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Food / Feature Articles

Text and pictures by Álvaro Ruiz de Somocurcio
Translated by Diana P. Olano


An obligatory stop for those who reach Cuzco, via Machu Picchu, is the Sacred Valley of the Incas. Picturesque villages, million-year-old ruins, mountains and rivers that appear and disappear into a fertile and generous land. There grows the most delicious corn any mortal will ever taste. Chowders are made. Various and diverse potatoes are boiled. Cuy (guinea pig), pork and meats are roasted. Herbs likes huacatay and la muna are picked; spices are grinded; and chicha is fermented. Ancestral flavors are integrated with modern techniques to make something that has been handed over by God and Incan wisdom—our gastronomy.

A little over an hour trip from the city of Cuzco, the Sacred Valley of the Incas stretches as far as 140 kilometers between Huambutio and Ollantaytambo. Its spectacular geography, its almost magical climate, very mild and without extreme temperatures, the conditions of its land, exceptional for any kind of cultivation, and its towns, colorful and full of character, have made this region a truly attractive magnet for all visitors who reach it. Many want to stay. Some simply do.

More than 500 years ago it was the center of development to the inhabitants of the Incan Empire. This is why Spanish weren’t tardy in discovering the valley; a vitally important piece during the conquest.

Today, the Sacred Valley of the Incas is still a focus of development. Small towns—Pisac, Calca, Yucay, Urubamba, Chinchero—have emerged as uncontrollable forces on a road to modernity. Small, old mud and adobe houses are substituted for ones of brick, glass and cement. Television antennas surge through the roofs, indicating that everything is changing.

The valley’s charm, however, is fortunately maintained. And with a living based on agriculture, the valley’s inhabitants conserve the traditions of how to prepare their food.

The Fruits of the Land

Along the entire length of the valley exists a common denominator with cultivators of all different crops: the season is what determines agricultural production and the life of the townsman.

They say the corn from Urubamba (a province located in the heart of the valley) is the best in the world. I think it’s an accurate assumption. The size and variety of its kernels take it to that level. The corn is, most definitely, the symbol of excellence in Cuzqueñan agriculture. All visitors can attest that from November to March there is nothing more exquisite to eat than a steamed corn, soft, toasted and sweet, accompanied with a slice of fresh cheese. Strangely enough, theres a belief that the bigger the kernels, the more delicious the corn is. However, that’s not the case. Soft corn, with kernels that don’t exceed the size of the index finger’s nail, are the best.

Potatoes of all colors, textures and sizes, are also cultivated in the valley. And like corn—which is eaten fresh and later dried for use in the later autumn and winter months—the potato is dehydrated and transformed into chuño, flour or moraya. Dried, it is the basis for an iconic Cuzquenan dish: el chuno cola, a savory and earthy-colored soup or chowder that packs a punch. It fuses the Andean, which is to say it’s mixes the dried and grinded potato—soaked various times to take away its bitter taste—with garbanzos, soft meats from “punta de pecho” (cattle meat), rice and muña, along with mint which grows at high altitudes and adds a special touch to the dish.

Fresh grinded corn is used to prepare the famous “chola lahua”, a cream that is characterized by having a pinch of huacatay—an Andean seasoning herb—slices of fresh cheese and an easy-over egg made right before being served. Delicious! Its decoration are tiny, yellow potatoes.

Spectacular broths, soups and chowders of all varieties come from the valley. One, for example, is “caldo borracho” (drunken broth), which if you can believe it, is actually used to cure the hangover from the last night’s party. Its stock is made from a chicken that has been marinated in chicha de joro (drink of fermented corn) and beer. Another is a pear soup that aside from containing meat, potatoes and broad beans.

The dinner tables in the valley cannot be without “la lisa”, also known as olluco, a plant found at altitudes of 2,800 y 3,300 msnm in the valley, which is used for soups and stews. Seasoned with grounded aji colorado, fresh cheese or meat, it is consumed almost daily. A dish celebrated in the valley and all of Cuzco is the “kapchi” of mushrooms, a juicy stew that contains chili, green broad beans, fresh cheese, eggs, potatoes and milk.

We also have the celebrated rocoto, that after being boiled various times in water to reduce the intensity of the spice, are stuffed with rice and meat, arrebozan and fried. Those stuffed rocotos, which incredibly delicious, can even be bought at streetcar vendors.

Of meats, of cuy

In respect to using all of an animal for cooking, the practice is taken for granted. However, no one doubts that the favorite for that custom is cuy. Its important to note that thousands of years before the arrival of the Spanish in Peru, this small creature had already been domesticated by the Peruvians who used It as a source of protein. Its origin is, without a doubt, Andean. Conquistadores brought them to the Caribbean, as well as Spain. Although in the old continent, it was never accepted as food but rather as a subject of experiments. Modern medicine owes it…

Really, what’s most important to us is its tastiness and the exquisite way in which it is prepared in the valley. It’s seasoned and stuffed with cumin, garlic, grounded spices and a generous amount of huacatay. It’s sent to a wood oven where it comes out crunchy and browned. The cuy is served with browned potatoes, mote (dried kernels that have been soaked and boiled in water and salt) and ucha cuta.

Pork also occupies a vital role in the Valley’s cuisine, whether cooked in the oven or adobe. Recently, alpaca meat has been rediscovered. The pre-hispanic man delightfully enjoyed their meat—be it llamas or alpacas—and in the age of lean and tempting meats, this kind is now offered in restaurants and markets. Its also worth noting the use of dry meat or “chalona” in stews and chowders.

Fiestas and festines

Its during holidays—especially religious ones—when the long list of seasonings and flavors that each town has under its culinary belt flourishes. At the “Fiesta de la Cruz” in May, San Isidro, Carnival or Holy Week, visitors are offered a smorgasbord of flavors with soups or chowders of various meats, roasts, stews and desserts. During Carnaval, for example, the main dish is the puchero or sancochado, which contains meat, “chalona”, bacon, “chuño”, carrots, “repollo”, potatoes, “yuca”, sweet potatoes, corn, rice and garbanzos.

The restaurants and the chicherias (shops selling chicha de jora) have special training in preparing everything and in everyone’s taste. And speaking of restaurants, it must be mentioned that in recent years these places have grown like mushrooms during a night of thunderstorms. There’s one for everyone. Most of their menus don’t go past the dollar mark, even in sophisticated restaurants where you can find Japanese food (rolls and maki), ceviches from pejerry de lago (a white, smooth fish), pastas, stews, salads, soups and creams.

The “Tunupa” in Urabamba is a magnificent house, close to the river with an enviable menu; “Los 3 Keros”, with its Mediterranean touches, has made a name for itself with a new-Andean menu that works well; and “El Maizal”, which is more tradicional and conserves the flavors of yesteryear.

Hotels like the “Sonesta”of Yucay, “Casa Andina”of Yanahuara, and the experimental “Incaland” also have exquisite food. Lets not forget about the best restaurant of the Valley: Huayocarri, whose owner is an heir of Jose Orihuela.

To spend a few days in the Sacred Valley of the Incas, get to know its people, land and food, we assure you, is an unforgettable experience.