch' in Lima. We each brought a dish to share.  We gathered together 7 or 8 times a year.

 

For the best buys on certain types of foods, you have to go to the marketplace.  Here we are at Josfel Market, Aisle 19, Stall # 47:

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If you really are hungry, little shops like this are everywhere and you can find a snack.

 

 

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This blog and several to follow will show life in Perú as we experienced it prior to evacuation in late March 2020 due to Covid-19.