From the Plate to Gastro-Politics: Unravelling the Boom of Peruvian Cuisine

Raúl Matta

Nov. 30, 2026 / 19:00 (JST), 11:00 (CET), / Online only

Zoom link:  https://sophia-ac-jp.zoom.us/j/99706771447 

Meeting ID: 997 0677 1447

Password: 337680

Over the past two decades, Peru has become an international gastronomic destination. Celebrated chefs, innovative restaurants, and extraordinary culinary diversity have transformed the country's image, turning cuisine into a source of national pride, cultural recognition, and economic opportunity. But how did this gastronomic boom emerge, and who has benefited from its success?

Drawing on my book From the Plate to Gastro-Politics: Unravelling the Boom of Peruvian Cuisine, this talk examines the social, cultural, and political processes behind the rise of Peruvian gastronomy. It explores how chefs became influential cultural figures, Indigenous ingredients and culinary traditions were reinterpreted through global fine dining, and gastronomy became associated with national development and social inclusion.

Moving beyond celebratory accounts of Peru's culinary success, I examine the inequalities and power relations underlying this transformation, particularly the gentrification of Indigenous cuisines, the relationship between gastronomy and neoliberal politics, and the uses of food as cultural heritage. The talk considers what the Peruvian experience reveals about gastronomy's capacity to reshape national identities, generate value, and reproduce or challenge social hierarchies.

Raúl Matta is a full researcher at the Institute Lyfe Research and Innovation Center and a research associate at the Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD), both in France. Previously, he worked at the Freie Universität Berlin, the IRD, and the University of Göttingen. Between 2021 and 2022, he was a Marie Skłodowska Curie/FIAS Fellow at the Paris Institute for Advanced Study. His work lies at the intersection of anthropology, food, and heritage studies, examining how diverse actors ascribe multiple meanings and purposes to food. Raúl has conducted fieldwork in Peru, Mexico, Germany, and France and held leading positions in several international research projects, most recently the EC Horizon–funded CONVIVIUM. He is the author of From the Plate to Gastro-Politics (Palgrave, 2023) and co-editor of The Routledge Handbook of Food and Cultural Heritage (2025).

This talk is organized by Maria Alejandra Dorado Vinay (PhD student at Sophia University GPGS, ICC Research Assistant) and James Farrer (Professor, Sophia University) for the ICC Research Unit “Sophia Food Studies”