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24 March, 2009 23:44:08 | in cuisine

The Chef’s Dream

Mario Vargas Llosa
Translation: Vanessa Castro - Living in Peru

In the early 70s, in a house found between the limits of the Limenian districts of San Isidro and Lince, in a place where snobbery and the working classes met, a young boy used to sneak into the kitchen to escape from his four older sisters and the strapping young men who came to court them. The household cook had taken a liking to him and would let him watch and even sometimes help while she cooked meals for the family. One day the lady of the house discovered that her only son –little Gaston- had learnt to cook and that he spent his weekly allowances running up to the Super Epsa market to buy squid and other ingredients that weren’t part of the everyday household diet to experiment and create new recipes.



The young boy’s name was Gaston Acurio, named after his father, a politician and engineer who was a close collaborator with Fernando Belaunde Terry. Encouraged by his mother, the boy kept spending a large portion of his childhood and teenage years in the kitchen, while simultaneously finishing school and then studying law at the Universidad Católica del Peru. Both hid young Gaston’s interest in cooking from his father for fear he might find it strange or unmanly.

In 1987 Gaston Acurio went to Spain to further his education at the Complutense. He was a good student but every law he studied he forgot once exam time was over and what he passionately read were not judicious treaties but rather cook books. The example and legend of Juan María Arzak dazzled him. It was then that the day came when he decided he could no longer continue living as he had and confessed everything to his father.  

And so Gaston Acurio senior, a good friend of mine, discovered one lunch time that the son he had come to visit in Madrid not only hated the law but what was worse, he dreamt of a life as a cook! He admits that the news came as a shock and I am sure that he was speechless and even that his jaw dropped after the discovery. During this time it was thought that cooking could be an acceptable hobby but certainly not a suitable profession for young Peruvian men.

However, being an intelligent man he yielded to his son’s calling and he signed a check so he could go to Paris to complete his education at the Cordon Bleu. He would never come to regret this decision and is today one of the proudest parents in the world thanks to the formidable legacy his son has developed.

Gaston attended the Cordon Bleu for two years and it was there that he met a young French woman of German ancestry, Astrid, who like him had abandoned academia –medicine, actually- to follow her gastronomic passion (mainly making pastry). They were made for each other and it was inevitable that they would fall in love and get married.

After finishing their studies and respective internships in European restaurants they set roots in Peru and opened their first restaurant, Astrid and Gaston in July of 1994, with 45 thousand dollars which had been lent to them by both close and distant relatives. Their success was almost immediate and fifteen years later, Astrid and Gaston exhibit their exquisite versions of Peruvian cooking in Lima, Buenos Aires, Santiago, Quito, Bogotá, Caracas, Panama, Mexico and Madrid.

It is in these restaurants where Peruvian cuisine has been taken as a starting point instead of the end product: it has been perfected and enriched with personal touches which make it more subtle and adaptable to modern life, to the circumstances and opportunities found in present times, without going against its roots as well as without giving up on innovation and reinvention. Another side to Gaston Acurio’s gastronomic genius is La Mar, a less elaborate and formal restaurant, closer to the genuine flavors of traditional popular cuisine, which, just like Astrid and Gaston, went on to be incredibly successful not only in Peru but in 7 other countries. Other chains have also risen, all with their own personal style which develop and promote a different branch or specialty of national recipes.  T’anta, Panchita, Pasquale Hermanos, the Peruana Juicer, La Pepa -and the latest innovation at present- Chicha, all in regions endowed with their own signature cuisine which these restaurants mean to honor and promote. In 2008 alone the sales revenue was of 60 million dollars.

In spite of this it would be unfair to measure Gaston Acurio’s success in amounts of money, although it must be said that his talent as entrepreneur and advocate is equal to the one he displays in the kitchen. His work is social and cultural. No one has done as much as he when it comes to the world discovering that Peru, a country which is so limited in so many ways has one of the most inventive, varied and refined cuisines in the world, and that it can easily compete with others such as the Chinese and the French. (How could this be?) I think that it is thanks to the long and authoritarian Peruvian tradition: cooking was one of the few activities where Peruvians could let their imaginations and creativity soar without any repercussions.

It is partly Gaston Acurio’s fault that most young Peruvians now dream of becoming chefs, much like before when they dreamt of being psychologists, and before that economists and before that architects. Earning a living as a cook has become a prestigious thing, a calling blessed even by frivolity. And because of that in spite of the crisis, in Lima new restaurants, academies and institutes dedicated to the highest of cuisines are thriving.

If someone had told me a few years ago that one day I would witness “gastronomic tourist tours” to Peru held in foreign lands, I would never have believed it. But it has happened and I suspect that the shrimp chupes, the snacks, the causa, the pachamancas, the cebiches, the lomo saltado, aji de gallina, the picarones, the suspiro a la limeña, etcetera, are the beacons which call as many tourists as the colonial and prehispanic palaces in Cuzco and the ruins of Machu Picchu. The house/ Laboratory owned by Gaston Acurio in Barranco, where he explores, researches, dreams up and discusses new products with his collaborators, has acquired mythical and renowned fame and is visited by chefs and critics of the world.

