Meat or fish steeped in a mixture of vinegar and oil, mixed garlic and spice.

A red colourant and flavouring extracted from the seeds of a tree (Bixa orellana). It has a strong flavour which blends well with, in particular, salted foods.

Chicken soup prepared with rice, potatoes, garlic and vegetables.

A scaly palm which yields a few fruit that are much-sought after inthe jungle where they are used to flavour drinks andice cream. Amazonian tribes also seek them out as a basic foodstuff.

Cane alcohol, used in the sierra to prepare cañazo, yonque o guarapo, all high-alcohol concoctions. Jungle people use it to extract alcaloids from fruits and roots, typically for use as a pick-me-up or plain aphrodisiac.

"To smoke", usually applied to dried meat. A tradition of the jungle, where meat spoils quickly.

Hot capsicum pepper, of course known in Mexico as "chili".There are very many variety, from the low-spice green limo to the hotter, red ricoto, which is often served stuffed, relleno. The red pipi de mono (monkey penis) is tiny, but notoriously the hottest in the country.

A creamy vegetable casserole, made with garlic, oil, onion, parsley and white cheese, often with potatoes and othert starchy roots in it. Warming comfort food.

A treacle-like liquid made from the fruit of the Algarrobo tree, an acacia dominant on the Northern coast where the desert recedes. It is used both as a medicine and as a sweetening, thickening agent in for example, Piso Sours. Similar to maple syrup.

Anis liquor, Productionis focused on Arequipa, in the South of Perú.

A light dish comprising thin slickes of beef heart that have been marinated in oil, achiote and vinegar, and served skewered after being roasted on an open fire.

Bread roll with ham, onion and lettuce, occasionally served hot. AKA "sandwich".

Dried and ground potato - often achieved by freezing the tuber over winter - which is boiled up and seved with garlic and peanuts, chicken or ham. This is an ancient dish going back millennia.

Traditional upside-down cottage pie. Teh base is made of mashed yellow potato, garlic and lemon; the top (or filling, if it is rolled into a ball) can be pretty much anything: fish, chicken, shrimp. The wdely available causa limeña looks like a sweet dish, but isn't. They are often described as being relleno de - stuffed with - but this simply means "containing".

Sun-dried salted meat from animals such as the alpaca or wild deer. It is eated uncooked or mixed with various guisos, particularly in the jungle, where it is called tacacho con cecina.

The signature dish of Peru: fish or shellfish that have been picked in lime juice and garlic are served cold with chopped shallots, hot peppers, parsley and boiled choclo maize or sweet potato.

A native species of fruit used for juices, said to have health-giving properties.

White maize beer to which clavo de olor has been added in the fermenation process.

Sausages containing preserved meat, of enormously variable size and flavour.

Mussels. often served as choros a la chalaca.

Traditional jngle dish associated with the festival of St Peter and St Paul. Rice, meat and flavourings are wrapped in a bijao leaf and then boiled.

This is a root that has been imported from China, and is an ingredient in the national cuisine known as Chifa.

Quechua name for a pumpkin-based stew, containing potatoes, sweet maize and white cheese. It is called locro de zapallo, when served with rice.

Classical Peruvian dish, consisting of strips of beef, tomatoes, onion and potato strir-fried together with garlic, soya and oyster sauce. Usually seved with fried potatoes or rice.

A native plant (Lepidium meyenii) which has a root that is rich in sterols and which is exported across the world as a rejuvenation agent. It is served in as many ways as a root can be prepared.

Caramelised milk - a thick paste often placed between biscuits or cake, or used as a cooking ingredient.

Traditional dish made from boiled green bananas with cecina, onions, tomatoesand maize beer.

Chifa dish, boiled rice and beans pounded together with onion and fried; served with meat or with a fried egg.

Very similar ingredients to Tacu Tacu, but wetter and broken up.