frieze: Postcard from Lima

"Guzmán’s capture and the economic recovery set the table for Acurio to serve the meal. But Acurio didn’t just serve dinner; gastronomy emerged a dominant force because absent a thriving arts climate, it gave Peruvians a contemporary cultural product that became a source of national pride around which people could gather regardless of politics.​"

Fatima Rodrigo, 'Otras Tardes', Installation view, Garúa, Photo courtesy Garúa, Photo: Pablo Hare

As soon as we had landed in Lima, the city was abuzz with talk about the fair. There were arguments over which was this year’s best stand; complaints about crowds and entrance fees; and scandal sparked by a critic’s declaration, in El País, that the whole affaire was ‘over’.

This was not an art fair but Mistura, the largest culinary festival in Latin America which annually attracts nearly 400,000 visitors to sample regional and haute Andean cuisine. In general, Peru is deeply divided by class, race and other legacies of colonialism, but the kitchen is a space where these differences can be bridged. The fusion that characterizes Peruvian food is a source of national pride.

Artists are usually the chief purveyors of radical idealism, but in Peruvian popular culture, chefs occupy that role. The worldwide escalating trendiness of foodie culture, growth of gastro-diplomacy and increasing importance of food politics in the face of climate change has all helped to contribute to their status. Writer Adam Gopnik’s assertion that, ‘mouth taste inevitably becomes moral taste,’ holds true in an overtly political sense: Peruvian chefs also enjoy an unparalleled degree of political clout. The most notable of these figures is celebrity chef Gastón Acurio, the founder of Mistura whom many believe to harbour presidential ambitions.

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