In Peru, lunch is the main meal of the day.
With our North American habits, we find it hard to adapt to the idea of a big lunch and light dinner - at least during the week. Britt and I tend to go for light lunches (salad) eaten at our desks.
Because of this habit, I've become known to the workers at my office cafeteria as a special case. There, the lunch menu consists of a first course, followed by a large main course (generally involving potatoes and/or rice), and a choice of desserts. All this costs the equivalent of about US$2. There is also a sort of salad bar, which costs even less. It's small but consists of several salad like offerings that you can mix and match. When the cafeteria workers see me coming, they know that I always opt for the salad, and they make a point of ensuring that I get my greens. If it looks like the offerings are running low (often the case, because I tend to get there on the late side), they make a point of making up a plate just for me. It's incredibly nice. But it's also a sign of how seriously they take this midday meal. They wouldn't dream of sending me back to my office hungry.
At Britt's office, there are staff who will go out and pick up lunch for him if he is too busy to get it himself. Again, lunch is taken seriously, here. His office is located in a part of San Isidro (our neighborhood) that is particularly well served restaurant-wise. There are some lovely sit down places, and good light lunch options, including sandwicherias, and a wraps/fruit drinks take-out place that is another invention of Gaston Acurio, Lima's great chef/restauranteur.
Even Addison gets a pretty good choice of lunch food at school. They don't have a formal cafeteria. Instead, there are kiosks that sell fresh sandwiches and other offerings - even sushi and Peruvian specialties. There are outdoor tables (again, no cafeteria), and an assortment of short walls and places where the kids sit to eat.
Now, when it comes to the weekends, we are more likely to go native. Saturday or Sunday lunch is a real treat here in Peru. It's a slow, late affair generally surrounded by friends and family and filled with good humor and excellent food. If you have people over for lunch or are invited to their home, the expected start time is not before 2 pm. And don't expect to be done before 5. Many of Lima's best restaurants are only open for lunch (meaning that they close around 5 pm) - especially the ones specializing in ceviche and fresh seafood. Beyond 3 or 4 pm, the fish is no longer fresh enough to meet the refined standards of the typical Limena. If you show up at noon, you are likely to eat alone. But show up after 2 pm, and you'll wait in line and be part of a jolly, multi-generational crowd of people ready to enjoy life and the pleasure of good company.
This weekend, Britt was out of town. But Jeremy was visiting from Pisco, so the boys and I enjoyed a late Sunday lunch at one of our favorite restaurants, Francesco, an excellent place that overlooks the malecone (boardwalk on the cliffs overlooking the Pacific coast) and serves wonderful fish dishes.
With our North American habits, we find it hard to adapt to the idea of a big lunch and light dinner - at least during the week. Britt and I tend to go for light lunches (salad) eaten at our desks.
Because of this habit, I've become known to the workers at my office cafeteria as a special case. There, the lunch menu consists of a first course, followed by a large main course (generally involving potatoes and/or rice), and a choice of desserts. All this costs the equivalent of about US$2. There is also a sort of salad bar, which costs even less. It's small but consists of several salad like offerings that you can mix and match. When the cafeteria workers see me coming, they know that I always opt for the salad, and they make a point of ensuring that I get my greens. If it looks like the offerings are running low (often the case, because I tend to get there on the late side), they make a point of making up a plate just for me. It's incredibly nice. But it's also a sign of how seriously they take this midday meal. They wouldn't dream of sending me back to my office hungry.
At Britt's office, there are staff who will go out and pick up lunch for him if he is too busy to get it himself. Again, lunch is taken seriously, here. His office is located in a part of San Isidro (our neighborhood) that is particularly well served restaurant-wise. There are some lovely sit down places, and good light lunch options, including sandwicherias, and a wraps/fruit drinks take-out place that is another invention of Gaston Acurio, Lima's great chef/restauranteur.
Even Addison gets a pretty good choice of lunch food at school. They don't have a formal cafeteria. Instead, there are kiosks that sell fresh sandwiches and other offerings - even sushi and Peruvian specialties. There are outdoor tables (again, no cafeteria), and an assortment of short walls and places where the kids sit to eat.
Now, when it comes to the weekends, we are more likely to go native. Saturday or Sunday lunch is a real treat here in Peru. It's a slow, late affair generally surrounded by friends and family and filled with good humor and excellent food. If you have people over for lunch or are invited to their home, the expected start time is not before 2 pm. And don't expect to be done before 5. Many of Lima's best restaurants are only open for lunch (meaning that they close around 5 pm) - especially the ones specializing in ceviche and fresh seafood. Beyond 3 or 4 pm, the fish is no longer fresh enough to meet the refined standards of the typical Limena. If you show up at noon, you are likely to eat alone. But show up after 2 pm, and you'll wait in line and be part of a jolly, multi-generational crowd of people ready to enjoy life and the pleasure of good company.
This weekend, Britt was out of town. But Jeremy was visiting from Pisco, so the boys and I enjoyed a late Sunday lunch at one of our favorite restaurants, Francesco, an excellent place that overlooks the malecone (boardwalk on the cliffs overlooking the Pacific coast) and serves wonderful fish dishes.
In front of Francesco
This light fish soup was just a starter that they served up, just to get us warmed up for the fun to follow.
This was a mixed ceviche
A seafood soup with lots of basil, and a fair amount of aji (local hot pepper). Enough to make Addison sweat, I mean perspire.
Dessert and the rest of a pisco sour. Note that the pisco sour was originally bigger than the desserts. The dessert on the left is a suspiro limena, a local favorite with dulce de leche (sort of like a thick caramel) and a meringue topping that tastes remarkably like marshmellow fluff. On the right is a lucuma mousse with a brownie in the bottom. Lucuma is a local fruit that looks like an avocado, except that the fruit flesh is orange. It is less sour than passion fruit but more tangy than an apple, with a hint of sweet potato thrown in. As for the pisco sour - well, that involves lots of tangy Peruvian lime, pisco (a sort of brandy) egg white, and a hint of bitters. Goes down easily but delivers quite a kick. Best followed by a nap. 
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