Chef Rodrigo Fernandini grew up in Chiclayo, capital of Peruvian gastronomy.
© Rodrigo Fernandini

What’s on Chef Fernandini’s Menu?  Peruvian Culture!

In California, the cooking class was starting on Zoom. In Oregon, I hesitated. On the one hand, I was eager to explore Peruvian cuisine for “In the Kitchen with OIC,” our newest recurring feature. On the other hand, I missed travel, open-air markets, rolling up my sleeves in foreign kitchens. I missed food tours, following local experts along unfamiliar streets.

I wanted real.

Peru was on my 2020 itinerary. Instead, I was exploring the culture of my studio apartment. OK, fine. I’d try Chef Fernandini’s online cooking class. As I logged on, I sighed. Would it be just another Zoom meeting?

It . . . was . . . exhilarating! A kinesthetic thrill that had us up and moving, prepping, stirring, tasting, listening, and laughing with fellow classmates. All while the smoky, sweet heat and fragrance of aji panca and rocoto peppers, plantains, avocado oil, and cumin transformed our scattered kitchens into a shared experience of Peru. That was real.

Screen, what screen? It felt like we were in Fernandini’s kitchen.  Oh, I see: When you can’t travel to Peru, invite Peruvian food and culture home to you.

Tree-grown Andean rocoto is gaining popularity with U.S. chile pepper fans.
© McKay Savage, CC BY 2.0 Commons

Home Cooking, Chiclayo Style

His culinary journey began when Fernandini was four years old. This was in Pimentel, the beach district of Chiclayo, northern Peru. He recalls running into the kitchen, drawn by the aromas of garlic, peppers, and onions.

“I would put my whole face beside the pot, take a deep breath, and ask, ‘Oh, Mamá what is that smell? It’s so good!’ ” He also loved home-cooked seafood. Mamá got to the market as the morning’s catch came in.

Traditional fishing boats, caballitos de totora, “little horses made of tortora reed,”
are icons of coastal Peru.
© xeni4ka/ iStock

Regional ingredients whetted Fernandini’s appetite for cooking and stirred pride in his culture.  So where is the starting point for an outsider? How to approach the rich context of Peruvian cuisine?

“Begin with ceviche.”  So central is this dish to Peru’s culinary culture that it has its own national holiday on June 28.

Some might ask, What’s to explore? It’s marinated fish, you love it or hate it, end of story. In fact, it’s an early chapter in a rich culinary narrative.

Peruvian Fish Tales

Over 2,000 years ago, the indigenous Moche cured fish in tumbo, banana passionfruit juice. Later, the Incas marinated fish in chicha, fermented corn beverage. In the 1500s, the Spanish brought lime—and conquest.

Recipes for ceviche illuminate Peru’s costa, sierra y selva—its coast, mountains, and jungle—where 80 climates support biodiversity. For example, says Fernandini, in the mountains, ceviche is  made with trout and rocoto.

“Peruvian Andes trout and rocoto are inseparable,” says Fernandini.
His mountain ceviche also features chicharrón (fried pork belly) and ginger garlic oil.
© Rodrigo Fernandini

In the jungle, ceviche is made with paiche, an Amazonian fish, prehistoric in origin and weighing up to 400 pounds.

The rosy pink of Fernandini’s jungle ceviche comes from camu camu berries.
© Rodrigo Fernandini

The Runway or the Rush?

After high school, a lucrative career in modeling beckoned. Fernandini soon garnered international acclaim, including as runner-up in the Mr. World competition. But what he wanted was to cook. Creating an all-new resume that was long on passion and short on skills, he went to restaurant after restaurant offering to work for free.

Eventually, someone said yes.

“Wow! The rush! The adrenaline! I was supposed to be there four hours, but I stayed for eleven.”

Staff dismissed Fernandini’s enthusiasm as first-day excitement, but three months later and on the verge of going broke, he was still saying “I love this. I want to keep going!”

The Sound of One Herb Snapping

Fernandini attained a coveted spot at Le Cordon Bleu in Lima, then the renowned cooking academy’s only location in South America. For three years, he rode a whirlwind of studying, cooking, and staging—working for free—in Lima’s top restaurants.

Then came tests, like identifying ingredients while blindfolded. Could you tell cinnamon by the sound it makes when snapped? Could you distinguish black and green pepper by texture?  Chef Fernandini can.

