Perusing

A tardy "Eat Your Way Around the World in London" moved its slow thighs across the desert sands to Borough Market on Wednesday night, and thence to Tito's Peruvian Restaurant, 4-6 London Bridge Street SE1 9SG.

Once a bottle of Tacano, from a vineyard established in 1540 (see http://www.peruvinos.com/) had been opened and poured, a revelation was at hand.

I started on cod ceviche with sliced sweet potato and fried corn. I first fell in love with ceviche at the Gaucho Grill two years ago.

Wikipedia says:

Ceviche (also spelled as cebiche, seviche or cevice) is a form of citrus marinated seafood salad, popular in many Latin American countries, originating in the Viceroyalty of Peru. One theory suggests that it got its name from the Quechua "siwichi". However, it is likely to be a cognate of another Spanish word, "escabeche" (marinade), derived from the Arabic term "sikbaj". Another theory suggests that its name comes from the word Cebo, name given to the Corvina fish by black Peruvians.

I'm delighted to claim it for Peru.

The main course was Pato en Aji (duck leg in chilli sauce with yellow beans and rice) which is a dish from Huaral, a town in central Peru.

Mmmmm. Beans and rice. From the hoppin' John of the Carolinas, to the feijoada of Brazil. From the vibrantly unPC monicker of Cuba's Moros y Christianos to our very own Garfield's Rice'n Peas. What a story there is to tell.

For your homework (before you follow the links for our real and imaginary destinations) I am setting "Rice and Beans: The Itinerary of a Dish", page 278 to 322 of John and Matt Lewis Thorne's Serious Pig: An American Cook in Search of His Roots