Introduction

The first version of this article was written in 1993 for the book “Culture, identity and cuisine in Peru” ¹ . At that time, although already known, Peruvian Nikkei cuisine had not yet achieved the diffusion and recognition that it currently enjoys, as is the case of Japanese cuisine in its exceptional international dimension at the present. Although specialized publications regarding Japanese and Nikkei foods have multiplied since then, the reproduction of this article - with some updates - would be pertinent, since it deals with the broader presence of Nikkei in the field. of Peruvian cuisine, from almost the incursion of Japanese immigrants into Peruvian cities at the beginning of the 20th century to more recent moments in which, perhaps, such presence has reached its maximum expression with Nikkei cuisine.

Already at the beginning of the 1990s we could affirm - and in the present with greater evidence - that in the space of cooking and food, mixtures and fusions that in other aspects were not taking place in a non-conflictive, and even harmonious, way. had been observed, as if it were the most open and democratic within the field of culture.

In today's Peru, an indicator of the vast process of miscegenation can be observed, precisely, in the variety and mixture in cuisine and food, especially in the coastal region. Throughout its history, local culinary traditions were added to those of European origin and the creations of the population of African origin at different times since the Spanish conquest. Starting in the 19th century, with the successive arrival of Chinese and Japanese, the Asian element is also incorporated.

Among the Asian element, Chinese food – popularly known as “chifa” in Peru – has been and is, undoubtedly, the one that has achieved the greatest diffusion and acceptance in the country, perhaps due to its greater age and its quick adaptation to tastes. local. This food has been part of home-made and everyday menus for several decades and there are thousands of Chinese food restaurants or “chifas” throughout the country. Furthermore, products such as “siyao” or Chinese soy sauce are sold in local wineries, markets and supermarkets, due to its demand from all social sectors for its use in family cooking.

The different aspects of the Nikkei and Japanese presence in Peruvian cuisine

Between the end of the 20th century and the beginning of the present, numerous aspects of cultures have been changing rapidly worldwide, at the pace of globalization and technological developments, with an apparently unprecedented circulation of information, people and products in the history. According to some observers, cultural particularities would gradually disappear, at least from those places and sectors most central to the market and consumption circuits. The record of the antecedents and changes in these aspects, then, would be appropriate for present and future memory.

In relation to the specific topic of the Nikkei and Japanese presence in the cuisine of Peru, we can identify up to four aspects that emerged at different times and that, to the present, maintain certain limits between themselves. However, due to the trend towards an increasing fusion between cuisines and foods, both due to the use of ingredients and processing or cooking of foods common to several cuisines, and due to the proliferation of varieties within the phenomenon of the so-called “ signature cuisine”, perhaps in the near future such limits will be less perceptible and may even be diluted.

Of the different aspects of the Nikkei-Japanese case, the last to appear was the one that in the last three decades of the 20th century began to emerge as a new type of food in the country and which the Peruvian poet and gourmet Rodolfo Hinostroza baptized as “Nikkei Cuisine.” Such cuisine was characterized - in its beginnings - by the use of marine products (shellfish and fish) and other ingredients of Asian origin, in addition to forms of processing and cooking common in some regions of Japan and the fact that its creators were and are of that origin.

Along with this food spread through some restaurants in Lima, there coexists other food that is internationally recognized as Japanese food and that in Peru used to be prepared by Japanese chefs or “itamaes” – several of them trained in professional schools in Japan – in restaurants. specialized since the 60s. The dishes called sushi, sashimi, tempura, sukiyaki and yakitori were the ones that mainly identified this type of food.

A third variant, in relation to food with Japanese roots, is found in the homes of families of this origin. In it it was and is possible to find a greater variety and variants of dishes, brought by immigrants as part of the cultural baggage from the different regions and prefectures of Japan. In this, very possibly, is the origin and main source of the now recognized “Nikkei cuisine.”

