Peru Food: Video: Gaston Acurio Discusses Rescuing Lima's Traditional Street Food

Wednesday, November 01, 2006

Video: Gaston Acurio Discusses Rescuing Lima's Traditional Street Food

The Panamanian chef, Elena Hernández, was recently in Caracas for the V Salon Internacional de la Gastronomía. She loves Peruvian food, and is a great admirer of chef Gastón Acurio. At her blog, El Amor Por La Cocina, Elena reviews the event in Spanish and posts loads of pictures.

During her visit to Caracas, Elena was able to speak briefly with Gastón before he presented his new project: rescuing Lima's traditional street food. She posted a video of her conversation in Spanish with Gastón.

Here is my rough translation of what Gastón discusses, with many thanks to Elena for letting me use her video.

As the video begins, Gastón is graciously explaining to one of the visiting chefs about a type of tool or technique. This part of the video is hard to understand.

Then we hear Elena ask: What are you going to discuss today?

GA: Today, I am going to speak about a project that seeks to rescue the traditional street food that existed in Lima for centuries. Sadly, this has been lost due to the massive influence of foreign fast food, especially American. What we are seeking is for both culinary proposals to be able to coexist in harmony; but, in particular, giving this traditional type of food the value it deserves, especially in a city like Lima. Cities require public arenas and elements unique to them. For example, just like the crepe you find in Paris, the hot dog you can get in New York, or the arepa you should be able to find in the streets of Caracas, Lima has many foods unique to it and they should form part of the streetscape of the city. That's what I'll be talking about.

Elena Hernandez: Will you send a greeting to the people of Panama, since you're going to open a restaurant there soon?

GA: Yes, we're on our way! We hope you like ceviche and tiradito!