Oxfam Trip to Peru…
For those of you who don’t already know, I am currently in Peru touring around with Oxfam. In February, 2009, I became an Ambassador to Oxfam- a great organization committed to “[help] people gain the hope, skills, and direction to create a new future.” It’s been a really great experience! If you can, check out Twitter to hear more about what has been going on! Here is what I did today:
3rd day in the Andes…about 1 hour from Cusco… I visited a Quechean village….where they specialize in growing potatoes. They are also descendants of the Inca’s.
They grow over 1300 varieties of potatoes. They made us lunch and we had potatoes, simply boiled, that we peeled and then sprinkled w/ salt and topped w/ a lemony, herby (local herbs they grow..one being oregano) pesto like sauce (no cheese but they did add peanuts).
Fried potatoes topped w/ fresh oregano, corn and potatoes soup and a local jello like dessert made w/ a local fruit similar to passion fruit.
We then learned how they harvest the potatoes and how they are trying to adapt the different variety of potatoes to the ever changing climate of the Andes…b/c of global warming.
There are 4-5 thousand varieties of potatoes produced in the world and Peru produces 3200 of them. So if the ingenious farmers can no longer produce that will definitely affect there economy but it definitely affect our consumption!!
xo,
Giada
