The Lima Peru LDS Temple Mission: Ceviche or Cebiche...

January 30th 2012 -- Update We are in the north of Peru in the Lambayeque region and for lunch I ordered cebiche as an appetizer. The name of the restaurant is El Cantaro. It has won numbers of nationwide awards in Peru and highly recommended by locals. The main course was cabrito with rice and beans and also very good. The cebiche came with camote, a deep fried corn fritter, along with yuca, and the standard choclo. We have depended on our friend Walter to deliver us to a number of archaeological sites in Trujillo and now Chiclayo. He is also great at finding restaurants and recommending dishes to order. Cebiche for me has been something of an acquired taste. In the 16 months we have been in Peru I have come to appreciate and enjoy it more, especially when we have ordered it in the north of Peru.

Cebiche from El Cantaro in Lambayeque Peru. Maybe the best I have

experienced in Peru.

Yesterday we tried another new restaurant in our neighborhood recommended to us in a round about way by a North American formerly associated with the temple. The place is called Puerto Mancora and they serve seafood. Mancora is also a surfing and fishing village to the north of Peru and close to the border with Ecuador. It is known for very good cebiche. The food at our restaurant was excellent. I had a platter of cebiche from fresh grouper marinated with lime/lemon, along with onions, hot peppers and other, unknown to me, ingredients. Cebiche is to Peruvian cuisine as sushi is to Japanese. Not surprisingly several Japanese chefs here have modified Peruvian cebiche to Japanese tastes here in Lima and elsewhere. This dish is enjoyed with some enthusiasm by almost every Peruvian, especially my friends in the temple. I am working on developing a greater appreciation for it. I also drank the accompanying marinade known affectionately as "la leche de tigre" or "la leche de pantera," meaning the 'milk of the tiger' or 'the panther.' Their chicha morada or purple corn drink was as good as any I have enjoyed at any restaurant here. I had two large glasses.

Cebiche is enjoyed with corn, avocado, and sweet potatoes

The active ingredient, in this largely citrus based marinade, is citric acid and acts to neutralize the fishy smell of amines in the fish by converting them into ammonium salts. The lemon served with fish at many restaurants is not just for taste but to often conceal less than a fresh catch. The marinade aside from neutralizing "fishy"smells breaks down the collagen of the protein and the fish turns from its normal translucent sushi appearance to a "cooked" white appearance. The marinade and the fish need to be kept cool for several hours while this process occurs. It is served cold and since no cooking has happened it can contain bacteria and micro organisms not affected by the exposure to the acid based marinade. A chlolera outbreak in Peru was traced to infected fish or fish handlers back in the '90's, so some caution has to be exercised in selecting carefully either the fish or the restaurant where you will enjoy this dish.

The origins of cebiche or ceviche are in dispute. Historians and archaeologists here have suggested there is evidence that a pre-Incan culture known as the Moche (100 AD to 800 AD), had recipes for this fish cooked without heat in a marinade at least 2000 years ago, though it is thought Christopher Columbus, along with death, disease, and destruction, brought citrus seeds to the new world to Hispanola. Another theory suggests cebiche came with the Spaniards from the Moorish women who accompanied the conquistadores. The Muslim Moors were Arabs who at one time ruled and had predominant cultural and political influence on the Iberian Peninsula for five centuries. Even the entomology of the word cebiche is conflicted as both Quechua, the native Inca language and Arabic have cognates. Due to the Arab domination of the peninsula there are many Arabic words incorporated into Spanish. Among them are the words for sugar 'azucar' and olive oil 'aceite.' We just had municipal elections in Lima for a new mayor. He is known as the 'alcalde.' This is from the Arabic 'al-qadi', meaning the judge.

Moche Portrait sculture in a pitcher

In any case Lima Peru is the predominant area for cebiche, though it is found in the Caribbean, Mexico and throughout all of South America. Not unusual given the four centuries for which the Spaniards largely controlled the continent from the Viceroyalty of Peru from Lima. In the 1980's it made its way into North America and is found at upscale restaurants other than those operated by native Peruvians or South Americans from California to New York City.

We have on our schedule several museums here in Lima and Cusco we want to visit to learn more about life in Pre-Columbian Peru of the Moche, Chimu, and Inca peoples. There are at least 4,000 years of history here before the Europeans came. One museum is known in English as the 'National Museum of the Archaeology, Anthropology, and History of Peru.' The other is simply known as the 'Larco Museum' and is owned privately. This museum also has a restaurant we are told that serves very good cebiche. Moche artifacts and ceramics are often known among archaeologists for their extensive representation of erotic themes and caricatures. More so than any other civilization or culture anywhere in the world. It is a draw for the many curious foreign tourists. Likely, we will avoid that room in the Larco. The Moche were fine craftsman in other areas as these sculptured ceramics suggest. They also used molds in producing their works which apparently was unusual for an ancient culture.

Moche sculpted portrait pitcher

We should also observe and note the deserts were very good at the Puerto Mancora. RA ordered the desert of the day and we were not sure what it was and our language skills are still quite challenged. Mine was easy, a couple brownies under vanilla and chocolate ice cream. The food overall in Peru is really superb.