The movement to bring Amazonian ingredients into formal restaurant settings in South America’s metropolitan areas has been going on for decades, but the post-pandemic era has ushered in a new phase. The continued development of more responsible supply chains is bringing giant freshwater snails and protein-rich macambo seeds out of the real jungle and into concrete ones, creating new opportunities for creative chefs from Ecuador to Brazil. Rather than just select ingredients like the fermented yuca sauce known as tucupi or fragrant pequi oil appearing out of context as exotic garnishes in fine dining establishments, restaurant concepts are being built around their ecosystem.
Some of these restaurants—such as Meriba in Lima, Peru or Biatüwi in Manaus, Brazil—are serving typical regional recipes. Others, like Arami in La Paz, Bolivia, opened in January by Marsia Taha, formerly the head chef of groundbreaking restaurant Gustu, whose current chef Kenzo Hirose was born in the Amazon, are reimagining how local ingredients might fit together with the help of modern kitchen tools and global trends. AWA, which opened in October inside a minimalist space filled with tropical plants and indigenous art in the fashionable Lima district of Miraflores, is among the latter.