Food is big in Peru. People love food and there's a huge variety of food to choose from. Each province of Peru have their own typical food that they are proud of and each is as varied and different from each other.

The most common ingredient in a lot of the food though is fish, potatoes (Peru has like maybe 100 different types of Potatoes) and fresh chili sauce served with any meal. Peruvians love their food hot and chili sauce is not something you usually ask. It's a basic condiment.

Amongst the different other types of cuisine in Peru, the common cuisine was Chinese Cuisine. It's called Chifa food in Peru and is a varietal of the common Chinese food that we typically know. It's a fusion between Chinese food and Peruvian Food. You can definitely taste the chinese in it, but at the same time find local Peruvian flavor to it.

In each region, the speciality is different such as in Cusco, the main typical dish is Cuy - Guinea Pig, in Arequipa Rocotto Relleno and Chupa de Camarones and in Lima, Cebiche. I tried all of these except for Cuy. It did not look too appetizing to me and I heard it's only bones and skin basically.

Food is also very cheap in Peru. Every day for lunch or dinner, they have fixed menus including in most cases an appetizer, a soup, a main dish, a desert and a drink. While in Cusco, I paid as cheap as 3 soles(USD $1) for a set meal, in Lima, it was around 10 soles (USD $2.5).

Apart from the traditional peruvian food, Lima is much polluted by American chain food - Mc Donalds, Burger King, Pizza Hut, Chilis, TGIF, KFC, Dunkin Donuts, Starbucks etc..

Now that I am in Argentina where food choices are basically limited to Beef, Pasta and Pizza, I am really missing all that great variety of food I had in Peru.

         

         

         

Today I did not want to eat out yet again. I have been only eating out for the past 3 months. So, decided to hit the grocery store, use the hostel kitchen and cook myself a nice Chicken Curry with Peruvian potatoes and Chilli. Came out pretty good and goes good with Peruvian loaf.

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Food in Bolivia is usually served in huge huge portions. I thought only the US had these mega king size portions, but South America follows very closely with portion sizes. Much of the food is meat based and the few different meats they eat are llamma and alpaca meat after they harvest the wool for some 5 times, Cuy (Guinea Pig), Lechon (suckling pig) and then the regular meats. As in Peru, Bolivians like to eat hot food and anywhere, the salsa de Aji would always be on the dinner table. The food is decent but it's was my favorite food in the world. After a few days eating that, I really did not want to see another huge plate of meat anymore. In fact, while in Bolivia, I ate lots of Indian and Chinese food.. as they had a couple of these places in LaPaz.. sometimes eating familiar food rather than new exotic foods is nice and comforting and simple.

                 

I just got this tshirt for free after I finished my entire plate of supposedly the world's hottest vindaloo made with some 25 Bolivian chili peppers at the Star of Indian Curry House in La Paz, Bolivia. When I tried to order, they kept on discouraging me telling me that it's very very hot and that I might not like it and if I would like something else, but I persisted and ordered and it was in fact pretty hot, but nothing too unmanageable, as I do and can eat very very hot...

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One the secrets to survive the altitude sickness in the highest capital of the world - La Paz - is to chew Coca Leaves !! Chewing coca leaves is part of everyday life here in la Paz. The coca leaves is supposed to help with more oxygen in ur body and adapt to the high altitude.. I bought a whole bag of it when I came for about 20 cents usd. You put a few leaves in your mouth, add some bicarbonate as well (it brings out the chemicals of the coca leaves) and it sure does help cope with altitude sickness !! Coca leaves among it's many uses, is used to make cocaine as well as coca cola !!

Colombia had a wide array of food. A lot of the food is fried though and they use lots of butter and cheese. While it might sound bad for health, it's all very delicious though. They also eat a lot of plantains and fish. I particularly loved their soups - all their soups are very thick and starchy made with different kinds of potatoes and meat. The most famous soup in Bogota was Ajiaco soup pictured in the first picture.

I am posting a sample of the food I had in Colombia.

           

They have a very big Caribbean community in the South Florida region. For lunch, I had Trinidadian food and it is the closest to Mauritian food I've ever had in the US (Dal Puri (exactly same as in Mauritius) & Curry) and the people eating there looked so much like Mauritians (difficult to explain.. but when I see Indians, I know they're not mauritians, but I'll know Mauritian Indians by their faces.. I had that same recognitive feeling for the indian-trinidadian that were also eating there), like lost cousins whose ancestors took the other boats rather than the boats to Mauritius :)

     

Nowhere else in my travels have I encountered deep fried and breaded sliced pickles !! Mississippi have them and it's not as bad as it sounds like..

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