Peru Festivals
Mistura Culinary Festival By:Cooper White
Time and Place
This festival takes place in Lima during the first two weeks of September.
Why is this Festival Held?
In 2006 Lima was pronounced the culinary capital of South America, and since then Lima has done a great job of proving it. The Mistura Culinary Festival is the largest festival in South America, which is why the culinary capital of South America hold this festival. Starting in the 1980's there was a terrorist group called Shining Path that was bombing and beheading people around Peru. In 2000 Peru got a new president and the president started to fix things. Still today there are issues from the terrorist group like poverty and such. So a group of people decided to start this festival and try to help heal with food.
What kinds of people and how many go?
This festival attracts people from all over the world. In the first year of this festival about 30,000 people attended, last years festival had over 600,000 people attended. They think so many people showed up because there were some coast chefs that were making a type of fish most people have never tried.
What traditions, games, activities, etc. take place during this festival?
During this festival Peruvian restaurants and chefs from around the would come together to celebrate. Families come to this event and they pay for a ticket, then they pay for a plate of food. There are many choices of food, and each one is unique. This event has changed from just trying foods, to having concerts, dances, and parades throughout the event.
Music
There is folclor, childrens choir, and cajon music that is preformed at this event. All music is preformed live either on stage or people playing music in the parades.
Food
The original reason this event was started was for the country to make money, and give people a chance to try Peruvian foods. Today, this event has grown to where people from all around the world that make Peruvian dishes are able to come let people try their version of the food. The food ranges from seafood, to guinea pigs, to home grown vegetables. Most foods from the smaller stands are original Peruvian recipes that have been passed down for generations. There are also stands that sell hundreds of different types of bread.
Mistura Peru - The Power of Food