ISHAY GOVENDERYPMA, food writer, @IshayGovender

WHERE? Peru

THIS WAS MY THIRD VISIT TO THE COUNTRY,

which has become a true gastronomy powerhouse. Peru’s finedining restaurants have consistently dominated the world’s awards lists and are winning the hearts of curious travellers. It’s fairly inexpensive, safe and easy to travel around, and there’s a great range, from Chifa (ChinesePeruvian) to Nikkei (Japanese-Peruvian), indigenous and Spanish flavours.

A REAL HIGHLIGHT WAS

the ultimate experience in high-altitude destination dining: 3 500 metres above sea level at Virgilio Martínez’s Mil, a research lab and restaurant in the Sacred Valley near Machu Picchu. They even keep an oxygen tank handy for anyone who needs to be perked up! Here, the cuisine is an accurate representation of produce grown in the region.

ANOTHER MEMORABLE EXPERIENCE WAS AT

Merito in Lima, where two Venezuelan chefs pay homage to their roots. To me, it’s also a socio-political marker that symbolises the Venezuelan immigrants and refugees who have fled their homeland to seek new lives in Peru. They have started to introduce their food and ingredients to the local culture. You’ll see Venezuelan cheeses and arepas at the markets, for example, that you didn’t find three years ago.

I CAME HOME WITH

pink salt from Maras, which 600 families harvest from pans that hang precariously over a mountain range; coffee grown around

Cusco; quinoa; maca powder; and aji (yellow chilli) sauce. I also returned with confirmation that collaboration between cooks, writers and other creatives in the industry is needed to raise the profile of gastronomy in a country.