Today is Monday the 1st of July. Half of 2024 has already gone. Time passes too fast, doesn’t it? While I try to keep in mind that I should treasure each and every day of life, it doesn't always go that well. I have days in my life when I feel it really is quite difficult to get a sense of achievement from that day. Well, I got some time off in late June and went to that famous destination, Machu Picchu. I actually timed the trip to coincide with the “Inti Raymi” (Festival of the Sun), which is held on June 24 every year in Cusco, the gateway to Machu Picchu, and I thought that seeing as I am living in Peru, I should take a look with my own eyes at least once. Inti Raymi is famous for being one of the 3 top festivals in South America. Rather than being a fun trip, every day was like training or practice or something, but still, I want to put down my precious experiences in another article. The one thing I did find out is that you absolutely need physical stamina to get to Machu Picchu.


Today what I would like to tell you about is “pollo a la brasa.” First, “pollo” means “chicken” and “a la brasa” means "roasted,” so “pollo a la brasa” means “Peruvian-style roast chicken.” Everywhere in the world has roast chicken, right? Well, that’s what I thought when I first arrived in Peru. But Wikipedia lists this dish as “Pollo a la brasa (Perú),” deliberately putting round brackets around “Peru,” that’s how much of an original dish this is to Peru.


Its origins are said to go back 70 years from now, when it was developed by 2 Swiss men, Roger Schuler (the man who came up with the idea) and Franz Ulrich (the man who executed it). When I found out that the dish was developed by the Swiss, not Peruvians, I thought that couldn’t be right. I was completely taken by surprise. In 1949, Schuler (the man who came up with the idea) started up La Granja Azul, a restaurant on the outdoor patio of his home in Santa Clara, on the outskirts of Lima. It had only 3 tables and served pollo a la brasa. Although the restaurant started out small, the whole roast chicken, pollo a la brasa, was a big hit. Schuler asked his friend Ulrich, a mechanical engineer, on the phone, “I want you to make a machine that can cook as many whole chickens as possible in one go.” Ulrich then managed to successfully develop a pollo a la brasa oven, one that could cook 60 chickens at the same time using rotation and horizontal movement. Then Luis, who worked with Ulrich as an assistant, added a number of technical modifications to the original plan and succeeded in developing a new, cheaper model. Development of this new model allowed for a big chain of restaurants offering fast, cheap, and delicious pollo a la brasa, and in the 1980s, the dish became available for people across the whole of Peru to eat. This mechanical development actually advanced the food culture of Peru.




Then in 2010, the third Sunday of July was designated Pollo a la Brasa Day, in recognition of it having attained the status of one of Peru’s most popular dishes over many years.


I am so intrigued by this dish that I order home delivery of pollo a la brasa on days when I’m not feeling well. With home delivery, you get a thick layer of French fries, as a side, and the chicken dumped on top.


Of course, behind every success there is a story of passion, where the person with the idea and the person who puts that idea into effect move in the same direction, facing the challenge with the same level of enthusiasm, right. I hope I continue to discover more stories like this in Peru.


Well, here’s where I say “Adios!” This has been Shoko Yamamoto from Paracas, Peru.