At Lima’s Surquillo Market, I spotted a woman selling baskets of quinoa in an array of colors. She sat on a stool with the containers encircling her polleras skirt, the traditional dress of Andean women. In Peru, quinoa is a sacred crop, and its nutritional benefits make it one of the most popular seeds worldwide. With it, my cooking instructor, Tomas, and I made a delicious protein-packed salad with roasted vegetables and fresh herbs.

Causas are a unique layered potato dish that is served chilled as an appetizer or light meal. I first had them in Lima, Peru and I loved the artistic presentation and slightly spicy flavor in the different layers.

When I was in Peru I fell in love with ceviche, a simple dish made with fresh fish. One night at a restaurant in Lima I saw “vegetable ceviche” on the menu and ordered it. It was so different and tasty I decided to design my own version. Tiger milk is a sauce for ceviche that is made with minced white fish, but I use coconut milk for this vegan version. I actually won an award in a chef competition with this recipe, and I’ve been serving it at my “Around the World” dinners for the past year. It requires a bit of preparation with so many ingredients, but it is worth it, I promise!

It’s chilly in the Atacama desert at night, but one evening I was privileged to cook with the chef of a guesthouse near San Pedro, Chile. The kitchen was warm from the wood-fired oven as we stood at a large wooden table, making empanadas by the dozens.

I once spent three days exploring Argentina’s stunning region of Mendoza. horseback riding, hiking, and sampling its famous bold red wines. One evening, I attended a dinner where every dish included a Mendoza wine (even dessert). For the main course, the chef served beef short ribs that had braised all afternoon in a pot of Malbec and fresh herbs. He presented it on a bed of potatoes with a drizzle of velvety sauce.

The Vines resort is nestled in the foothills of the Andes Mountains in the Mendoza region of Argentina. While staying there, I spent hours wandering around the outdoor kitchen area where numerous open fires were being tended to for preparation of the evening dinner. Under the portico there was a grill set between two brick walls where an iron grate laid across. At least a dozen whole fish were sizzling over the sparkling flames. The young chef proudly tended the fish, careful to cook them perfectly while I watched and asked questions of their preparation. He explained that the key to grilling fish is to keep the grates oiled well and watch closely to make sure they don’t burn.

There’s nothing quite like hiking through the ancient Inca ruins of Machu Picchu in Peru. We were the first to enter the gate one drizzly morning, and the clouds covered most of the views. After hours of walking and climbing, the sun finally peeked out and the clouds drew back, as if they were a curtain revealing a most spectacular stage set. The long day of admiring such beauty ended in the bar at the Sanctuary Lodge nearby, where I took a pisco tasting lesson from the elegant bartender. He presented 13 piscos for me to try, each different in its own way. The chef brought a steaming bowl of corn soup for dinner, which was a perfect pairing to the piscos.

One of the most classic Peruvian dishes is Aji de Gallina, a rich chicken stew blended with nuts and aji Amarillo. It appeared on menus all over Lima, and nearly every Peruvian cook had her recipe, claiming it to be the best.

If I learned anything about the way food is cooked in Patagonia, it’s that the main ingredient is fire. Nearly every meal I ate, and dish I prepared was either baked in a wood-fired oven or on a spit or grill over roaring flames. It was the end of spring when I visited the Chilean side of Patagonia and many of the vegetables had just ripened. They were drizzled with olive oil and roasted over flames next to beef or lamb, and sometimes buried in the ash to cook slowly in the hot embers.

Argentina boasts some of the best steaks in the world, mostly due to the way they raise their cattle. Very happy cows graze in the lush pastures called “Las Pampas”, resulting in lean and very flavorful meat. The city of Buenos Aires has countless parrillas steakhouses where cuts of beef are grilled and seasoned with nothing more than salt.