... for Jenny.
A team member from Peru just gave Chef K an amazing book focused on the foods of Peru. I feel obligated to re-mention Peruvian cuisine periodically because it can really explode in the near future. It is the cleanest and more logically structured of all the cuisines of Central and South America. Although I do not know the true history of it, I like to think it is because of the strong Asian influence that affects it. It is a perfect fusion of Latin and Asian cuisine. They also represented at Madrid Fusion 2006.
I mentioned 'The Art of Peruvian Cuisine' by Tony Custer before. This book is much more detailed. It's bigger and better and more beautiful. The release of the book was April 2007, but it's outside the radar of books that we see popping up on our frequented websites and catalogs. Prom Peru is government's tourism board and had done an excellent job putting it together. It comes in a hard jacket similar to the El Bulli books. Explanations are in Spanish and English giving it the potential to explode as an international culinary must-have.
Traditional recipes with clean modern presentations. Many of these dishes are not altered or modernized. They focus on the traditional components.
So, if you are looking for something new and different with a lot of simple appeal, check out Peruvian cuisine. With over a thousand varieties of potatoes in use with interesting preparations and giving birth to such international ingredients such as the tomato, Peru is worth a glance. Nobu has roots there. There are also many great Peruvian national chefs in the book contributing recipes and comments. Gaston Acurio and Toshiro Konishi (who is also affiliated with the Umami Information Center) are represented.
Strangely though, for all of the links above I cannot find a website that allows you to buy the book. So where to get it? It seems that the Tourism Board of Peru would take interest in making this book internationally available, but it does not seem so easily accessible at the moment. That's a shame because I want a copy for myself. I cannot even find the price.