• Daily Life in Lima,  Food & Dining

    Panettone Madness

      Stacked to the ceiling in Wong supermarket, Lima It is December in Lima; therefore, Christmas is coming; therefore, the city is being overrun by armies of panettone boxes. You may wonder what this Milanese sweet bread is doing in Peru, which does not have a large Italian population. Don’t ask. It’s Peru. Many decades ago, the dessert bread became coupled in the Peruvian imagination with Christmas festivities, and eating gobs of panettone became what one did at Navidad. (Actually, the custom was introduced by Antonio D’Onofrio, the son of immigrants from Caserta, Italy, who licensed the Milanese recipe and packaging and proceeded to build a baking and ice cream empire in Peru, according to Wikipedia.)  Peru isn’t…