With the mountains, the rivers, the jungle… Peru has an amazing variety of landscapes and foods. No wonder it is considered as a very gourmet destination! Most people would think about the ceviche, the national dish of Peru made with raw fish in lemon juice and seasoned with chili peppers, salt, cilantro… but there is more! We’ve toured Peru with our Teuko kids and we are sharing today tasty discoveries to help you jazz up your kids’ next school lunches.

Lomo Saltado

In Lima, our Teuko Kids were served Lomo Saltado, a stir fry dish with sirloin steak, onion, tomato, French fries, and rice. While French fries can get a little soggy in a lunchbox, I would recommend to replace them by roasted potatoes, and you can easily make that for the next lunch you’ll pack for your kids!

Puré de Choclo al Anís

The “Pescado en panca a la brasa” was a dish for adults but, believe me, my kids tasted it and wanted it too! It was, indeed, a pretty simple dish after all, but well cooked and so tasty. The grilled fish was underneath few onions, but the novelty for us was this bright yellow purée, the “puré de choclo al anís”, which is, in fact, a luminous yellow corn purée with a tiny bit of anis in it. It reminded me the color of the walls in the bohemian Barranco neighborhood. Also, here and there in the plate, the four “papas Tumbay crocantes”, which is a potato native from the Andes, were deliciously roasted and seasoned for that dish.
Next time you pack fish in your kids’ lunch boxes, try to include a corn purée, it will be a direct travel to Peru! 😉

Chancho al Cilindro & Papas Fritas Huayro

Between many visits in Lima, we stopped quickly for lunch at the Lucha Sanguchería Criolla, a Peruvian fast food, in the Larcomar mall, situated in the Miraflores neighborhood. It was tasty, we loved the barbecued pork and the potatoes.

Did you know that Peru has over 4,000 varieties of potatoes? So, even if we had potatoes at each lunch or dinner (and even breakfast), they were always different!

Finger Foods from the Sacred Valley

Surrounded by the magnificent mountains of the Andes, we had a wonderful lunch in a ranch. The Teuko Kids enjoyed everything: the empañadas filled with eggplant and mushrooms, the skewers of beef liver, the spinach-cilantro tamales, the corn with cheese on top, and the crispy salad with red quinoa. These are finger foods very enjoyable, yummy, and kid-friendly… perfect lunchbox snacks!

Maíz con Queso

With the amazing sample of fingers food in the Sacred Valley, we could discover the association of a corn cob with a slice of cheese. During the rest of our trip, we could rediscover that association several times, in different ways! And as for the potatoes, Perú has an incredible variety of corns!

Here we highlight the fact that we had gigantic corn kernels (the size of chickpeas!) with a rectangular piece of cheese and tomato-basil sauce on the side. We also had smaller corn kernels, the size of what we had in Europe or in the USA, whiter, with freshly grated cheese.

How would you pack the Maíz con Queso for your next lunch? With a corn cob or with corn kernels? With a slice of cheese or with grated cheese?

Chupes

Chupes are in fact soups, or stews, made with vegetables, potatoes, and meat such as lama, chicken, or beef. Once in the Sacred Valley, or in Cusco and Arequipa, it was advised to eat light at night because the altitude changes the way we digest food. Therefore, for dinner, we enjoyed lots of different types of soups: potato-leek soup, spinach soup, pumpkin soup, asparagus soup, chicken soup, and quinoa soup.
Soups are a treat in wintertime! Which one would you put in your thermos for lunch?

Panes

Clichés make France the worldwide country of bread but, as a French, I was amazed by the incredible types of breads we could eat in Perú! Some had the texture of a baguette, others of a brioche. Flat or round, with tomato or herbs, with potato flour, with quinoa or other grains… it was simply amazing! You would just add a slice of cheese and ham, and you would get a tasty different type of sandwich all the time!

Rocoto Relleno

Our last stop was in Arequipa, the city surrounded by volcanoes. We could not leave Perú without trying the famous Rocoto Relleno, which is a stuffed red bell pepper… that, despite the presence of sweet grapes in the farce, literally puts fire in your mouth! For a kid-friendly version to put in a lunchbox, I would use sweet mini bell peppers 🙂 A delicious and creamy potato gratin paired very well.

Our complete list of Peruvian food ideas

Here our complete list of Peruvian food ideas for your kids’ lunch boxes:

– Lomo Saltado (beef, tomatoes, onions, rice and potato)
– Puré de Choclo al Anís (corn purée)
– Chancho al Cilindro and Papas Fritas Huayro (BBQ pork and potatoes)
– Empañadas filled with eggplant and mushrooms
– Beef skewers
– Spinach and cilantro tamales
– Maíz con queso (corn with cheese)
– Chupes (potato-leek soup, spinach soup, chicken soup, asparagus soup, …)
– Panes (potato bread, tomato-basil bread, flat crispy bread, …)
– Rocoto Relleno (stuffed red bell pepper)

Which Peruvian food idea will you try? See how to assemble these foods in a lunchbox with Teuko, and don’t forget to track and share what you will send to school!