Chef
As a chef, I cook plant-based dishes inspired by the food I grew up with, Peru’s comida criolla—the 500-year creole fusion of Andean, European, African, Chinese, and Japanese cuisines. I’ve developed recipes for pisco cocktails, piqueos (small bites), street food, empanadas, sandwiches, ceviches, tiraditos, escabeches, soups, stews, rice and quinoa bowls, pasta dishes, sauces, and desserts.
“Nico is an exemplar ambassador of our Peruvian culture, its food, and who we are. I really appreciate what he does, as he is a great game changer.”
— Virgilio Martínez, MIL
My mission is to preserve Peru’s cooking traditions and honor the culinary stories of my ancestors. To do that, I cook with native Peruvian and creole ingredients such as potato, quinoa, corn, tomato, squash, legumes, hot peppers, onions, rice, ginger, citrus, fungi, and berries.
For eight years, I taught Peruvian cookery at an award-winning cooking school in San Francisco. My classes and pop-up dinners introduced students and guests to the world of Peru’s comida criolla. I’ve also taught a masterclass on food of the Andes in Boston and cooked a series of pop-up dinners in New Orleans.
“During his ceviche masterclass, he evokes a sense of romanticism when he shares the history of the dishes he presents. Nico is methodical and structured. His recipes have been perfected and kept simple.”
— Janice Espa, Food Sake Tokyo
I strongly believe in cooking with sustainability and using local ingredients, minimizing dependency on imports. For example, in Peru we make a drink with purple corn and citrus that’s spiced with cinnamon and cloves. But I live in the Pacific Northwest, so sometimes I use blueberries instead of purple corn to make a version of chicha morada with local ingredients.
“Nico Vera, who’s this fascinating Peruvian cook, who veganizes traditional Peruvian recipes. I just thought he was so charming and talented.”
— Joe Yonan, Mastering the Art of Plant-Based Cooking
Recently, I developed a dozen recipes for Joe Yonan’s award winning cookbook Mastering the Art of Plant-Based Cooking and two of my favorite dishes are inspired by Japanese-Peruvian Nikkei cuisine:
To accompany some of my stories for TASTE, I developed these plant-based Peruvian recipes :
And here are the plant-based Peruvian recipes I shared in my newsletter in 2026: