Living, Learning, and Leading in Lima, Peru: Mistura

Yesterday, I went with a group of friends to Mistura, which is an annual food festival in Lima. Mistura showcases Peruvian ingredients, traditional dishes, etc. from over 350 different parts of Peru, with 54 different restaurants, 70 food carts, and 14 different rustic kitchens. I think Mistura must be similar to Taste of Chicago, which I avoided attending for the 14 years I lived in Chicago. However, I enjoyed Mistura, particularly the bread corner, chocolate corner, and the Pisco and coffee salon. There was a great market area to buy grains, potatoes, veggies, etc.

We didn't try any of them, but you could buy and taste cuy (guinea pig), anticuchos (beef heart), alpaca, and more Peruvian "delights"at Mistura. The line for some type of pork was very long, but my friend and I enjoyed churros and veggie burritos instead!

The official adult beverage of Peru is called the pisco sour. There were hundreds of piscos for smelling, tasting, and buying at Mistura. I even got a tutorial on how to make the very best ones! All of the people working and selling food at Mistura were eager to talk with us and to have us practice our Spanish, etc.

Some people ate a traditional Peruvian food called Pachamanca. It is a mix of meat (beef, pork, chicken and lamb), vegetables (potatoes, sweet potatoes, beans and corn) and other extras like humitas (corn tamales and cheese pastries) that is buried under the ground (dirt) and cooked over hot stones during certain months to celebrate the harvest. The flavors of the warm earth/soil are supposed to make the ingredients even more flavorful. Pachamanca is typically made in the highlands of the Andes and is reserved especially for religious and community festivities, as well as social celebrations like weddings and birthdays.

There are many, many varieties of potatoes in South America. One website says there are over 3,800 different types in Peru alone. http://preview.tinyurl.com/94ax8ou One of the cool things to see in the markets, and especially at Mistura, were all the different potatoes.