Every October Mistura comes to Lima. Mistura is touted as the food festival of Peru (though I think it's the only food festival of Peru?) I had just returned to Lima from Uruguay the night before, and so I was able to attend the very last day of it with my friends Nadya and Kevin, and their daughter Emma. We hopped in a cab to get down to the Costa Verde, where the grounds of Mistura were located. And in the typical Peruvian fashion we arrived at the entrance it was a complete circus. It took us about fifteen minutes to first determine which was the line for purchasing tickets, and which was the to get inside the gates with your recently purchased tickets. Once that was taken care of we got in the nebulous line/mob of people and waited.....
And waited some more.
And waited just a little more.
Finally after about twenty minutes of waiting the line started moving. Apparently the grounds were at capacity so they had to wait for people to exit before they could allow more in. (Makes sense... but still annoying)
All of the signage and graphic design was really well done.
Once we got past the maze that was the entrance we entered a complete mob of humanity... and I put my phone away. The festival was massive and sprawling with different sections devoted to different types of Peruvian cuisine from the coast, mountains, and jungle. There was a massive beer tent displaying the recently developed craft beer scene that's taken hold in Lima, and Peru in general. I honestly was really underwhelmed by the whole event, and extremely overwhelmed by the crowds. I guess I expected the event to be a little better organized... though I shouldn't have since nothing is particularly well organized here in Peru. And I was also extremely disappointed to figure out that my entry ticket didn't also come with food tasting. You had to purchase tickets for food separately. Most of the food stands did not take cash, so that was yet another line we had to wait in to get food tickets. Once again, I wish I had been made aware of that before I waited in line for twenty minutes to order a cheese empanada.
The four of us did not stay long because many of the food stands were running out of food (makes sense since it was the last day...) and the crushing amount of humanity was beginning to get really old really fast. Overall- and I may get angry comments for this- I'm not really quite sure what the big deal over Mistura is? You can easily get all the same food, for much cheaper, at the food stands around Parque Kennedy or at the Mercado Uno in Surquillo. I don't know that the appeal is of having to wait in massive lines for pretty subpar comida criollo that I could easily have purchased in Miraflores for half the time and half the hassle.
At least now I can say I went, and that's the point right?
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