User:Jperry36/sandbox

Region
Peru has lots of culture and history tied into its traditional cuisine, and a lot of this comes from the regions where the crops were produced. Peru is the third largest country in South America and it is divided into three different topographical regions: the western coast, the Andean mountains, and the eastern Amazon rainforest. Because the country has such a diverse geography it is common to find different popular cuisine from one city to the next. Some crops thrive in the high altitudes of the Andean mountains, while others require the high rainfall that the Amazon provides. Peru is also home to Lake Titicaca, the highest lake in the entire world at roughly 12,500 feet above sea level.

With these unique geographical features located so closely together, Peru maintains one of the most diverse arrays of cuisine in the entire world. However, geography is not the only thing that separates Peru into different regions. Peru still has remnants of cuisine from centuries ago, inspired by the ancient Incas, the colonial Spanish and mestizos, and hundreds of years of immigration from other countries. These factors combine into a complex web of culinary influences that overlap at times, but each region has its own unique take on their famous dishes, from the Incas use of hot and sweet peppers grown in the Andres, to the seafood and ceviche made along the coast. Peru may not be world famous for any one dish, but their complex geographic and cultural divides make them arguably the most widespread culinary option in the world.