Learnings from Peruvian gastronomy for the transculturalization of design practices

In recent decades, Peruvian gastronomy has experienced a higher exposure and production of culinary creations, manifesting practices of transcultural mixture entangling diverse cultural influences. Nevertheless, there still remains a need for studies that discuss such cultural amalgamations, which could also inform strategies for transculturalization in other culturally sensitive practices like design. This paper analyses multiple variations of well-known Peruvian dishes to understand the historical and contemporary processes of cultural mixture that have fostered the current landscape. For this, a conceptual framework that draws from Latin American Transcultural Design Studies and Gastronomic Theory is proposed to enable transdisciplinary learnings entangling both fields, emphasising their cultural influences and significance. To finally explore how these insights can be applied to develop strategies that enhance cultural richness, and reflect on the potential of transculturalization in both gastronomy and design for fostering pluriversal approaches that celebrate, honour and relate diverse cultural narratives.