Nikkei Cuisine

This chapter looks at the emergence and popularization of Nikkei cuisine, a fusion of Japanese and Peruvian championed by celebrity chefs such as Gastón Acurio and Nobu Matsuhisa. Characteristically combining Japanese-style preparations of fish and seafood with Peruvian spices, especially aji peppers, typical Nikkei dishes include tiradito, a raw fish ceviche in a piquant sauce, and maki acevichada, a ceviche-based sushi roll. The chapter contextualizes the ascent of Nikkei cuisine within state policy to boost seafood consumption and the new affluence from overseas remittances received from migrant workers in Japan, among other factors. It argues that the promotion of Nikkei cuisine has been orchestrated in a top-down manner by political, media, and culinary elites who seek to construct a marketable vision of ethnic diversity within national unity.