A special posting for why I like Peruvian food

OK, we're going to break this down by meal.
Breakfast: quick and to the point, a traditional breakfast in Peru is coffee, juice, and some sort of pastry or scone. Let me be clear: I was born in a country where going out for breakfast means 4000 calories of syrup, syrup canned fruit, eggs, toast, pancakes, waffles, and whipped cream to start. I was born in the wrong country. Breakfast to me is waiting an hour or two after I get up for 12pm to roll around so I can have lunch. I never was a half-a-grapfruit, cup-of-coffee kind of guy cause I don't like grapefruit. Or coffee really either. This being the case, Peru is my kind of country for breakfast. Especially sitting in the sun in Arequipa on the roof of my hostal with birds chirping all around. But more on Arequipa later.
Lunch: can be summed up in three words Menu del Dia. Every traditional restaurant in Peru (which is most of them) has a different menu each day for lunch, just depending on what's around or what's a good deal at the market. This means that you get two courses, bread, juice and dessert (usually fruit) all for one low price. But don't think that it's just some set menu. Oh no, you get to choose between usually 3 or 4 appetizers and as many as a dozen main courses. That is so kick ass. That is SO KICK ASS! Every restaurant everywhere in the world should have this. Because as a traveller, you get to walk in, check out the menu, and tell your server what you want while you think to yourself 'I have no idea what I just ordered.' Then you get to receive your food and think 'I still don't really know what I just ordered.' In this way you get to sample different stuff all the time that you otherwise would never have! How many of us have been to Thailand, where a lot of the restaurants don't have menus, only to have Pad Thai three meals a day because that's what we know how to order? I definately ran into people like that there... and that's a bunch of crap. That's not why we travel. We travel so we can finish our delicous meal only to find out the dogs in the back aren't pets. To explore. Which is why I had raw human flesh for lunch yesterday. OK, actually it was alpaca. It was a little tough, tasted slightly of buffalo I guess, and was prepared with french fries (which I see in a lot of dishes here), tomatoes, cilantro, and some sort of marinade. It was friggin delicious. Anyways, I heart el Menu del Dia.
Dinner: um, I actualy don't have much to say about dinner. This whole model was mostly a vehicle to talk about breakfast and lunch. Honestly, I'm still figuring out dinner. A lot of the lunch places close for dinner, and at dinnertime pizza/fried chicken/hamburger joints seem to rule supreme. Some of the pizza is pretty good though. Also I had some ceviche one night, which is the Peruvian national dish (kind of. It's pretty durned popular at any rate). It's raw fish marinated in lime and cilantro. Sure I was quaking as I ate it, but my stomach won the russian roulette and my tastebuds won a tasty meal. Oh, ceviche is traditionally served with sliced sweet potato and yam. And one more note on the bread; the bread is kind of like a french role (or freedom role as I'm training the Peruvians to call it), and it's served with something very tasty and very spicy to dip it in. Friggin awesome.
This concludes my special entry on why I like Peruvian food. Can't wait to try hua (guinea pig)!