Students were also expected to write monographs—by hand. Never one to resist a challenge, Fernandini researched the influence of Japan on Peruvian cuisine.

This was no mere fusion, a modern term for the intentional layering of unexpected flavors. For 500 years, people had migrated to Peru, from Spain, Africa, China, Japan, Italy and the Middle East, bringing long-standing traditions and slowly learning each other’s culinary language.

Pastel de acelga (chard tart), a staple of bakeries in Lima, Peru,
originated as erbazzone in Italy. 
Luis Felipe Rios/ iStock

Chaufa de mariscos, seafood with rice, reflects
Cantonese China’s widespread influence on Peru.
Christian Vinces/iStock

Carapulcra, a hearty stew with dried potatoes and peanuts,
combines indigenous, Spanish, and African traditions. 
Edgar D. Pons/iStock

“Land of the Rising Sun” Meets “Land of Abundance”

After Peru won independence from Spain in 1821, Japanese immigrants arrived to work in agriculture, trade, and restaurants. Japanese chefs shared their love of seafood, subtle flavors, and care in handling ingredients.

This changed the way Peruvians ate, including national dishes like ceviche. Marination times shortened, ingredient options expanded. Nikkei, the melding of Japanese and Peruvian ingredients, traditions, and techniques, was born.

“We started to respect and understand the freshness and texture of just-caught fish.” Fernandini’s inspired take on coastal ceviche features halibut, yellow chili, caviar, sweet potato, and “tiger’s milk,” Peru’s classic citrus marinade.

Chulpi (toasted corn) and yellow chili create culinary gold
in Fernandini’s coastal ceviche.
© Rodrigo Fernandini

Fernandini gives the impression that visiting Peru without eating at a Japanese-influenced restaurant would be tantamount to bypassing Machu Picchu. He cites Maido in Lima, ranked #10 among world’s best restaurants—“utterly splendid!”—and speaks of opening a Peruvian sushi restaurant someday.

Suddenly, my list of future favorite foods is much longer.

A Cultural Mission

Fernandini has been on a mission to delight American palates ever since moving to the USA. Initially, he faced stereotypes about Peruvian food: “It’s so greasy, so heavy!”

This was all the more surprising since Novoandina, New Andean cuisine, had gone global by the 1980s, making grains like quinoa, herbs like huacatay, and a wealth of recipes available to home cooks everywhere.

“I said, we have to do something about this!”

Rodrigo’s pop-up restaurant, Ayllu. Demand turned the monthly event
into sold-out double seatings, week after week, for years.
© Rodrigo Fernandini

By then, he was working at Michelin-starred restaurants and being mentored by chefs like the Four Seasons’ Jayson Poe. During time off, Rodrigo cooked even more, spending months planning a five-course menu for the launch of a pop-up restaurant.

Two people attended.

When a partner suggested canceling, Rodrigo said, “No way. We have to respect those two people and make it happen.”

The two diners hired Rodrigo to cater dinner for 30. Soon he was juggling full-time work with booming demand for the pop-up. After years of slogging and saving, he opened his own restaurant, Jora.

In San Jose, California, Jora applies classical technique
to a casual Peruvian menu. 
© Rodrigo Fernandini

It was a dream come true. It was also December 2019. As Jora was hitting its stride, Covid was shutting down restaurants.

“Hard times, but I’m a warrior,” says Fernandini. “Recently we reopened for outdoor dining, take-out, delivery. I’m also doing the cooking class with ChefsFeed.com. I really like teaching.”

“Live feed” gains new meaning when your kitchen becomes Chef Fernandini’s classroom.
© Joyce McGreevy

“Food brings people to the table to enjoy, and as you’re eating, you’re sharing your culture. Whatever I cook, I want to deliver on the promise of authenticity, originality, and respect for the product, the process, the person, and the moment. Everything I do is based on this. And yeah, I’m having fun in the kitchen. I love it—this is my happy place.”

Thanks to Chef Fernandini’s online class, my apartment kitchen is a happier place, too, a place were Peruvian cuisine and culture will always be welcome.

Until next month, this is “In the Kitchen with OIC” wishing you Buen provecho!

Request news of Chef Fernandini’s  classes here.  Can’t wait? Start here, then follow Chef Fernandini here.

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