There isn’t now a cooking which is more fusion than South American one, beginning from its centuries old traditions it has enriched during time because of the many dominations from foreign populations, which in turn were already mixed with different cultures.
In particular, Peruvian cooking is one of the richest ones in whole South America and it absolutely keeps up with the best European cooking traditions such as French, Italian and Spanish ones. Right from this last one, Peruvian cooking was inspired smartly mixing Inca, colonial and republican traditions.
Peru is a complex and varied country from a climatic and natural point of view. Landscapes go from some of the highest mountains in the world, as Andes, to the Pacific coast, passing through the hot and humid inlands crossed by the rivers that create the Amazon River. With all the difficulties that afflict this country everyday, Peru resists with its ancient traditions, history, the strong emotions, never-ending landscapes, that sense of community typical of Latin America and most of all the taste.
Peru expresses its soul in cooking: a sequence of colors and flavors from every part of the world, sometimes strong, others extremely delicate. A union between the simplicity of ingredients and the complexity of combinations.
One of the peruvian dishes that better express the fusion soul of the country is the escabeche, a type of preparation coming from ancient Persia, reshaped by Spanish people and then imported in many South American countries. Basically it is a marinating for seafood or chicken, with vinegar, oil, pepper, chili, wine and bay leaves.
Peruvian Escabeche is prepared macerating vinegar with onions, chili and hierba buena. Then you deep fry in cooking oil the seafood and you put it together with the marinated sauce, decorating it with boiled eggs, sweet potatoes and corn. The escabeche is a national dish, but it is consumed most of all in the eastern part of the country.
Italy:
Also in Italy, as in many other countries of Mediterranean area, escabeche is a typical cooking preparation, better known as the Scapece. In particular, this kind of marinating well applies to seafood and it is typical in Sardegna region “Su Scabecciu”, in Sicilia with red tuna, in Liguria with anchovies and surmullets, in Puglia with bread and saffron, in Molise with octopus and rays, finally in Abruzzo with just a little bit of saffron.