Part of the appeal of Peruvian food is the novelty to those without a South American background, though the flavours will not necessarily seem unfamiliar or unapproachable to most North American palates. With a landscape full of staggering biodiversity — you’ve got the vastness of the Pacific Ocean, the heights of the Andes, the dense lushness of the Amazon, and one of the driest deserts in the world all within a stone’s throw of one another — the ingredients of Peru drive those world-renowned restaurants. This is a country that boasts over 4,000 varieties of native potatoes, fragrant fruits rarely seen outside of the jungle, and corn that barely resembles the niblets we grow in Canada. The difficulty, as with any international cuisine dependent on fresh fruit, veg, and fish, is importing those ingredients to Canada or replicating them with locally grown produce, but places like Sumaq are figuring it out. It might not be exactly what you’d find in Peru, but it’s darn close.