KINGDOM of HEAVEN

Why Peru’s capital city has become arguably the greatest culinary destination on Earth...

- NICOLAS STECHER

There comes a point where you feel that you have travelled a lot and you still do not know it all, and you [realise you] have not travelled enough and in fact you never will,” Chef Virgilio Martínez reveals about the unspoken instinct that pulled him home to Lima, Peru after spending a decade honing his craft overseas. “There comes a moment of reflection on who you are, your origin, where you belong — I took it as an internal journey to return home and really understand where I had escaped from.”

When Martínez left his country as a young man in the ’90s, Peru had no culinary schools, and violent civil unrest made domestic travel nearly impossible. Yet curiosity compelled exploration, so while he wasn’t particularly drawn to the gastronomic arts the young adventurer saw cooking more as a means to see the world. Which he did, for a decade, sharpening his blade in some of the best kitchens across Europe and America.

Today it’s not hyperbole to describe the Michelin-starred Martínez as one of the most acclaimed and innovative chefs on the planet. But unlike many his innovation is not born from new tools or techniques (although he employs plenty of both), nor from foraging obscure ingredients from a forest floor (although he does that too). What makes Martínez one of the most electrifying, novel chefs is the embracement of his motherland’s unique indigenous ingredients and singular landscape.