PERU NEWS

After a huge success in Madrid with his restaurant 'Astrid & Gaston', Peruvian chef Gaston Acurio is looking forward to setting up his trademark in one of the most exciting and cosmopolitan cities in the world: London. In this conversation, he analyzes the historical evolution of the Peruvian gastronomy in the worldwide cuisine scenario, and speaks of his future projects.

Peru News: There is a boom in Peruvian cuisine. In which stage of the process of consolidating a name internationally would you say our cuisine is?

Gaston Acurio: We could divide Peruvian cuisine in five stages. The first lasted about 5000 years when different Peruvian cultures waved a whole wide agricultural net that resulted in 50% of the world's food produced nowadays: potatoes, maize, tubers, grains, and so on. The second stage began with the arrival of the Spaniards, when the first encounter of two different cultures took place. The result is up to this date the basis of the great majority of Peruvian dishes, such as 'ceviche' when Peruvian fish and chilli were put together with lime and onion brought from Europe. This stage of fusion lasted approximately 500 years and that was influenced by all the other societies that had been started to settle in Peru: Italians, Chinese, Japanese, Africans, etc. The third stage started in the 1980s with a process of revaluating what was ours. Then Peruvian chefs begun to show the goodness of a cuisine that we never imagined could compete with the European one. Luckily, the chefs of my generation did what they had to do when returning to Peru: convince Peruvians that our gastronomy had no comparison. We call this stage of the final conquest of Peruvian hearts. We have finally achieved to make each Peruvian feel proud of their cuisine. The fourth stage, the present one, is that of internationalization when Peruvian chefs have the same feeling about our gastronomy and as a consequence, they pour onto it all that is necessary to make it a more competitive one; we have turned it into a beautiful and expensive product called 'Peruvian cuisine' and now, we are ready to conquer the world with it. When this conquest takes place, we would have finally arrived to the fifth and last stage, which considers two fronts: the international success will contribute to positioning Peru as a better worldwide trademark, thus generating important benefits. Thanks to this leadership, the new gastronomic ideas will emanate from our country and will lead the tendencies in the world.

PN: Even though a phenomenon of expansion has taken place in the last years, with more and better Peruvian restaurants being established in the world, this still seems to be a slow process. What is missing to define a real international launch of Peruvian cuisine?

GA: One of the factors is the lack of own capital. We are a rich country that is still to exploit its capacities. Another factor is that we have to get these wonderful Peruvian restaurants to aim for the same target as we do. That is incorporating an entrepreneurial culture within them that will make foreign capital to approach them with the same restlessness with they come to us. It is necessary to understand that in order to be successful; there is more to it than just the taste of their dishes.

PN: You have opened many restaurants in some of the main American cities, and you chose Madrid as your door to Europe. How is this first experience in the old continent going?

GA: We are doing better than expected in Spain. We are aware that there are many aspects to be improved in order to be more competitive. We must remember that we came with an extremely weakened country trademark; therefore, the public can sometimes be implacable with any mistake we could make. We came to Europe to do something more than just open restaurants. Our job is to make Peruvian cuisine a worldwide tendency of consumption, and we will do our best to achieve this.

PN: What opportunities does this growth in the world's offer of Peruvian restaurants open for exportation of our products and for investment?

GA: Provided we execute this stage properly, and Peruvian restaurants show their best and are successful, the more massive concepts will be successful too. Sandwiches, 'papas rellenas' (filled potatoes), 'anticuchos' (cow's heart screwers), 'chifas' (Chinese-Peruvian cuisine), grilled chickens; all are concepts that can be popular and spread worldwide.

PN: The United Nations declared 2008 as the International Year of the Potato, thus recognising its significance in world's nourishment. In which way do you think we can use this homage to make this product be identified, at international level, as a concept of 'Peruvian trademark'?

GA: This is something very difficult to do. I believe this is more an internal matter. The only ugly side on the history of the potato is still in Peru. After 500 years, the world has created a huge industry around the potato, which has generated immense wealth. Nonetheless, the 'inventor' of the potato is the only one not seeing any benefits: the peasant from the high Andes is now in the same situation of poverty as he was before. This is a task that Peruvian themselves do not know how to solve. I think more than taking advantage of the year of the potato, we must show the world that we have decided to face this problem, and one way to do it is by opening new markets for our native potatoes through Peruvian gastronomy. That is what we are doing.

PN: At international level, what are the next plans you have to open new places? Are you working on a project for the UK?

GA: We hope to be able to open in London this year. We are looking for a place that will be the most appropriate to introduce our Peruvian cevicheria(1) 'La Mar'(2) in Europe.

Interviewed by Peru News.

(1) A 'cevicheria' is a typical Peruvian restaurant where the main dish served is 'ceviche'. The ceviche is based on freshly-caught fish, marinated in seconds with the sour green lemon brought from Peru's northern fruit groves, and spiced with Peruvian 'ají' (chilli pepper), a pinch of salt, and thinly sliced onion. It is often garnished with ingredients such as boiled purple sweet potato and kernels of sweet corn, which help to counter the sting of the ají and the lemon. Fish ceviches can often be blended with, or substituted by, shellfish, with surprisingly good results. Although there are some variations on the theme to be found abroad, it is common knowledge that the Peruvian ceviche is simply unbeatable. There is no doubt that this dish is the star of the local cuisine and has been the trailblazer in making Peru's cooking famous the world over.
(2) http://www.aracari.com/aracariperu/cuisine/la_mar.shtml