At Organika Restaurant in Cusco.

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The other day I sent an email to Dan Sheffield, assistant professor at the Department of Near Eastern Studies at Princeton University, to ask about the possible Persian roots of a Spanish expression. He kindly wrote back and said there was no connection, but added this interesting note about the linguistic roots of ceviche, Peru's most famous dish:

"One of my favorite Spanish words that does most likely come from Persian, via Arabic, is one that’s probably very familiar since you’re in Peru. That is ceviche. In Spain, they call it escabeche, which comes from Arabic as-sikbāj and ultimately from Middle Persian sikbāg ‘cooked in vinegar.’ Authors of medieval Arabic cookbooks say that sikbāj was the favorite dish of Khosrow Anushirvan, so the next time you have ceviche you can tell your friends that you’re eating like a Sasanian king."