By many acounts, Peruvian cuisine is considered one of the finest and most varied in the world, and as sophisticated as French, Chinese or Indian cuisine.

The variety part comes from the unusually diverse and well-integrated population (in addition to the Incas, there are Chinese, Japanese, African, Gypsy, Spain, Basque and Italian) and from a unique geography and climate (rainforests, mountains, ocean coast and fresh water in the Amazon basin). Peru is also an important center of genetic diversity of the world's crops; many of its ancient crops have been rediscovered and are back on the table.