Falstaff Magazin International Nr. 1/2022

food / FLAVOUR

food / FLAVOUR DESTINATION PERU The desert landscape of Paracas National Reserve in southwestern Peru. Right: An octopus dish at Central Restaurant and below, a plate of ollucos, colourful tubers that are a speciality of Peru. < THE JAPANESE INFLUENCE: NIKKEI Arguably, the strongest of Peru’s many culinary influences has been that of Japanese immigrants, resulting in a cuisine called nikkei. Luiz Hara, chef and author of Nikkei Cuisine: Japanese Food the South American Way, who grew up in a nikkei family in São Paulo, Brazil, says: “Japan had been isolated for 200 years. When Emperor Meiji took power during the Meiji Restoration of 1868, there was a huge push to modernise Japan. At that time, a lot of people in the countryside went hungry. This coincided with Brazil abolishing slavery in 1888, so the Latin American plantation owners needed people to work on their estates. They encouraged Europeans to come, then they opened up immigration from Asia. There was a huge influx of Japanese people coming to Brazil and Peru.” THOUGH IT SEEMS (AND TASTES) UTTERLY UP-TO-DATE, CEVICHE’S ROOTS GO ALL THE WAY BACK TO THE INCAS. The new immigrants created their own style of cooking, using local ingredients and Japanese techniques – including sophisticated knife skills – and Japanese flavour sensibilities. Nikkei cuisine encompasses dishes such as tiradito, a Peruvian cousin to Japan’s sashimi, and the contemporary incarnation of ceviche. HISTORY IN A DISH: CEVICHE Though it seems (and tastes) utterly up-to-date, ceviche’s roots go all the way back to the Incas. Citrus from Europe didn’t arrive in Peru until the 16th century, of course, but Latin American food authority Elisabeth Luard surmises that a version of the dish existed with chilli as a souring agent since some types of chilli are acidic. By the time the Japanese arrived, ceviche was an established dish which was further refined by Japanese cooks. Luiz Hara says: “When the Japanese went to Peru, they saw that cooks worked with Photos: Getty Images, Central Restaurant, Antony Jones / PA / picturedesk.com, Liz Tasa 76 falstaff mar – jun 2022

quality fish but didn’t know how to make the best of it. They marinated the fish in citrus for too long, ruining the texture. The Japanese decided they could do better and marinated for less time and used fresher, even better fish. They also created tiradito.” The name possibly originates from the Spanish word for ‘stretched’, a reference to the thinness of the lightly marinated slices. A century later, nikkei food rose to world fame with chef Nobuyuki ‘Nobu’ Matsuhisa. Born in Japan, he moved to Lima in 1973, immersing himself in Nippo-Peruvian cooking. He rose to fame in Los Angeles with his Matsuhita restaurant, then opened Nobu in New York City in 1994. Nobu restaurants proliferated, making nikkei food a global phenomenon: there are now 50 Nobu restaurants on five continents. However, while Nobu made nikkei famous, Hara credits Toshiro Konishi for creating it. “Nobu made nikkei cuisine glitzy,” says Hara. “He put the cuisine on the map. But he worked with chef Toshiro NIKKEI CUISINE ENCOMPASSES DISHES SUCH AS TIRADITO AND THE CONTEMPORARY INCARNATION OF CEVICHE. Chef Nobu Matsuhisa, the man who made nikkei cuisine famous around the globe. Konishi who had come to Peru from Japan in the 1970s. When Nobu went to the US, Konishi stayed in Peru, ran several restaurants and taught at university. He’s regarded as the father of nikkei in Peru.” CHEFS BRINGING PERUVIAN FLAVOURS TO THE WORLD Nobu paved the way for a later wave of Peruvian chefs. Today Peru is the only country thus far to have two establishments listed among the World’s 50 Best Restaurants: Central and Maido, both in Lima, hold places four and seven, respectively. At Central, the cooking of husband-andwife team Virgilio Martínez and Pia < A subtle but striking, citrusscented starter at Astrid y Gastón. mar – jun 2022 falstaff 77