The Mistura Festival in Peru

A country on the west coast of Latin America, a rich culture and diverse gastronomy; Peru amazes everyone with its dishes. To let everyone enjoy these dishes, Peru has the world-famous and largest culinary festival in Latin America: the Mistura Festival! With the most traditional and all new Peruvian dishes prepared in all kinds of ways, Mistura is a festival that you really must have experienced once to understand its atmosphere. Besides the food, you can also enjoy traditional dance performances that will show you the real Peru.

Peruvian Cuisine

On the west coast of cultural Latin America lies the Spanish-speaking country of Peru. Peru is the land of abandoned Inca cities and spectacular biodiversity, as well as unique and varied cuisine. Peruvian cuisine is a mix of Indian, Spanish and African cuisine, complemented by the best of Asian cuisine. The country is known for its varied cuisine as it consists of as many as 491 dishes. One of the most popular dishes of Peruvian cuisine is ceviche, a dish that consists of a raw fish dish where a variety of fish can be used. The fish is marinated with sour orange, lime or lemon and onions and peppers are added. The fish dish is often eaten with a rich salada, corn, avocado and potatoes. Another popular and traditional dish is ocopa, consisting of potatoes topped with a sauce of green peppers, herbs and cheese. Almost every dish is eaten with potatoes and a drink. The drink can range from the commonly consumed pilsner beer to a popular drink of Peru: Inca Kola. This yellow-colored soft drink with a little pungency is made from lemongrass and chamomile and tastes like bubble gum.

To celebrate the culinary tradition and allow everyone to enjoy what Peru has to offer, a festival is organized every year that today already attracts half a million people from all over the world. The festival is called Mistura and is held in Peru's capital city of Lima. In Spanish, it is also called La Feria Gastronómica Internacional de Lima. In 2008, Peruvian cuisine was first shared with the world in this special way and 23,000 people were able to enjoy Peru's flavorful and varied food. The festival lasts an average of 10 days, but this varies from year to year. Peru is very proud of its Mistura and rightly so, as the Mistura is the largest culinary festival in Latin America and culturally very important to Peruvians. The increase in the number of visitors in 5 years has meant that the number of restaurants has also increased, especially in Lima.

The festival has a theme every year, September 2013's theme was "water," where the best chefs went wild on all the fish and made amazing dishes out of them. In addition, the Mistura is divided into different worlds: north, south, east, Andes and the Amazon. There are also sections that focus specifically on certain dishes, such as popular Peruvian dishes like ceviche, quinua and anticucho. The Mistura festival brings everyone together; bakers, cooks, waiters, cooking schools, restaurants, food vendors and all cooking enthusiasts. Everyone engages in the delicious food found in Lima for 10 days. Although the food is the most important part of the Mistura, attention is also paid to traditional dance performances. Peru's cultural, culinary Mistura festival can be found every year in Lima and will be even more elaborate and better each year.