Last Monday, El Comercio released a special post highlighting what Peruvians’ diet was 180 years ago based on articles this newspaper published back then.
In 1839, exactly 180 years ago, people could acquire 13 ounces and a half of French bread for one real. Also, the fanega, an old Spanish measure unit, was used in Peru. It existed prior to the metric system and it equals about 40 kilos today.
“180 years ago, when the first issue of El Comercio came out, the term was still used to designate the value of some products. The beans, whose abundance was undoubtedly encouraging, costed 20 reales per fanega”, El Comercio said.
The corn costed 10 reales and other products, such as onions, just a peso.
“Those initial records of food in the pages of the journal were accompanied by content that reflected the influences of the time. Many of the first gastronomic articles had to do with the French-style trend of the restaurants and chefs that had settled in Lima in the 19th century”, the newspaper continued.