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Peruvian Cuisine II - Pachamanca

Warning: This text takes an unexpected turn, ending more bitterly than planned.

Pachamanca is an Andean dish and, at the same time, a ritual to Mother Earth in thanks for the good harvests of the season. According to some sources, the dish and tradition originated with the Wari culture between 500 and 1100 A.D., and the Incas continued this custom.

Its name comes from Quechua: pacha (earth) and manca (pot), and that’s exactly what it is: pots cooked in the earth.

The ingredients of Pachamanca include meats such as beef, lamb, chicken, guinea pig, along with corn, potatoes, oca, fava beans, sweet potato, and humitas, as well as aromatic herbs like chincho, huacatay, muña, and others.

For cooking Pachamanca, preheated stones are used, which are placed at the bottom of a hole dug in the earth, forming the "oven." In the oven, the tubers are placed first, followed by the meats, vegetables, humitas, and aromatic herbs. Once everything is prepared, it is covered with earth for about one and a half to two hours. After taking the food out of the earth oven, it is served on trays to share.

What’s the difference between Pachamanca and good Pachamanca? Experts say the secret lies in the preheating of the stones and the preparation of the oven.

The first and only Pachamanca I attended took place at Lucho’s house. It was a small yellow house in the middle of the fields, with several little windows of all sorts of shapes, letting in the warm light of the sunset through its colorful panes. Lucho had the idea of organizing Pachamancas for tourists, but before starting his business, he went with his American girlfriend to get married in the U.S. and stayed there. I don’t know if the little house still stands, or maybe it has been demolished.

That day, there were several couples there, all mixed: four Latinos with four gringas. The young parents puffed up with pride over their small children, and those without children puffed up over their cars or projects. We all dreamed of small businesses and a warm home. Of course, we didn’t talk about the emotional scammers that abuse of white women looking for love, or swindlers, or how precarious life really was. What do we care about those scams? After all, most deception and abuse happens within the family, between parents and children, siblings, and perfectly uniform couples. A widespread and hidden abuse, often unacknowledged. And of course, we didn’t talk about any of that that sunny day, surrounded by illusions and the steaming trays.