Until the noughties, Amazon Basin fare was a culinary metaphor for the divide between the haves of Peru’s relatively affluent coastal capital, Lima, and the have-nots of the isolated Indigenous communities in its wild interior, which accounts for 60 per cent of the land in this South American country.
Inevitably, in search of true pan-Peruvian menus, curious Lima-based chefs such as Gastón Acurio and Pedro Miguel Schiaffino would no longer ignore the most biodiverse region on Earth. Schiaffino became a messianic ambassador for the Amazon’s herbs, fruits