Thanks to Gaston Acurio Peruvians have learnt to appreciate how much their land’s gastronomical wealth is worth. He has a television program on which, as he has done for the past five years, he visits a different restaurant to show what makes it unique and what makes its menu different and special. This is how he has managed to reveal the incredible diversity, variation, creativity and innovation in different Peruvian recipes. How he has the time to do all these things (and do them well) is a mystery. His show “Culinary Adventure” has led to the discovery that besides Gaston Acurio there are other chefs as inspired as he is. This generosity and wide spirit is not common among entrepreneurs in Peru or in any other country.

If you feel better waited on or that the service is generally superior at Astrid and Gaston, La Mar or any of the other restaurants owned by Acurio, don’t let it come as a surprise. Gaston’s waiters and waitresses –I swear that this is fact and not fiction- take English, French, and Japanese courses as well as theater, mime and dance classes. If after this training they decide to leave and look for different work then “good for them”, says Acurio. “That is the general idea”.

Success has not gone to his head. He is simple, pragmatic, vaccinated against pessimism and as he enjoys what he does so much, stimulating to listen to about his dreams and aspirations. He has no time to be jealous of others and his enthusiasm is contagious. If there were a hundred entrepreneurs and creators like Gaston Acurio, Peru would have left behind being underdeveloped long ago.                     

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9 Comments

# Sandra N Arthur says :
25 March, 2009 [ 03:35 ]
I was in Lima last December and had the pleasure to visit "Gaston and Astrid". I was concerned because when there is too much talk about a restaurant it creats great expectations; I am glad to say -an even perhaps a bit proud being a Peruvian- that the food was delicious and much better than we expected.
# Tom Sheeran says :
25 March, 2009 [ 05:35 ]
After many visits to Lima when I wasn't able to try A+G, I finally was successful in September 08.  I returned twice more during my visit, and each occasion was equal to the first...wonderful!

I also visited T'anta in Miraflores for several lunches, all most enjoyable, and in December was able to enjoy the new Cebicheria La Mar in San Francisco where I was introduce friends to the delights of Peruvian cuisine.

Congratulations to Acurio, and thanks for your promotion of the excellent cuisine in Peru.
# jcwong says :
26 March, 2009 [ 01:32 ]
Generally good translation of an excellent editorial by MVLL, the end says it all.

Congratulations Acurio (&Sra.), you deserve the highest respect and admiration from all peruvians.

jcw
# JOSE AGUILAR says :
26 March, 2009 [ 07:40 ]
When can we expect to have one of your Peruvian Restaurants in Dallas, Texas.

We are crying for a good restaurant in North Texas. There is a large community of Peruvians.

Thank you!
# Stephan says :
28 March, 2009 [ 10:28 ]
I went to La Mar with my Peruvian wife's family two years ago and I loved everything about it except for the long line. But the Pisco Sour tasted great while we waited for our table.

We - about 10 people - just loved the food. Gaston himself showed up and I have a couple of photos showing Gaston and me.

It took a long time ... my wife's cousin emailed me the photos only a few months ago! Typically Peruvian. And I've been back to Peru more than a half dozen times since 2007.

Anyway, the (best) photo of Gaston and me will soon hang on my Wall of Fame in our apartment on an archipelago island outside Stockholm, Sweden!

Having been a journalist for nearly 40 years, I've met quite a few celebs and I have photos with Pele, Henry Kissinger, Carl Lewis, Sweden's King to mention a few on that wall. Welcome Gaston!

 
# Jenna Randall says :
29 March, 2009 [ 10:40 ]
Does anyone know on which channel and when Gaston's Culinary Adventure show is?
# Julie says :
21 April, 2009 [ 08:33 ]
This is his life story. Pretty interesting!
# Lucrecia Maurtua de Hull says :
18 July, 2009 [ 11:37 ]
CONGRATULATIONS GASTON AND ASTRID:  YOU ARE THE PIONEERS OF THE PERUVIAN CULINARY. I LOVE COOKING, AND I KNOW THAT YOUR INGREDIENTS  THAT YOU USE ARE PERUVIAN AND TASTE DELICIOUS.
# Ame Cisneros-Piña says :
19 July, 2009 [ 04:34 ]
I have read many articles on Gaston, and this one is the best, very complete and entretaining, which doesn't surprise me, comming from the pen of Mario Vargas Llosa.
What I admire the most about Gaston Acurio is his down-to-earth quality, not letting his great success go to his head. Kudos to him!

Stephen, 
Your pictures are of first class citizens and Gaston will fit right in.

Living in Peru is a great source of information about Peru... I just love reading it. Thanks to all its writers.

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