The fourth aspect, and the oldest in public presence in Peru, is found in restaurants generally in popular neighborhoods of Lima, owned by owners of Japanese origin who – since the first decades of the 20th century – spread Creole and popular Peruvian cuisine in general, in some of whose stews you can recognize a particular ingredient or style of preparation, compared to the original Peruvian recipes. For example, the preparation of Peruvian ceviche with sashimi-type cuts for the fish and the short marinade time in lemon, as well as the incorporation of Japanese ingredients such as monosodium glutamate (the “amami” flavor, known under the brand name “Aji no moto ” in Peru) and shoyu or Japanese soy sauce in different dishes of Peruvian Creole cuisine, such as lomo and salted noodles.

Nikkei and Japanese restaurants in the 20th century

The Japanese presence in Peruvian cuisine is as old as the immigration of this origin. The first Japanese immigrants who arrived in Peru between 1899 and 1923 were hired as labor for the coastal sugarcane and cotton farms. The permanence of the majority in agricultural work would only be temporary, later moving to the cities. The new waves of immigrants arriving between 1924 and 1936 also headed towards the cities and more frequently to the provinces of Lima and Callao. In them, some Japanese acquired commercial establishments through the transfer of former Chinese and Italian immigrants, mainly cafes and wineries.

Since the first decades of the 20th century, the presence of Japanese people running hair salons, restaurants or “fondas” (small restaurants), cafes, wineries, coal shops, bazaars, bakeries, among others, within Peruvian cities, began to be part of the daily panorama of Peruvian cities. the growing urban activity. Of these different sectors, restaurants and the like have been the ones that have most frequently and persistently concentrated Japanese immigrants and their descendants throughout their history to the present.

Watanabe, José, Morimoto, Amelia, Chambi, Óscar.1999.“The Memory of the eye. One hundred years of Japanese Presence in Peru.” Lima: Editorial Fund of the Congress of the Republic; p. 63: Coffee salon of Mr. Tokuchi and brothers in Lima, circa 1920.

Some statistics from different years corroborate this fact. According to various sources, for example, in 1931, of 1,212 registered Japanese establishments, 122 were restaurants and 264 were cafeterias. In 1938, of 878 establishments, 158 were cafeterias and cafés and 92 were “picanterías” and “fondines” (small restaurants). In 1966, according to the first Nikkei census ² , eating and drinking establishments owned by Japanese origin numbered 1,047, constituting a quarter of the total. In 1980, the same population had 944 restaurants and similar in Lima and 200 in other provinces and, finally, according to the 1989 Nikkei census ³ , these owners had 1,032 restaurants and similar in Lima and 310 in other provinces.

Source: Watanabe, José, Morimoto, Amelia, Chambi, Óscar.1999. The Memory of the eye. One hundred years of Japanese Presence in Peru. Lima: Editorial Fund of the Congress of the Republic; p. 89: Restaurant Owners Association in Lima, President (center, seated) Mr. Kunihiko Hayashi, 1930s.

The restaurants of Japanese immigrants and their descendants initially emerged in popular neighborhoods and were intended for this sector. The dishes that were sold in them were not those that the Japanese usually prepared in their homes, but those consumed daily by the local population and which they quickly learned to make. Thus, the Japanese "fonderos" became familiar with stews such as "cau cau", "papa a la huancaina", the popularly called "red noodles" (with tomato sauce) and "green" (pesto), the lomo and the sautéed noodles.

In the 1960s, simultaneously with the appearance of direct Japanese investment, Japanese restaurants also emerged, although their clientele tended to be almost exclusively Japanese and Nikkei. In the 1970s, several Nikkei restaurant owners began to move their establishments to middle and upper-middle neighborhoods of Lima, in parallel with the adoption of other specializations in cuisine. The “parrilladas” (mainly beef) and “pollerías” (whole chickens, cooked over charcoal or logs) that, although not created or introduced by the Nikkei, spread quickly through their restaurants.

