Even though train service to Machu Picchu has been interrupted for at least the next six weeks or so (FYI: a bus/train connection via Santa Teresa is supposedly in the works until it is repaired) and the Inca Trail is closed for it’s annual maintenance in February, there are still plenty of alternatives to spend your time in Peru. There’s much more to Peru than Machu Picchu. Sure, it’s a world wonder and a UNESCO world heritage site, but there’s 11 other world heritage sites in Peru too.

Now that McDonald’s and soon a Starbuck’s have infiltrated Cuzco’s Plaza de Armas (please boycott these), I thought it was time to paint a picture on what options there are for the foodie in the tourist bubble that is Cuzco, Peru. While pizzerias, backpacker cafes, and pubs are popular, if you only spend your money at these places you will miss out on the bounty of Andean recipes and ingredients that are right under your nose.

Cusco, once a culinary wasteland, is increasingly becoming a high watermark of Peruvian cuisine. No other places in the Andes apart from maybe Quito, Ecuador has such an impressive gastronomic scene. While restaurants like Bistrot 370 are redefining the city, outside in the Sacred Valley where things have always been a little bit more laid back.

Rafael Osterling (www.rafaelosterling.com) is a Lima culinary name on par with Gaston Acurio and a growing number of restaurants to match the celebuchef. Satellites of his Rafael restaurant in Lima have opened this year in Bogota and Puerto Madero (Buenos Aires) amid lots of hype, so his Cusco restaurant, Bistrot 370, has opened relatively under the radar. If you were in Cusco and weren’t looking for it, you probably wouldn’t even know it was there.

 I couldn’t resist taking a photo of this upon seeing it in a Cusco, Peru supermarket. I have seen raviolis made from Coca flour, along with cookies, tea, candy, and everything else, but this is the first I have seen of Coca leaf beer. I’m not sure why one bottle says Premium and the [...]

Cusco, Peru is where many travelers to Peru fly to so they can see the famed ruins of Machu Picchu. No direct flights fly to Cusco from international destinations, therefore all travelers flying into Peru have to go through Lima where they can catch any number of cheap daily flights to the Andean capital.