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Chifa — Chinese-Peruvian Foodways

Chifa

Diaspora

From 1849 roughly a hundred thousand Chinese — overwhelmingly Cantonese, many under coercive indenture contracts on coastal plantations and the guano islands — arrived in Peru. CHIFA is what their descendants and their cooking became: a genuinely Peruvian cuisine using soy sauce (sillao), ginger, scallion and the wok, applied to Peruvian ingredients. LOMO SALTADO — beef stir-fried with onion, tomato, ají and soy, served with chips AND rice — and ARROZ CHAUFA are eaten universally in Peru and are not thought of as foreign. ⚠ CHIFA IS NOT CHINESE FOOD and has no counterpart in China; the word itself is from Cantonese for "eat rice".

Atlas — where and when

Where in the world

Communities and languages

  • Tusán community documented
  • Chinese Peruvians community documented

Languages: Spanish

What is recorded

  • Chifa is a Peruvian cuisine created by Cantonese migrants and their descendants from 1849, many of whom arrived under coercive indenture. Lomo saltado and arroz chaufa are eaten as ordinary Peruvian food. Chifa has no counterpart in China and is not recorded as Chinese cuisine. documented
  • Chinese, overwhelmingly Cantonese, arrive in Peru — roughly a hundred thousand, many under coercive indenture on coastal plantations and the guano islands. documented

Related foodways

This foodway relates to

  • originates from Chinese documented

    Cantonese migration from 1849, much of it under coercive indenture; chifa has no counterpart in China.

Recipes

No recipes are filed under this cuisine yet.