Peruvian Cuisine Glossary: Pachamanca

Pachamanca: The essential highland dish, which symbolises the strong relationship between the Andean people and the Earth. Pachamanca, a Quechua term for "earth pot" or "when the earth transforms in pot", is a millenary ritual, generous and festive, usually reserved for religious and community festivities, such as the harvest thanksgiving.

Pachamanca consists in cooking several types of food -pork, chicken, cuy, potatoes, corn, etc- inside a hole in the ground, previously stuffed with incandescent stones and then covered with aromatic herbs (such as huacatay). By eating directly from the earth's core, Andean cultures manifest their respect towards nature (or Pachamama), the source of fertility and life.

 Back to Glossary of Peruvian Cuisine.