Words like tiraditos and anticuchos may sound foreign now, but by next year, these Peruvian dishes will start creeping up more and more in culinary lexicons, says a food trendspotting firm.
According to international restaurant consultancy group Baum + Whiteman in New York, Peru is on the cusp of enjoying the global culinary spotlight. By next year, the group predicts that Peruvian fare will land on the radars of the most forward-thinking kitchens because of the complex dishes that hail from what many pundits are calling, the gastronomic capital of Latin America.
Described as a cross-pollination of Japanese, Spanish, Chinese, Italian and Andean flavors, Peruvian cuisine is the source of the world’s “most exciting ceviches and tiraditos,” says the report released last week.
Similar to sashimi and ceviche, tiradito is a dish of raw fish bathed in a spicy sauce that reflects the influence of Japanese immigrants.
The rise in Peruvian fare has been credited to the almost single-handed efforts of that country’s most famous chef Gaston Acurio, who enjoys rock-star status wherever he goes.
Acurio is exporting Peruvian flavors around the world, to countries like Mexico, Chile, Brazil, Panama, and his latest opening is the New York outpost of La Mar Cebicheria. Menu items include cebiche nikei — Japanese-influenced ceviche with tuna, red onion, Japanese cucumber, daikon, avocado, nori and sesame in a tamarind leche de tigre.
The restaurant also does an upscale version of anticuchos — grilled skewers inspired by street food — like grilled beef hearts with fried potatoes, Peruvian corn and a spicy rocoto sauce. Rocoto is a spicy pepper native to South America.
Meanwhile, Peru also enjoyed the spotlight last month after hosting some of the world’s top chefs including Ferran Adrià, Rene Redzepi, Michel Bras and Dan Barber who descended on the high-profile food festival Mistura, organized by Acurio.
There, the culinary elite that call themselves the G9, penned an open letter to the chefs of tomorrow, imploring them to help transform the way the world eats.
A major food festival in Australia, Crave, was also built around South American cuisine as the focus for this year.