Stories: Stories

As have continuously touted the merits of Peru's culinary treasures and are thrilled to see the Financial Times echo are sentiments! Aracari's very own Marisol Mosquera is quoted in below article. **** After Machu Picchu, try Lima's tacu tacu By Naomi Mapstone Published: November 7 2008 19:50 | Last updated: November 7 2008 19:50 It's lunchtime at El Rincón que no Conoces, one of Lima's best criollo restaurants, and the restaurant floor is packed. Diners, eyes glinting with anticipation, sip on chicha morada, a juice made from purple corn, quince, cinnamon and cloves, and watch great steaming plates pass by. There is tacu tacu (refried beans and rice), carapulco con cerdo (dried potato stew with pork) and pickled pigs feet. The buzz of conversation stills for a moment as an elderly woman dressed in a long purple robe steps into the room from the kitchen. The robe marks Teresa Izquierdo out as a devout Christian (who, like many others in Lima) wears purple for a month each year to venerate the Lord of Miracles, a mural painted by a slave on to the only wall of a church to survive a devastating earthquake in the 17th century. Izquierdo opened this restaurant 31 years ago, calling it 'the corner that nobody knows' because it was her first venture as a cook beyond the homes of Peru's elite families. Now in her 70s, Izquierdo has been cooking since she was eight, and she is renowned for her faithful and painstaking approach to cooking the criollo cuisine developed by African slaves brought to Peru by the Spanish conquistadores from the 16th century until the abolition of slavery in 1856. "My mother wanted me to be a midwife," Izquierdo says, laughing. "She said there would always be work." Seeing a child born put an