The Pride of Peruvian Cuisine

From global recognition, to top restaurants, to the James Beard Awards.

Cooking Peruvian food is a strong part of my identity. So it makes me proud that the world is finally realizing what I’ve always known: Peruvian cuisine is a rich culinary fabric of Peru’s Indigenous, African, Chinese, and Japanese cultures that tells stories of colonialism, resistance, and migration while celebrating coastal, Andean, and Amazonic ingredients.

Global Recognition

This past year, Peru won World’s Leading Culinary Destination, besting culinary giants France, Italy, Japan, China, Mexico, Australia, India, and the United States, among others. This is the Oscar’s of the food world and it went to Peru. But it’s not just last year, Peru has won the award 12 times:

• World’s Leading Culinary Destination 2024: Peru

• World’s Leading Culinary Destination 2023: Peru

• World’s Leading Culinary Destination 2022: Peru

• World’s Leading Culinary Destination 2021: Peru

• World’s Leading Culinary Destination 2020: Italy

• World’s Leading Culinary Destination 2019: Peru

• World’s Leading Culinary Destination 2018: Peru

• World’s Leading Culinary Destination 2017: Peru

• World’s Leading Culinary Destination 2016: Peru

• World’s Leading Culinary Destination 2015: Peru

• World’s Leading Culinary Destination 2014: Peru

• World’s Leading Culinary Destination 2013: Peru

• World’s Leading Culinary Destination 2012: Peru

This means that more people enjoy traveling to Peru to eat than anywhere else in the world. This global accolade makes all Peruvians very proud.

Top Restaurants

In 2023, Lima’s Central was the No. 1 restaurant on The World's 50 Best Restaurants, and this year four Peruvian restaurants are on the list, with one in the top spot:

• No. 1: Maido

• No. 9: Kjolle

• No. 26: Mérito

• No. 39: Mayta

While all have risen in the rankings from previous years, I am happy to see Maido in the top spot because it celebrates the Nikkei fusion of Japanese and Peruvian culinary cultures that inspires me so. It makes me proud that for the second time the best restaurant in the world is in my home country.

The James Beard Awards

Since 2020, I’ve submitted my stories to the James Beard Awards food and drink categories, but I’ve never won. These are three of my favorites:

• The Soul Food of Black Peru

• This Tamales Story is Still Being Written

• The Capitán is Lima’s Old Guard Aperitivo

However, this year I have reason to celebrate. Joe Yonan’s cookbook, “Mastering the Art of Plant-Based Cooking,” won the James Beard Award for best Vegetable-Focused Cookbook. Of the 300 recipes, I contributed a dozen, plus an essay. Two of the recipes are inspired by Peru’s Nikkei cuisine:

• Causa Rolls with Beet & Potato

• Trumpet Mushroom Tiradito

• Decolonize Your Diet

Photo credit: Joe Yonan.

I am proud that a cookbook with my name as a contributor, that includes recipes inspired by my culinary heritage, has won a James Beard Award.