Oh the Foods I’ll Eat

Before my trip to Peru I had a new recurring dream: I’m frantically racing from place to place trying to eat as much Peruvian food as possible! Peru is known for its multiethnic cuisine, and it’s one of the things I look forward to the most. Everything is more delicious here. I’ll even eat things I wouldn’t eat otherwise, like pineapple.

I made a list of Peruvian foods I want to eat while I’m here. With only three weeks, it looks like my dream may be prophetic! Still, I have been doing a good job knocking out each item. You can see my list here, and it’ll be updated as I eat more.

I was at Jockey Plaza earlier today, as my previous post described. I planned to eat lunch at the food court there. They have the usual array of American imports: KFC, Pizza Hut, and Burger King. They also have some local chains: Chinawok (Chinese-Peruvian), Manos Morenas (literally “Brown Hands,” Creole-Peruvian food), Mr. Steak (grilled meats), and Bembos. I’ve already had Bembos once (it’s in my list up above) but I like it so I decided to eat it again. This time I ordered a “German Burger.” From the picture, it looks like it has an omelet and tiny hash brown fries in it. The cashier asked if I wanted a medium or large. I assumed she meant the combo so I said large. Then she asked me if I wanted my fries and drink to be regular or large. !?! Confused, I went with regular.

When I got my burger, I realized that the burger itself comes in two sizes! My burger was gigantic. It’s not like one of those Hardees burgers where they add two more patties and another bun so it’s taller. No, this burger is just proportionately bigger all around, like someone took a picture of a burger in Photoshop and made it 150% bigger. Seriously, it looked comically huge, especially next to my regular fries and drink (which in the US would be the kid’s size). I didn’t bring my camera, so no pictures, but it was a very large burger.

I also got the ingredients wrong. Instead of egg, the yellow in the picture was sauerkraut. On top of the patty was a giant dose of relish. A German burger, indeed!

Since it was my birthday I finished off my lunch with some lúcuma ice cream. Another entry on the food list down!