Amazon ingredients once ignored... 'Jungle Chef' Schiapino brings them to the finest dining tables

Rainbow Mountain, located at an altitude of 5,000m, had been hidden in ice for ages before being revealed to the world only a few years ago. The Lima, Peru episode of KBS 'Culinary Humanity,' which aired on April 8, 2017, begins by highlighting this geological wonder. This destination is also a place whose true value has not been recognized until now: Lima, the capital of Peru, where layers of time are stacked deep.

Long ago, Europeans called this land a land of gold mines. And 500 years later, the broadcast reported that people around the world are flocking to Peru in search of another kind of gold: Peruvian food. As of the time of the broadcast, there were 4 million travelers who visited Peru last year, and nearly half of them chose Peru because of its food. The question this program asks is how Lima, which was merely a peripheral area just a few years ago, could emerge as a capital of gastronomy.

Amazon ingredients brought to the table by 'Jungle Chef' Schiapino

In the middle of a restaurant kitchen heating up ahead of mealtime, stood Schiapino, one of Peru's star chefs. Known as the 'Jungle Chef,' he is a rising star in the Peruvian culinary scene, famous for traveling around the Amazon region to source extraordinary ingredients from rivers, lakes, and rainforests to transform them into innovative dishes.

The first dish he showed was a very simple salad. When the bark of a palm tree is peeled away, a pure white inner core emerges, looking like rolled-up paper; he peels this core thinly like noodles and makes a salad by adding powder from a plant called yucca brought from the Amazon and a couple of types of oil. It is said that Amazonians obtain dietary fiber from the palm tree core when there are not many vegetables depending on the season. Vegetables that Amazon locals ate routinely became a dish in the hands of Schiapino.

The ingredients sent by Amazonian farmers were things that even Peruvians found unfamiliar until just a few years ago. Among them is a fruit with a sour, spicy taste and a texture like eggplant, used to make juices and chili sauces. The broadcast reported that dishes such as meat seasoned and wrapped in leaves of ginger and other plants that look like large banana leaves, and giant snail dishes grown in the Amazon River region, were all things that did not appear on Peruvian tables before Schiapino.

Amazon ingredients once ignored

It was about 10 years ago that he, having returned after studying in the United States and Italy, became interested in Amazonian ingredients. However, he was ignored at first. He looked back and said it was difficult because guests felt uncomfortable being pulled out of their comfort zones when he placed ingredients on the plate that they had never seen before or names they were not accustomed to reading and hearing.

Even Peruvians themselves perceived the Amazon merely as an underdeveloped area and did not think the Amazon could be a precious asset of food culture. He explained that for a long time, when people in Lima talked about Peru, they did not consider the Amazon part of their culture, so he made it his motto to tell guests that Peru is full of diversity, ingredients, flavors, techniques, and culture, and that they must discover their own country. The broadcast reported that the realization that there was a need to re-evaluate themselves led the young chef to this massive river.

Amazon River, home to over 1,000 species of fish

The Amazon River originates in the Andes and runs to the Atlantic Ocean, creating the world's largest rainforest and the world's richest biodiversity. To the question of how many species of fish live in the river, the answer returned was that there are more than 1,000 species. It is said that even now, about 100 new species of flora and fauna are discovered every year in the Amazon region. As such, the broadcast introduced that Amazonian traditional markets are full of rare ingredients, and this place has provided inspiration for a gastronomic revolution to challenging young chefs like Schiapino.

Pacu, a freshwater fish over 2m in length

Another ingredient rediscovered by Chef Schiapino is fish from the Amazon River and lakes. A representative example is the Pacu, introduced as the largest existing freshwater fish on Earth. It was explained that in the chef's treasure trove, Pacu sourced from the Amazon was stored by part, and that he receives the Pacu whole, using even the bones and skin, and even freezes the skin. The scientific name is Arapaima gigas. The broadcast reported that Chef Schiapino is the first in the entire South American continent to bring Amazonian ingredients to the tables of high-end restaurants.

The production team visited the fish farm where Chef Schiapino receives the Pacu. The guide was handled by Schiapino's fellow chef, Richard. In the water of this farm, about 40 Pacu are being raised, and the large ones are over 2m in body length and eat fish as food. When the Pacu catching began, ten grown men rushed in and vigorously pulled a net with a diameter of over 20m. It is said that the Pacu has a hard body and especially a hard skull, to the extent that tools can be damaged if they collide incorrectly.