Street Food of the World: Peru's super street food - Chocho

Food: Chocho
Country: Peru
Region: Huaraz
Flavor: Savory
Spice level: 4/10

I am so very excited to start this segment of my blog, street food of the world. If I am going to spend my 20s eating my way across as much of the world as I can, I may as well write about it.

Here is my very first, super special presentation: the Peruvian super food secret: Chocho!

What is chocho?

Chocho is probably the healthiest a street food is ever going to get. Basically it is a salad made up mostly of the tarwi bean (we'll get to that), mixed with tomato, onion, lime juice, cilantro, cancha (Peruvian popcorn), and maybe a spicy sayce and some MSG. Yeah, peruvians still loooove MSG. Either someone forgot to tell them how hidious that stuff is for you, or they just don't care. Give me flavor or give me death, dicen.

Mix all the ingredients up and you get a super simple, super tasty salad. The street vendors here come out early, and sell it till its gone, usually by lunchtime.

Though I had seen the white bean, tarwi, while living near Cusco, the first time I ever tried this snack was when I met a Peruvian family while hiking a little off the tourist trail in the Cordillera Blanca. One of the daughters gave me a big bag of the stuff and I could not stop eating it.

Photo credit for this one goes to the excellent Steve Freeman ;)

Now, what makes this street food so special? Its main ingredien: tarwi. Tarwi, scientific name Lupinus Mutabilis, is a white bean that grows all across the high Andes. The plant itself is a beauty.

In fact, as I researched this post I pretty much fell over.

Here I am haplessly googling tarwi thinking "hmmm I wonder what the plant looks like?"

It looks like the beautiful purple flowers that have seen on literally every hike I have been on in Peru, ever. They are ubiquitous throughout the Peruvian Andes.

Now of course I can't find a picture of it. But I promise I see it all the time.

The plant itself is great. It grows well in soil with low acidity and helps replace nitrogen in the soil, well and good.

The plant then produces little white beans that are remarkable! They are 40% protein (whaaaaat) and 20% fat. That is richer in proteins than either quinoa or soy.

The bean is inedible raw, as it has a high alkaloid content resulting in a bitter taste. Easily fixed, soak the little guys in water for a few days and you are good to go.

I used to see the mamitas doing this in the markets in Urubamba, and I thought it was a bit gross, but it is totally logical.

In Cusco, they mostly grind the tarwi into a paste and eat it like a stew. Nutritious, but I find the Huaraz region's Chocho a much more delicious way to ingest the magical tarwi.

Today I bought a bag of Chocho (2 soles) and a bag of pre-shredded lettuce in the market (1 sole). Total cost of my (very filling) lunch today? 3 soles, or about $1.

So if you find yourself wandering through a market in the Andes, seriously don't miss out on this one, get yourself a big bag of Chocho and start snacking.