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Peru – Culture and Cuisine

Embark on a culinary adventure in Peru with Evolve Tours, tailored for chefs and culinary students.

Dive into Peru’s rich food culture by cooking alongside local chefs, tasting authentic dishes, and visiting lively markets. Experience the fusion of ancient traditions and contemporary practices and understand Peru’s dedication to sustainability and seasonality. Elevate your culinary expertise while exploring the vibrant and diverse Peruvian culinary landscape.

Evolvetours Trip Peru 1
  • Peru Evolve Tours

    Program Highlights

    • Explore bustling markets, discovering fresh, local ingredients.
    • Sample a variety of authentic Peruvian foods and street snacks.
    • Participate in hands-on sessions with local chefs mastering traditional Peruvian dishes.
    • Learn about the history and cultural significance of Peruvian cuisine.
    • Discover unique foods like ceviche, pisco, and Andean superfoods.
    • Share traditional meals with local communities, experiencing their hospitality.
    • See how modern techniques are incorporated into traditional Peruvian cooking.
Peru Evolve Tours

Sample Itinerary

Peru Culinary Tour

Day 1: Travel to Peru

Depart on flight to Peru. Arrive in Lima, meet your Evolve Tours Director at the airport and board our private coach busto your hotel.

Day 2: Lima

In the morning, head to the Skykitchen, and participate in a guided cooking lesson with some of Peru’s greatest chefs. Get an intimate, hands-on lesson and learn valuable skills. In the afternoon, dive straight into the city center to take a guided Culinary tour of Lima. See monuments such as the Convent of San Francisco in the Historic Quarter, the Plaza del Mayor, the Lima Cathedral and more while stopping into restaurants and cafes to learn about the history of food and people in Lima. In the evening, experience a local homemade Peruvian dinner hosted by a local family in their home. A great way to immerse in the local culture.

Day 3: Lima

Depart for the Universidad San Ignacio de Loyola’s Lima Campus and learn about the University’s School of Culinary Arts, where students study to become professionals in the food industry. Participate in a cooking workshop with the school’s students and learn how the traditional techniques of Peru apply to everyday cooking. For lunch, eat what you had prepared during culinary art class. In the evening, enjoy dinner at a local restaurant that specializes in cuisine from the Amazon, run by chef Pedro Miguel Schiaffino.

Day 4: Travel from Lima to Cusco

Depart from our hotel to the airport in time to catch your flight to Cusco, UNESCO World Heritage Site. in 1983 by UNESCO. We will immerse ourselves in Cusco and its magic right after meeting our local tour guide at the airport, with a visit to Sacsayhuamán Archaeological Park where we will admire an imposing display of Inca architecture. Head for lunch to enjoy a hearty soup, the perfect way to get used to the Cusco weather and the altitude. After lunch, enjoy a city walking tour, to get introduced to this historical city with visits to the San Blas Chapel, Arzobispo Palace, the Main Cathedral and Plaza San Francisco´s Botanical Gardens. Stop by the Museo del Pisco in Cusco along the way and learn about how Pisco was innovated by colonial Spaniards who invaded Peru. Later in the afternoon, head to Mercado Central (San Pedro), Cusco’s main market. In the evening, enjoy dinner and a cooking class, and great views!

Day 5: Pisaq Market and Inca Salt Mine

Be prepared for a day full of hiking among some of the most sacred places of the former Incan Empire.  First stop by Awana Kancha and feed the beautiful alpacas before shopping for local crafts. Check out the ruins of Pisaq and the history behind them. Stop by Pisaq market, and have an empanada made in colonial ovens, before heading for lunch. Pisac market is one of the most famous markets in the region. Taste some local treats through various pit stops: chancho al palo at a roadside market, empanadas at the Mercado de Pisac made in an Horno Colonial (colonial oven), the traditional Cusco drink, frutillada, (a blend of corn chicha and fresh strawberries), while on the road to visit the impressive Salineras de Maras. Take a short walk through the countryside to the seldom-visited town of Maras and its pre-Columbian salt mines – still in use today with salt being collected with traditional techniques- as well as the Inca agricultural terraces of Moray. You will learn about how methods from the ancient past remain relevant to food production today in this private tutorial. See the salt pools up close, and bring some mineral-rich salt back home with you.In the evening, grab dinner at a sustainable restaurant with an exciting menu.

Day 6: USIL Cusco Program

Today, head to the Universidad San Ignacio de Loyola Cusco branch to continue our program that we started with them in Lima. Enjoy a reception and welcome ceremony from the director of the Cusco campus. Participate in an excursion to the National Agrarian Institute. Students will observe the institute’s work towards genetic development of Andean tubercles during a 4-hour program, an inside look that will give these future chefs valuable insights on the realities of competitive food production in the 21st century. After lunch, embark on a final Discussion at USIL. In the evening, enjoy dinner at one of chef Acurio's restaurants.

Day 7: Machu Picchu

Head to the train station in Ollantaytambo and board an early morning train bound for Machu Picchu! We’ll travel from Cusco through the Sacred Valley to the town of Aguas Calientes. En route, our train journey will take us alongside the Urubamba River, with incredible scenery of towering mountains and colourful forests. When we arrive in Aguas Calientes, we’ll opt to take a short bus ride up along the switchbacks to the Machu Picchu citadel and begin our day visit. After an introductory walking tour, the morning is free for exploration and discovery of this magnificent site, which was built on a mountaintop and surrounded on three sides by the Urubamba River.Take the bus down to Aguas Calientes and enjoy lunch and shopping time before jumping in the train back to Cusco. Once back in Cusco, enjoy dinner at a “Peruvianized” burger joint.

Day 8: Cusco

Discover the outdoor food marketplace Huancaro and have a chance to barter with local vendors at individual street stalls and shops. The Huancaro market is held every Saturday in Cusco and is the one stop shop for fruits and vegetables as well as a host of other things like honey, milk and yogurt, coffee and all the grain you could imagine. Enjoy an amazing lunch at a local picanteria, which offers a varied menu of typical Andean food. For those who want to enjoy a traditional dish, try Cuy, or guinea pig. It is a staple of cuisine from the highland area of Peru and other South American countries, with a long history that dates back to Inca tradition. After lunch, enjoy free time in the afternoon for sightseeing and shopping. For dinner, we will try some Nikkei cuisine (Japanese-Peruvian).

Day 9: Travel to Lima

We will wake up to a big, fresh breakfast before packing up and driving to the airport for our return flight to Lima, to discover the city’s culinary secrets one last time. After a delicious lunch, participate in the Peruvian Experience Dark Ride: get on a cart and take a tour full of magic and special effects, where you will learn the history of Peruvian gastronomy, as well as relevant facts about our products and ecosystems.

Day 10: Lima and homeward bound

Enjoy breakfast in the capital of Peru and some last minute souvenir shopping. After the final exploration of the city, transfer to the airport for your homeward bound.

Day 11: Arrive at Home

Arrive home, after an incredible Culinary Arts tour in Peru!
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Signature Trips

Learning Objectives

Participants on this culinary experience will get a first-hand understanding of one of the most diverse cuisines in the world. Embark on a discovery journey in one of the world’s top culinary destinations and learn about its variety of ingredients, its original culinary mixture of over 2000 years of diverse cultures, as well as its new tendencies and techniques.

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We're happy to help answer any questions you might have about a trip to Peru – Culture and Cuisine: Accommodations, Meals, Flights, Activites, Itinerary and more!

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