At the same time, since that decade, a type of food began to emerge that would fuse the Peruvian Creole flavor (from the coast) with the Japanese, what is today recognized as Peruvian Nikkei cuisine. The main characteristic of this cuisine is the use of fish and seafood with local ingredients and the incorporation of others of Asian origin such as kion (ginger), silao or shoyu (soy sauce) and Chinese onion.

For the development of Japanese cuisine as well as Nikkei, conditions were presented such as the cultivation of some vegetables and the manufacture of products such as pasta (miso), sauce (shoyu) and soy cheese (tofu), special noodles ( udon, somen), pickles, in which several families of Japanese origin specialized in Peru.

The marketing of such products was mainly carried out around the central market of Lima. The products manufactured in Peru, as well as many others imported from Japan, were found in three commercial establishments since the 1950s, the Koga, Ebisuya and Ikemiya Houses. Currently and since the 1980s, in the Palermo Markets in the La Victoria and Jesús María districts there are stands dedicated to the sale of vegetables and other Japanese products and supplies produced in Peru, as well as Japanese manufacturing.

Among the consumption of the Nikkei population with some persistence are also Japanese sweets and pastries that are most frequently prepared for Japanese or community festivities and for funeral rituals, as part of the offerings for the deceased. The small cakes or “wagashi” are generally made with rice paste, beans and sugar and their manufacture used to be in the hands of some families for many decades. The oldest and best known was the Kotobuki House of the Miyata family in Cercado de Lima.

Japanese and Nikkei restaurants in Lima

Source: Cover of the book “Toshiro Konishi” (“Toshiro's Japanese Restaurant”).2007. Collection “Our great chefs”, Volume 4. Lima: Orbis Ventures SAC.

At present, in Lima, where there is a concentration of restaurants owned by Japanese origin, the different types of cuisine practiced by the Nikkei and Japanese can be observed and tasted. In the popular neighborhoods of Cercado de Lima, Breña, La Victoria, Jesús María, Surquillo, among others, Creole and popular food restaurants in general, owned by Nikkei, were and still are frequent, such as “Don Bosco” in the district. of Jesús María and “Huanchaco” in La Victoria. Among those that were moved or opened as new establishments in other more exclusive areas of the city were “Los años locos” and “Dallas” in San Isidro, both dedicated to meats and barbecues. Japanese food restaurants, likewise, in addition to being initially dedicated to the Japanese and Nikkei public, tended to be oriented almost exclusively to an audience of upper-middle and high socioeconomic levels. Among the latter, for example, the restaurants “Mikasa”, “Fuji”, “Ichiban”, “Matsuei” and that of the popular Japanese chef Toshiro Konishi in the districts of San Isidro and Miraflores. In the last years of the 20th century, several of the aforementioned restaurants were closed for various reasons; However, at the beginning of the new century, new sushi and Nikkei cuisine establishments have appeared in the Peruvian capital; we will discuss them and their chefs in the second part of this article.

Second part >>

Grades
1. Olivas Weston, Rosario (Compiler). 1993. Culture, identity and cuisine in Peru . Lima: San Martín de Porres University; pp. 257-270.
2. Their results were published in Japanese in: Zai Peru Nikkeijin Shakai Jittai Choosa Inkai.1969. Peru kokuni okeru nikkeijin shakai .- Tokyo, Japanese language (1966 Census).
3. Morimoto, Amelia. 1991. Population of Japanese origin in Peru: Current profile.- Lima, Commemorative Commission of the 90th Anniversary of Japanese Immigration to Peru (Nikkei National Census 1989). The information about the year 1980 is part of a research report, carried out by the author with the support of the Ford Foundation in that year.

* This article is published under the San Marcos Foundation Agreement for the Development of Science and Culture of the Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos - Japanese American National Museum, Discover Nikkei Project. 2009- 2010. Lima- Perú, April 2010/Amelia Morimoto, editor and coordinator.

© 2010 Amelia Morimoto