Peruvian Food Festival: Country wants to help feed the region

The Peruvian Food Festival will run from September 7-9 at Hyatt Regency Trinidad. While it will proudly display the South American country’s culinary gems, there is a greater plan at play.

That plan is to aid in regional food security, ambassador David Màlaga said at a tasting for media and the festival partners, Hyatt and Copa Airlines. The tasting was held on September 5 at the Hyatt, Wrightson Road, Port of Spain.

The guests were treated to some of Peru’s most known dishes including varieties of its ceviche and its most popular dish, lomo saltado (stir fried beef). Fish, Peruvian roasted corn, Peruvian chilli limo, ginger, shrimp, chicken and crab were some of the ingredients in the four cold starters: ceviche clàsico perunao; ceviche Nikkei; ceviche caliente de camarones al ajì Amarillo; tiradito de salmon, leche de tigre al ajì Amarillo and causa limena, trio de causas.

The four main dishes saw a blend of sautéed beef, vegetables, corn, seafood, mushrooms and followed by a crispy crunchy meringue with lùcuma mousse and chocolate sauce for dessert.

Much like Trinidad and Tobago’s, Peruvian cuisine is a multicultural blend.

The embassy brought Peruvian chef Maria Rosa Vasquez Chavez for the festival.

Chavez trained at the Peru branch of Le Cordon Bleu and holds a masters in restaurant management and innovation from the Basque Culinary Center, Basque Country, Spain.

Chavez’s menu showed the blend of the Japanese, Chinese, Spanish, African and indigenous influence in the country’s cuisine.

Guests were treated to a drink of Pisco – the Peruvian brandy made from its grape that is sometimes colourless or yellowish-to-amber in colour – before the meals.

While this is the embassy’s first food festival in TT, it wants to ensure it is not the last.

Malaga said, “Peruvian cuisine is more than a response to feed our people. It is a social experience. It is the sum of all of our history, 10,000 years of history, cooking and coming together to enjoy our meals.”

The country has become a “success story” with its agricultural exports and believes it can help alleviate the growing problem of global food security.

The country’s profile on the World Food Programme (WFP) website says, “Over the past decade, hunger and poverty have significantly decreased in Peru, thanks to consistent economic growth, investments in infrastructure, education and health, and an expansion of social programmes.”

It added that food traditions and gastronomy play a crucial role in Peru’s national identity.

The country’s major food export is grapes but it is also growing its exports of paprika, avocado, blueberries and coffee.

Peru hopes to become one of the top ten food exporters in the world, Màlaga said.

This is what the country wants to offer to TT in the wake of growing issues about food security.

The Russia/Ukraine War and growing global supply issues have demonstrated the need for greater trade between the countries, he said.

He also said international airline Copa has two weekly flights to Peru and this “could be of paramount importance.

“Copa can provide the best and most reliable service to TT for our fresh fruit and vegetable products.

“You can have fresh fruits from Peru in seven hours.”

While there has been some discussion between the countries, there will be further discussions on how the countries can collaborate.

“The embassy of Peru is trying to reinforce the bilateral dialogue with the Government and we are trying to promote mutual knowledge of our cultures as the best basis of friendship of our peoples,” Màlaga said.

Màlaga said he attended the recently concluded Agri-Investment Forum and Expo which ran from August 19-21 and he spoke to the Minister of Agriculture, Land and Fisheries, Kazim Hosein, about possible collaborations.

“We are offering a serious and steady supply and we are offering reasonable prices,” he added.

Peru also participated in the recently-concluded Trade and Investment Convention (TIC), August 25-27.

Asked if there was a need to create a food block, similar to economic blocks formed in the past, Màlaga said that was the main instruction that he got when he was transferred here.

“We have to reinforce the political dialogue and we have been doing a lot.”

He said at Peru’s Independence Day celebrations there were discussions about possible projects between TT and the country.

“We are advancing little by little. We signed an agreement for cultural co-operation on July 28 and we have two more agreements coming up,” he said.

A formal invitation was sent for Government representatives to attend the festival on September 7.

The event is open to Hyatt’s guests as well as to the public.