Tierra Unica is a destination blogsite focusing on world travel, entertainment, cuisine, news, popular culture, sports, business, technology, humor, and events from around the world with an emphasis on the USA and South America (Peru, Argentina, Brazil, etc).
Next week is Peru's Independence Day on Wednesday, July 28, 2010. And the best way to celebrate Peru's birthday is with a bottle of Pisco. Pisco is a term from the main native language of Peru Quechua: pisqu, which means little bird.
Developed by Spanish settlers in the sixteenth century, as a cheaper alternative to imported Orujo from Spain, it takes its name from the conical pottery in which it was
originally aged, which was also the name of one of the sites where it
was produced: Pisco, in the Viceroyalty of Peru. The first vineyards were planted in the coastal valleys in the Viceroyalty. Even though Spain imposed many restrictions on wine production and commerce, the wine-making industry developed rapidly, such as in the Corregimiento of Ica.
Cooking Up Dreams (Trailer) - Ollas y Sueños: This excellent documentary about the Peruvian Cuisine movement and the hottest food trend world-wide over the last few years was released last Fall in Lima, Peru. It will premierefor the first time in the U.S. this weekend in New
York, Chicago, Texas and Toronto. This movie is about the 500 years of cultural mixture or miscegenation (not fusion) of Peru with respect to it's rich gastronomical history, culture, migration, and it's various foods and cuisines within the country and abroad.
San Francisco Chronicle's SF Gatequote - "NO CON-FUSION HERE: "The very first place there was
fusion cuisine was Peru." -- Chef Patricio Gaston Herrera, relating
how New World and Old World cuisines melded nearly 500 years ago with
arrival of "invaders" -- the Spanish."
The premiere will take place on
Saturday April 17, 2010 at the Havana Film Festival in Manhattan, New York,
an important showcase for Latin American cinema. I've seen this
excellent film about Peru & Peruvian Cuisine. It is a must see!!!!
Details of Cooking Up Dreams (Trailer) - Ollas y Sueños:
Feature Documentary: "Cooking Up Dreams"
Original title: De Ollas y Sueños
Directed by: Ernesto Cabellos
Produced by: Televisión América Latina (TAL) and Guarango Association
Format: HDV 1080i60
Release date: August 2009 (Lima, Peru)
Images of Peruvian Cuisine and the international & domestic chefs in the documentary:
"Mesa de Chefs" (The Chefs Table)
Picture of Teresa Izquierdo (Afro-Criollo Peruvian Cuisine), Gaston Acurio (Haute-Peruvian Cuisine), and Hector Solis (traditional Criollo Peruvian Cuisine).
Bernardo Roca Rey - restaurateur, local newspaper owner, and one of the founders of the "Novo Andino" (New Andean) cuisine movement in Peru and abroad dating back to the early-1980s.
Peru is the birthplace of the potato. The Ancient Peruvians (pre-Inca civilizations) cultivated and domesticated the potato almost 10,000 years ago. Of the roughly 4,500 varieties of potatoeson Earth, 3,000 are indigenous to Peru.
Ernesto Cabello - Peruvian film director of Ollays y Sueños (Cooking Up Dreams)
Johnny Schuler - Pisco (Peruvian Brandy) ambassador, President of the Peruvian Pisco Association, TV personality, Pisco entrepreneur, and big investor of the U.S. Pisco market.
In Peru, there are hundreds of variety of "Choclo" (Peruvian corn).
The world famous "Choclo Blanco Gigante de Cuzco" (giant Peruvian white corn of Cusco). The delicious "Choclo Cusco" is the biggest corn in the world, they grow abundantly around the Valley of the Incas.
Top celebrity chefs leading the Peruvian Cuisine world conquest movement - Peru's Toshiro Konishi (Peruvian-Japanese Mixed Cuisine called "Nikkei"), Spain's Juan Mari Arzak (haute Spanish-Basque Cuisine), and Peru's Gaston Acurio.
Peru's Gaston Acurio- The #1 celebrity chef in all Latin America, owner of La Mar Cebicheria Peruana, Astrid y Gaston, & Tanta restaurant brand, TV personality, and leader of the Peruvian Cuisine movement world-wide.
Ferran Adria(haute Spanish Molecular Cuisine) - The #1 celebrity chef in the world, owner of Bulli (highest Michelin rated restaurant in the world), and now follower of Peru's Gaston Acurioand Pedro Miguel Schiaffino.
Pedro Miguel Schiaffino - Leader of Peru's haute Amazonian Cuisine movement, chef professor, and owner of Malabar in San Isidro, Peru (Food & Wine Magazine's 4th best bar in the world).
Here is part 2 in Castelliano (Castillian Spanish) of this impressive video called "El Pisco Patrimonio Cultural Del Peru - Parte 2" (Peru's Pisco Cultural Heritage).
There is a short interview with restaurateur, Peruvian media mogul, publisher, hotelier, and #1 Latin American celebrity chef Gaston Acurio in Lima, Peru. Gaston is the owner of the five star Astrid y Gaston, La Mar Cebicheria Peruana, Tanta, and other top Peruvian brand restaurants. He currently owns 40+ upscale Peruvian restaurants around the world. He also owns the Mistura Peruvian Cuisine Expo, the largest cuisine expo in all Latin America.
Also in the video is Pedro Schiaffino, one of Peru's top young chefs and the owner ofMalabar in San Isidro, Peru. According to this month's Food & Wine Magazine here in the United States, Malabar is the 4th best lounge & bar in the world!
According to Food & Wine Magazine - "the Peruvian Pisco Sour is the most elegant of Latin American drinks. Far superior and more refined than the Cuban Mojito, the Brazilian Caipirinha, and the Californian Margarita. Pisco Sour made with Pisco Peruano and the Limon Peruano, the best lime in the world, has no rival."
The one and only "Coca Sour Peruano" - the mind boggling & sheer ecstasy inducing drink from the ancient Incas the Peruvian Coca Sour made of coca leaves (the raw leaves that is used to make cocaine)!!! This is pure coca leaves not extract or coca infused Pisco.
Picture of the truly unique "Coca Pisco Peruano" at an upscale restaurant in Miraflores, Peru. This drink is illegal in the Unites States and in most countries around the world. But in San Francisco I know a top Peruvian restaurant that serves a Coca infused Pisco Sour! It is much diluted, so it not the same thing. But it is the closes thing you can get to being in Peru.
Just released yesterday Friday, Feb 5, 2010 in Castellano (Castillian Spanish) by Peru's government cultural and tourism bureau is this magnificent video called "El Pisco Patrimonio Cultural Del Peru - Parte 1" (Peru's Pisco Cultural Heritage- Part 1).
An impressive display of 30+ different types of Peruvian Piscos at a 5 star lounge in San Isidro (outside of Lima), Peru!
Machu Picchu (Old Peak) is a pre-Columbian Inca site located 2,430 metres (8,000 ft) above sea level. It is situated on a mountain ridge above the Urubamba Valley in Peru, which is 80 kilometres northwest of Cuzco and through which the Urubamba River flows. Often referred to as "The Lost City of the Incas", Machu Picchu is one of the most familiar symbols of the Inca Empire.
The llama's are the only residents left in Machu Picchu (the lost city).
