A home-cooked arroz chaufa or lomo saltado immediately reminds me of my childhood as my mother attempted to replicate the meals of her youth. These dishes never seemed to leave my dining room; yet, I recently have seen them spring up in almost every corner of my city. Peruvian restaurants have opened in almost every part of Miami, offering a taste of my family’s home-cooked meals to all. At first, it seemed exciting to see others try typical foods from my culture, but soon enough I grew uneasy with the fact that my mom’s generation-old recipes were now deemed as chic and trendy. 

Throughout South America, Peruvian cuisine has always stood out. Its unique take on cooking with seafood off the Pacific coast and working with underground ovens Inca-style, called pachamancas, allowed Peruvian cuisine to really set itself apart from all other Latin American foods. Additionally, heavy Chinese and Japanese influence after mass migration waves during the early twentieth century developed a new cuisine fusion called chifa. Today, in the U.S., this fusion has taken a completely different meaning. My comfort meals now live on menus and people’s social media pages as they post their “chic” weekend dinners. 

Nonetheless, it is interesting to taste people’s interpretations of my culture’s traditional dishes. My family and I make an attempt to try the new Peruvian restaurants that open up in Miami and compare the flavors to the one’s back home. As the daughter of a Peruvian, I have determined that the most authentic Peruvian restaurants in Miami include: El Chalan, Aromas del Peru and Dr. Limón. These restaurants remain true to the original recipes while defining their own unique taste. The perfect combination of generations-old recipes with a modern fashionable twist. 

Peruvian cuisine deserves its newfound fame for its originality and unparalleled flavor. Go out and support your local Peruvian restaurants!