It was during Mercat de Mercats and Peru was the guest country.
Gastón Acurio, with a gastronomic empire and many restaurants worldwide serves the best of his native country Cuisine: Peru.
I am not too familiar with this cuisine as I have only tried it once at The Market in Barcelona; and have a close Peruvian friend who owns a Patisserie and offers world wide delicacies at La Marquise Décadente.
So here I was on a Sunday Morning meeting this great personality.
BelleBarcelone: How do you feel being the ambassador of the Peruvian cuisine worldwide. How do you define yourself?
Gastón Acurio: I don't consider myself to be an ambassador. I promote my culture, I take it as a duty to talk about our gastronomy. I am a chef and I have tried to show our cuisine to the world. We can contribute creating new relationships with our gastronomy. Everyday 3 to 4 Peruvian restaurants opens in the world.
BB: How have you been able to do so?
GA: Our gastronomy is a miscegenation of many years with many different cultures. Our ancestors are from Asia, Africa and Europe. Each culture has its own place in a multicultural world.
BB: Are there any vegetarian options in the Peruvian cuisine?
GA: The Andes cuisine has a lot of vegetarian, I would say almost vegetarian as people couldn't afford fish and meat. We use a lot of "Papas" (potatoes), Quinoa, Corn, Seaweeds, Aji (spicy sauce with coriander, tomatoes, onions, and aji peppers), milk products and many vegetables stews.
We are also introducing vegetarian cevice with mushrooms or artichokes.
BB: What is your favorite dish?
GA: Ceviche.
BB: what would you cook with 3 ingredients?
GA: Papas al Aji: taste and colors in a simple dish.
BB: One word to define the Peruvian cuisine:
GA: Diversity.
BB: What are the similarity with other cuisines, with the Spanish cuisine for instance?
GA: We have a mix of 4 continents in our gastronomy.
Spain has a big influence in our country as their presence was there for many centuries. For instance a Spanish sofrito ( Spanish sauce cooked with onions, garlic tomatoes...) becomes a Peruvian Aji with the local ingredients.
BB: What are your future plans in Barcelona?
GA: Opening a Cevicheria on the beach side. We would serve pisco sour, ceviche using the local fish, experimenting with the excellent blue fish we have here.
