Courageously resisting the seductive force of celebrity chefs, María Elena García presents a deep analysis of the latest nationalistic and neocolonial project that Marca Peru, Chefs con Causa, and celebrity chefs’ appropriation of cuy (guinea pig) represent. The gastronomic boom is placed in the long history of colonial relations within the country to argue that “in fact, hegemonic discourses and performances of inclusion and culinary success obscure ongoing violence, particularly against Indigenous lands and bodies” (xii). García frames the gastronomic boom and its politics as a settler colonial project of white-elite restoration and Indigenous erasure. Thus, the book is about Lima, even when Cuzco (Moray) is part of the story, illustrating how the producers, mostly Indigenous peoples, have been excluded and exploited by celebrity chefs as, simultaneously, their voices are silenced.

The first part of the book, “Structures of Accumulation,” deconstructs the inclusive narratives of the gastronomic boom, specifically fusion or mestizaje and the discovery or appropriation of indigeneity. Chapter 1 features the savvy creation of Marca Peru as the most visible example of the gastronomic complex, in which “state, private, non-profit, and academic organizations, all working toward the promotion of tourism and increased economic investment in the country” (37). Marca Peru markets Peru to global elites as a peaceful destination where authentic ethnic adventures, and more specifically perfect multiculturalism, are on the plate. This erases decades of violence caused by racial inequalities that the agrarian reform and later Sendero Luminoso (Shining Path) tried to address, but that the elites blamed on them. Thus, Marca Peru is an imperial project in which food is used as a weapon to conquer, first, Peruvians, and second, the world.

But like every national project, Marca Peru is also defined by what it silences and excludes, in this case, violence against indigenous peoples. One of the founders of Marca Peru, internationally awarded chef Gastón Acurio, erases past violence with the notion that Peru's cuisine is a fusion of many “bloods.” In Chapter 2, readers encounter celebrity chef Virgilio Martínez, who disturbingly “discovers” vertical cuisine by appropriating indigenous food, practice, and knowledge and then “translates” them as his own as an ecological and gastronomic vertical experience. Indigenous peoples are completely erased, while their lands are incorporated as exotic, empty places.

This is perhaps one of the oldest colonial discourses since Christopher Columbus, yet chef Martínez presents it to Peruvian and global elites as a convenient, intriguing fad. What a perfect example of coloniality! García contrasts these two chefs: “While Acurio emphasizes fusion and mixture, Martínez emphasizes an authentic, ‘ancestral,’ indigeneity. This is a key ingredient for Martínez, but only as the authenticating anchor that allows him to mine Native knowledge and claim a link to Indigenous traditions through the presentation of Native peoples as ‘ancestors’” (90).

The second part of the book, “Narratives from the Edge,” is both fascinating and promising, yet disappointing. The “edges” are three people and the cuy. Chapter 4 presents the reader with Aida, a producer, who challenges the discourses of modernity-development as masculine and of indigeneity as ancestry, and chef Palmiro Ocampo, who uses his celebrity status to promote anti-waste and anti-hunger campaigns. The human costs of the boom are brought to the table: only one percent of Peruvians can eat at these fancy restaurants. Chapter 5 is dedicated to explaining the appropriation, mass production, and national marketing of the cuy and how the animals were first domesticated thousands of years ago by people of the Andes, where they were raised in the kitchen and sacrificed for special occasions. Celebrity chefs have taken the cuy to Peruvian and global elites and away from Andean women, although we never learn how the women feel about it. The mass production of cuy has allowed some migrant families in Lima modest social mobility (see the story of Walter in Chapter 6), while the animal experiences the horror of industrial farming.

This book is a major contribution to studies on globalization, coloniality, race, and Latin America.