This Is the Top Culinary Destination of 2017 (And 2016, 2015, 2014...)

For the sixth year in a row, the World Travel Awards selected Peru as their Leading Culinary Destination of 2017. The South American country has received the designation since 2012. With its fresh take on seafood and a cooking style that remains regionally and seasonally conscious, Peru’s reign comes as no surprise.

The country was in the running for this year’s award alongside Argentina, Australia, China, France, India, Italy, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, Spain, Thailand, and the U.S. This award, it seems, is part of a larger global trend of people paying attention to Peruvian food: Earlier this year, Bloomberg called Lima the “World’s Best Food City” and chef Virgilio Martínez Véliz’s Lima restaurant, Central, was featured on Netflix’s most recent season of Chef’s Table.

It’s nice to see attention being paid to countries, regions, and flavors outside the traditional culinary vanguard of France and Italy, since places like Malaysia, Argentina, and Peru have food cultures and restaurant scenes that beg recognition, too. While we’re at it, we pulled two Peruvian (and two Argentinian and two Malaysian)–inspired dishes from our site to try, for a healthy dose of armchair kitchen travel.

Have you visited Peru? Tell us about your trip in the comments below.