SUSHI SMUSHI

You heard it first here: Peruvian food is going to be the next cuisine to sweep the world. OK, so maybe I exaggerate, but the food in Peru is truly delicious. And its not just because they have 3000 types of potato (we are steadily working throught them – so much for a carb free diet), countless types of chili (the smaller, the more lethal), or corn that comes in a myriad of colours (the yellow corn we normally eat is pretty much llama feed for Peruvians). No, the reason its so delectable is that it is the orginal fusión food of the type you get in California – it is a mix of the various peoples that have ever set foot in the place: Incas, Spaniards and the Italians, Chinese and Japanese that came here in waves during the 19th century. Except that in places like San Francisco CA, they try way too hard to expose your palette to novel combination of flavours (chocolate marinated salmon on a bed beetroot and pineapple corn grits, anyone? No?) Whereas in Peru they have had centuries to work out what goes togther and what really doesn´t, with the result that you get marvels like ceviche (raw fish steeped in lime, onions and chili) – trust me, it´s the new sushi. However, its not all gastronomic heaven - unless guinea pig is your thing (I´ll let you know). Or chicha (fermented corn juice)... actually, it might take a little longer than we predict for Peruvian food to conquer the world.