Page 42 - Winter2017

time looking at the world with a “glass half full” attitude. a nourishing, traditional food that has been en-
Do these wonderfully robust and healthy people still exist today? If joyed for hundreds of years across Peru. It took
so, where can we find them? Are they in Peru or elsewhere? Part of the me forty-five minutes to find a woman with a
great gift of Dr. Price´s work is that he was traveling at the end of an era cart selling caldo. All the other carts were sell-
in human history when it was still possible to find a rather large number ing the generic, modern Peruvian menu of the
of indigenous groups around the world eating one hundred percent in the moment: pollo a la brasa (factory-farmed roast
ways of their ancestors. In 2017, by contrast, you can take a small boat chicken), salchicha con papas fritas (hotdogs
from Iquitos in the Amazon of northern Peru, travel for four long days, with French fries fried in vegetable oil) and ar-
and arrive at an outpost in the middle of the jungle where the first thing roz chaufa (fried rice, fried in cheap vegetable
you will see is Inca Kola, maybe the only drink worse than Coca-Cola. oil). Of course, consumers wash all that down
It´s a bright yellow, chemical, sugary concoction, and I´ve heard that it is with a cold cup of Inca Kola.
the only national soft drink to outsell Coca-Cola in any country.
Not long ago I found myself in Yunguyo, Peru, by the shores of Lake RECONNECTING TO TRADITION
Titicaca and quite literally a stone´s throw away from Bolivia, and I was Eating in Peru today provides a window
hungry. I went on a search for caldo de gallina (chicken soup), which is into a situation that goes much deeper than what

A CONVERSATION WITH AN ALMOST-CENTENARIAN IN LIMA

One of the most amazing conversations that we had in Peru was with Doña Flor Irene Guam de Cruz, a woman
who was ninety-eight (and is now ninety-nine!) years old. She lives with her daughter, Pepita Carrión Guam, in a beauti-
ful apartment in Lima. She hosted us for lunch, serving a multi-course meal that included ceviche (raw fish marinated in
lemon juice), fish soup and fried fish. She was eager to tell us about her diet growing up and her diet today.
Growing up, Doña Irene reported eating liver and onions made with tomato every morning for breakfast, along with
sweet potato. Because Doña Irene grew up on the coast fish was a mainstay of her diet. Still talking about her childhood,
she said, “At noon, we had ceviche. We would buy fish from the fisherman. We would spend all day at the beach. At five
in the morning, when it was dark, we would leave home and bring everything we needed to prepare ceviche. We would
bring dried fruit, everything, and would show up back home at six in the afternoon. Living at the beach is very healthy.”
Describing snacks and soups, Doña Irene stated, “We would eat olives and jamón del país (country ham), which is
very good. It’s like the ham from Spain. The pigs are raised on Spanish acorns. Our local ham is like that, but with Peruvian
flavor. It’s tastier. We also ate fruit, lots of dried fruit. And broth. We ate beef soup, boiling the head of the cow, the eyes.
And beef feet. You get gelatin from the feet of the cow. Great food! Every day.” During pregnancy and for forty days after
giving birth, she consumed chicken soup from pastured chickens.
Doña Irene’s daughter Pepita described her mother’s diet today. “You always have a rich breakfast: soft-boiled eggs,
boiled sweet potato, cassava. My mom doesn’t like to eat bread, but she does like black olives. She likes cheese very
much, too, she loves cheese. Manchego. Fresh cheese from the Cajamarca region. And then you always have to eat fruit
in the middle of the morning. After that, lunch is five courses, because you have the appetizer, soup, main course, des-
sert, fruit and tea, along with wine—always a cup of red wine. After that, you have tea time, and for that we generally get
a sandwich with a piece of savory pie made with artichoke or chard. She likes chard very much. And tea or coffee with
alfajorcitos (traditional caramel cookies) or a simple cake. And after that, dinner, because if my mom doesn’t have dinner,
she can’t sleep. We have soup and a main course and that’s it. It’s actually a lot of work because it’s five meals over the
day. Once I said, ‛Mom, you can’t eat so much at night. You should have breakfast like a queen, lunch like a princess
and dinner like a beggar.’ I called the doctor and said ‛Doctor, my mom shouldn’t eat so much.’ He said, ‛Put her on the
phone’ and he asked her, ‛Doña Irene, how are you?’ She said, ‛You might not be hungry, doctor, but I am, so I am going
to eat.’ When I got back on the phone, the doctor said, ‛Let her eat.’”
Doña Irene continues to give her household directions about what to cook. Pepita says, “We have to do what she
wishes.” Every Saturday, she asks her nephew (who is a marine admiral) to buy six pounds of fish for her, and he brings
her the fish. Doña Irene says, “I eat fish heads even now. Today, when I feel like having it, I go to a restaurant and ask
for a fish head.”
Doña Irene noted that with the exception of dengue fever fifteen years ago, she has not had any health problems.
Pepita also chimed in on her mother’s health. “My mother, for her age, has beautiful skin, right? She has had no surgeries.
She doesn’t really suffer from anything. Just the lungs, because up north in Piura, there’s a lot of pollution, and it affects
her lungs. And that’s it. Here, in Lima, she hasn’t been sick yet, not from the cold or anything.” Overall, Doña Irene’s life
is a marvelous testament to the power of real food.

42 Wise Traditions WINTER 2017