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Iquitos Gastronomy
Typical Food of Iquitos When you arrive to Iquitos you will be able to enjoy a great cuisine on the base of a great variety of regional products, such as meats of species as the deer or the majás, fish like the "paiche" or the "dorado" (fish variety), exotic fruits, etc.
The main and most traditional popular plates are:
"Juanes": Pottage made with rice, pieces of poultry meat, eggs, olives, aromatic herbs and spices, all wrapped up in "bijao" (plant from the jungle) leaves and boiled in clay pots. "Inchi capi": Exquisite soup prepared with peanut, pieces of poultry meat, aromatic herbs and spices. "Nina Juanes": Of similar characteristic to the juanes, the only difference is that they are made with chicken meat and they are roasted. "Sarapatera": Kind of stew prepared with "Charapa" (Turtle variety) meat, spiced with onions, garlic, green banana, and spices. The final cooking of the stew is made in the shell of the turtle and it is served in the same shell. Fish: There are a great variety of presentations and the "paiche" is recommended (fish of more than 2 m. length and 130 kg. weight) the zúngaro, the dorado, that are those of finer and exquisite meat. You can try them in cebiche (raw fish marinated and cooked in lemon juice), roasted, or in stews. Salads, you must try the one prepared with "chonta" (kind of palm tree) or palmettos. Desserts, yucca donuts, and great quantity of regional fruits such as "cocona", pineapple, "aguaje" (fruits from the jungle), "maracuyá". Iquitos is also famed by the variety of its liquors and beverages, prepared with the maceration of herbs, wood and other regional elements that are known to have an aphrodisiac character. The beverages are "pusanga", "chamico", "siete raices" (seven roots), "huitochado", etc. Masato (drink based on crushed cooked cassave fermented with
sweet potato or sugar). Chuchuhuasi (eau-de-vie based on a bitter, astringent root, very popular in the entire Jungle region).
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