Peru on a Plate: coloniality and modernity in Peru’s high-end cuisine

Abstract

As global dining culture turns increasingly homogeneous, there is a parallel interest in reconnecting with locality. Two global food movements codify this return to the local: the Slow Food and New Nordic Cuisine movements, both European in origin. I explore the characteristically modernist global-local ambivalence in the work of Virgilio Martinez, Peru’s most highly awarded chef, whose project of bringing together a culturally rooted Peruvian cuisine appears closely aligned to the New Nordic Cuisine movement. Drawing on a decolonial framework, I argue that Martinez’s desire to connect with Peru’s ancestral cultural roots, not uncommon amongst upper-class Peruvian chefs, is hindered by an epistemic divide dating back to colonial times. Further vestiges of colonial history are also present in Martinez’s taxonomic search for new ingredients and the visual focus of his aesthetic, both reminiscent of the Spanish botanical expeditions of the late 18th century. Martinez’s latest project, Mil Centro, a restaurant and research centre located in an Inca archaeological site, offers new possibilities. The participatory involvement of neighbouring Quechua-speaking communities could signal new openings.