Offering a Restaurant on the Plaza

By David Knowlton and Walter Coraza Morveli

Strolling at night under the colonnaded arcades that line Cuzco’s main square can be very romantic. The yellowish lights seem to rise from the plaza to become stars in the sky. As a result, the Plaza seems a perfect place for a stroll arm and arm with your companion just to celebrate in a beautiful place that you are together and alive. However, that joy is blocked at every step when someone comes up and demands your attention while offering you a restaurant,  massage, or tourist information. These people are called jaladores [hall-ah-dóor-ehss] and are part of the culture of Cuzco. Read the rest of this entry

Fresh Ceviche with Shell Fish

By David Knowlton

What can be simpler than fresh fish, or other sea food, in lime juice. Yet, when well done, it is so much more than the sum of the ingredients. It becomes an experience in texture and a synergy of taste that is so much greater than the sum of the dish’s parts. This is ceviche, or cebiche, the classic dish of coastal Perú, which is celebrated today. Read the rest of this entry

Tumbo among the branches

By Hebert Edgardo Huamani Jara (translation by David Knowlton)

A refreshing burst to slake thirst in the dry season when the sun can beat relentlessly and make Cuzco’s streets surprisingly hot is Cuzco’s tumbo. It hangs from vines growing over walls and up trees in the city and especially in the higher zones of Cuzco’s northeastern zone. Read the rest of this entry

Duck Ceviche

By David Knowlton

After a hard day of work, his brow showing a faint shine from nerves, Chef Alberto Coraza Taco set the first of his plates on a white lace cloth in a restaurant that will soon open, called El Ají Panca. This was the iron test. Although very young, he had designed the menu of creole dishes to fit both the desires of the restaurant’s owners and his own exacting requirements. This evening, a few invited guests would get to try his efforts and give him feedback. Read the rest of this entry

Cuzco's Flag Flying

Today is Cuzco’s Day, the culmination of a month of festivities and its celebration of self with the massive Inti Raymi pageant drawn from the writings of Garcilaso Inca de la Vega.   Cuzco Eats wishes to join the celebration in a salute to the city of passion and tradition.  To honor the city and region we publish here a translation of the important poem “Song to Cuzco and its Holy Stones” by Cuzco’s native son el Cholo Nieto (Luís Nieto Miranda). Read the rest of this entry

Brayan Coraza Playing His Drum

By Brayan Coraza Morveli (translated by David Knowlton)

Intirraymi is the largest fiesta held in Cuzco and it is carried out every 24th of June.  Not only do large numbers of the residents of Cuzco participate in Intiraymi, they also attend the event.  People from other parts of Peru as well as other countries also come in large numbers to enjoy the performance’s enchantment. Read the rest of this entry

Big Sky over the Plaza de Armas

By Walter Coraza Morveli (translated by David Knowlton)

A green and leafy space with flowing water that opens among orange tile roofs, Cuzco’s Plaza de Armas provides an attractive refuge at the same time it is the most important place in the city. If Cuzco is the navel of the earth, the Plaza is where much of its nourishing energy is created as Cuzco’s people and people of many cultures come together. Read the rest of this entry

La China Menu

By David Knowlton

Overestimating one’s abilities is so common. In fact the ancient Greeks had a word for it, hubris. Nevertheless it is tragic when one finds a restaurant with charm and promise that yet falls into this trap. Such a place, unfortunately, is La China restaurant which promises fine Peruvian Chinese food and yet does not make the mark despite its evident charms. Read the rest of this entry

K'atqa Carnival

By Hebert Edgardo Huamani Jara (translated by David Knowlton)

During this jubilee month, Cuzco’s Plaza de Armas once again is the stage for parades, feasts, and dances, all of them filled with allegories. One of these activities is the “pasacalle” or “going through the street” of the Gran Unidad Escolar Inca Garcilaso de la Vega, the Great Educational Unit Garcilaso Inca de la Vega, one of Cuzco’s largest and most important public schools. Read the rest of this entry

Coconut and Sugar Cane for Sale in Cuzco

By Hebert Edgardo Huamani Jara (translated by David Knowlton)

Cuzco’s month of celebration began. under an intense son. In that bright light and heat nothing is better to calm, refresh, and sweeten the season, than the epoch’s traditional sugar cane and its faithful companion coconut.

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