MEMORY OF THE FIRST MEAL IN LIMA PERU JANUARY 1978

Another memory of my early days in Peru. I was born and raised in Alberta, Canada. At the time of my arrival in Peru, I had not been “anywhere” outside of a short summer visit to the Seattle World’s Fair when I was young. Food in the days of my youth in Alberta was very predictable. Meat, potatoes and a green vegetable was the norm. Sometimes my mom would mix it up and we would get potatoes, a yellow vegetable and then meat. During my childhood, rice was only ever served as a desert. Serving lamb or sheep was blasphemy.

So on arrival in Peru I had very limited range to my food experience. Well one of my earliest memories of Peru, was sitting in the restaurant of the Bolivar Hotel in Lima Peru. I had been starving in my room and had ventured down to see if I could find something to eat. I entered what looked like a restaurant and the waiter, assuming I was there to eat handed me a menu. It may as well have been in Mongol. I had no idea what it said.

However, I did recognize a word “papa” that I thought might be similar to the French word for potato. I took a shot and pointed to this item. Almost immediately, I was presented a plate with two potato halves on it, covered in a thick yellow, rich looking sauce, garnished with a half egg, and an olive split in two. Well I thought ‘looks like something I could eat”. I chopped off a big slice of that potato covered in sauce and threw it into my mouth.

Bells went off, sirens blared and angels danced in front of my eyes. I had just tasted the most exotic thing that I had ever eaten. It was a combination of spice, fresh cheese, nuts, and other exotic flavours mixed together in a dreamlike sauce. This delightful offering changed my world of food forever, and my food range was now boundless. I will remember that first taste of Peru forever.