The Instituto de Cocina Pachacútec is culinary program that subsidizes 80% of the tuition for young Peruvian students. The Pachacútec school has four cohorts of 22 students each. Each cohort has a 1,000 applicants but the program can only fund 22 per cohort. The program is partly supported by the Gaston Acurio culinary enterprise. Chefs from…
Cusco is one of the most beautiful cities in the world and no wonder it was declared a national heritage site. Even flying there is amazing – the plane seems so close to the Andean mountains, it seems like you can almost touch them.
Over the past few years, I have volunteered to work with indigenous women in Mexico, Peru, Belize, Guatemala, and Panama. My goal was to teach women to make chocolate and chocolate desserts so they could in turn start micro-businesses to help support their families. Time and again I found myself in villages that had two…
These warm, sweet, chocolate tamales will be your new favorite tamale. If there is one thing I remember eating my entire life it’s chocolate and tamales, but separately. Tamales and chocolate are the most iconic foods of the Pre-Columbia era and you can still find them savory or sweet all throughout the Americas. They might…
Raspados are shaved ice with sweet fruit syrups found in all of Mexico. These are found in other countries as well but under different names – piraguas, granizados, raspadinha and Hawaiian shaved ice. They all begin by shaving blocks of ice and then pouring a sweet fruit syrup on top. They are incredibly refreshing, easy…
Churros are a favorite of all Latin America countries but churros are not the only fried doughs that exist. In Peru I found the most variety of fried sweet doughs of any country I have ever travelled to. Which makes sense since Peru claims to have the most variety of everything; corn, potatoes, fish, passion…
When I grow up I will open a chocolate museum. For now I like to visit other museums around the globe.
Arroz con leche is rice cooked in sugar and milk or water. It is made and loved in every Latin American country, but depending on where you are, it can be served hot or cold, made with condensed milk, fresh milk, powdered milk, or water. It can have a variety of spices and be made…
Tomatillo is a small green fruit that is native to Mexico and is always used as a savory ingredient, mostly in salsas to accompany chicken or beef dishes. Although it is edible fresh, it is always consumed cooked, usually blended with jalapeños and cilantro. This fruit is different than the cape gooseberry which is native…
Quinoa arroz con leche is a combination of my love for rice pudding and my desire to be healthier. At first I wanted to make a 100% healthy arroz con leche. But it was so bad. My first attempt was quinoa, almond milk, bananas (this was my sweetener), and cinnamon. It was just bad. I…