Celebrating One Year of How to Eat in Peru

A look back at one year of writing on Substack

I’ve now been writing on Substack for one year. My biggest takeaway is “Wow, I ended up writing much more than expected.” I went from publishing every two weeks to publishing twice a week (restaurant summaries on Thursdays and longer form stories on Sundays).

Substack is the platform that I wish I had known about in 2015 when I started my journey toward understanding Peruvian food and a decade earlier when I was hosting monthly themed dinner parties.

Honestly, I intended this project to be much simpler. I was planning to just serialize my guidebook or publish notes about restaurants that I visit. Instead, I ended up writing about Peruvian food from many different perspectives. And I still have a long list of topics under the broad umbrella of Peruvian cuisine that I have yet to dive into.

Here are some themes across my first year of writing on Substack along with a hand-selected story for each theme:

Reader Favorites

Here’s the # 1 post from my year of writing on Substack:

Other audience favorites include My Fascination with Lomo Saltado, My Experience at Central, Fishing on Surfboards, and Arroz Con Pato at Mayta.

There were a couple of surprise favorites as well. For example, I was surprised by how many people search for Aguachile vs Ceviche and end up here.

My personal favorite story was this photostory about Chorrillos market because of the way the photos turned out.

I’d love to hear from you. Please answer the quick poll below or leave a comment if you have a specific request or suggestion!

The Classics

In just one year, I was able to cover many of the classics including Pollo a la Brasa:

I also wrote about Ceviche, Arroz con Marisco, Arroz con Pato, Aji de Gallina, Parihuela, Pan Con chicharrón, Parihuela, and more.

Connecting Dots

One of the most interesting aspects of traveling is exploring connections between places:

We spend just under six months a year in Peru. The majority of the other half of the year has been spent being a guest in other food cultures. This helps keep us on our toes and helps me reflect on what helps visitors maximize meals on a trip to an unfamiliar destination.

I wish I could write “crossover” stories that connect Peruvian cuisine with the cuisine of each place we visit, but I want to avoid forcing it.

Thus far, I’ve written about parallels between Peruvian food and Spanish food, Mexican food, and Chilean food (currently one of my least popular posts). I have a lot to say about Italo-Peruvian food and fusing Thai and Peruvian flavors, but the stories haven’t quite come together yet.

Telling My Story

Surprisingly, some of the more personal stories are the ones that resonate most with my readers, even ones that I have yet to meet.

Thus far, I’ve shared my own story in small bits and pieces.

Now a year in, it’s probably time for a fuller introduction. At the beginning of next year, I will share the story of how I became obsessed with Peruvian food in the first place.

Admittedly, these personal pieces can be the most challenging to write which is the main reason for the delay.

Here’s to another year of writing!

I covered quite a bit of ground this year but am just getting started. There are many rich themes within Peruvian food that I haven’t gotten to yet.

Here’s a preview of a couple of upcoming stories that I’m particularly excited about:

• I’m finishing two stories, each centered around a chef. I’ve taken a thousand action-packed photos for two stories alone and am now working on putting the stories together.

  I hope this becomes an ongoing theme. I’ve been particularly interested in sous chefs and up-and-coming chefs. I also hope to interview fellow eaters as well.

Soon, I will share a couple more kitchen stories similar to the recently published one about Pisco infusions.

Thank you everyone for reading! Please share with someone who may enjoy my writing.