National Potato Day in Peru

Hello Jane,

It depends on where you travel in Peru. And as potato/food fairs, exhibitions, cooking contents, etc. surrounding the National Potato Day are usually announced short-term, right now it's difficult to recommend specific activities.

However, there are already a few potato-related activities you can look into now:

- Visit the Feria de la Papa (Potato Fair), which is usually held in Cusco on May 30 and include lots of regional dishes, cooking contests, traditional music and dance.

- Visit the Parque de la Papa (Potato Park) near Pisac in the Sacred Valley, where you can explore over 1,300 native potato varieties cultivated by local indigenous communities, learn about traditional farming practices and agro-biodiversity conservation, meet Quechua farmers, participate in potato planting/harvesting, and try ancestral recipes.

- Visit a local market in Lima (for example, Surquillo market) or in Cusco (San Pedro market) / in the Sacred Valley or in the southern Ayacucho area, where mountains of potatoes in all colors, shapes, and sizes, and even freeze-dried ones like chuño and morcoco are sold.

- Take a cooking class with focus on native potatoes. Some cooking schools offer a visit to a local market, where you shop for ingredients, followed by a hands-on cooking class.

- Take part in a dye workshop using potato-based mordants.

- Consider a homestay in a farming community in an Andean village, where you live with a local family for a few days, farm potatoes at altitude and learn indigenous farming techniques (when you come in May it's harvesting time) and prepare traditional dishes.

- Visit the Ruta de la Papa, an agrotourism initiative led by the Cooperativa Papas Andinas del Perú, a collective of local farmers dedicated to preserving and promoting native potato varieties. The route is centered around Condorccocha, approximately 45 minutes south of the city of Ayacucho by road. There you can explore fields where over 900 varieties of native potatoes, along with other Andean tubers like oca, mashua, and olluco, are cultivated; engage with local farmers to learn about traditional farming practices, participate in planting or harvesting activities, and understand the significance of these crops in Andean culture; taste traditional dishes prepared with native potatoes and other local ingredients; visit the Museo de la Papa Condorccocha, which was only inaugurated in Mach 2025. Additionally, the cooperative has developed lodging facilities to accommodate visitors, ensuring a comfortable stay amidst the highland landscapes.

- Attend the Ruta de la Papa festival in Condorccocha, which is usually held on May 30/31 and includes lots of regional potato dishes, live Andean music, folk dances, and traditional planting rituals.

- Try traditional potato dishes, such as Papa a la Huancaina (my favorite), Causa limeña. Ocopa Arequipeña. Carapulcra.

I hope you will have a fantastic stay in Peru.

Greetings

Eva