Cooking Class: Peruvian Flavor – Chef Colomba leads a class in learning Peru’s classics the purple potato, ahi salad and green rice with chicken. Tuesday, 5:30-7:30 p.m.

Olenka Orjeda of Santa Rosa made it her mission to bring her native country’s authentic, home cooking to the North Bay with pop-up dinners, private parties and cooking classes.

Maiz Concha Chulpi. Rocoto sauce. Aji Panca. Aji Mirasol. All are foods I learned about at Luis Pagan’s recent cooking class at Chefs. Pagan is the chef/owner of Restaurante Sabores del Peru ...

So much of what is now traditional Peruvian cooking was inspired by cultures oceans away. These foreign influences date back to the Spanish conquest of Incan king Atahualpa in the 1500s.