Title:

Eat Smart in Peru
(Ginkgo Press Inc., 2006) ISBN 978-0-9641168-0-1 0-9641168-0-4

Theme:

This foodies' travel guide reviews the evolution and history of Peruvian cuisine. Eat Smart in Peru offers Peruvian recipes, translates menus, dishes and foods from Quechua and Spanish to English and identifies regional food specialties.

Sample Items:

The Tastes of Peru chapter provides recipes for traditional and new Peruvian dishes: Pisco sour. Causa de pulpa de cangrejo (layered cold mashed potato cake with avocado and crab meat filling). Tamalitos verdes (corn tamales with spinach). Quinotto (quinoa and vegetables). Aji de gallina (shredded chicken in cheese sauce with ground walnuts). Pasta de aji panca (red chili pepper paste). Picarones (pumpkin and sweet potato donuts in syrup).

Notable Elements:

Part travel guide, part cookbook and part phrase book, Eat Smart in Peru is a must-bring resource for any trip to Peru. The Menu Guide includes breakfast (desayuno), lunch (almuerzo) and supper (cena) foods that you'll find in all types of Peruvian restaurants. It classifies them as national favorites, such as aguadito (main course soup), regional classics, like cutacho (plantain balls) and elegant food like ponderación (deep-fried pastry spiral).

Tone / Style:

Eat Smart in Peru is a helpful, well-organized guide for readers who want to travel to Peru or learn more about Peruvian food and drinks.

Each chapter of the 160-page book expands your knowledge of regional Peruvian foods and dishes. Readers will learn how to make Peruvian dishes and where to find ingredients like canary beans or carob sauce, in Peru or online. The back of the book lists restaurants, where the authors obtained information about Peru's cuisine, and a glossary of Spanish and Quechua words for spices, foods and utensils such as huacatay (Peruvian black marigold), cuy (guinea pig) and tenedor (fork).

Visuals:

Color images in a central eight-page section depict Peruvian dishes, regional produce, chefs and markets. Elsewhere, black and white images, maps and sketches illustrate Peruvian foods like anticuchos (grilled marinated beef heart skewers in hot chili pepper sauce).

Contents:

• The Cuisine of Peru
  • Early History through Pre-Inca Civilizations
  • The Inca
  • The Spaniards
  • The African Slaves
  • The Asians
    • The Chinese
    • The Japanese
  • Novoandino (New Andean) Cuisine
• Regional Peruvian Food
  • Peruvian Food in a Nutshell
  • The Regions of Peru
    • The North Coast
    • Lima and Environs
    • The South Coast
    • The Andes
    • The Jungle
• Tastes of Peru
• Shopping in Peru's Food Markets
• Resources
  • Online Suppliers of Peruvian Foods
  • Some Useful Organizations to Know About
• Helpful Phrases
  • Phrases for Use in Restaurants
  • Phrases for Use in Food Markets
  • Other Useful Phrases
• Menu Guide
• Foods and Flavors Guide
• Restaurants
• Bibliography
• Index

Authors:

Joan Peterson and Brook Soltvedt

Claim to fame:

Joan Peterson has written Eat Smart guides on the foods and drinks of Brazil, India, Indonesia, Mexico, Morocco, Poland and Turkey. Eat Smart in Peru won "best culinary travel guidebook in the world" in Gormand's (Spain) 2007 World Cookbook Awards competition.

Brook Soltvedt is the editor of the Eat Smart series.

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