Arch City International: A Story of the Paneton

The ACC is going to start turning an eye to the New American community in order to bring our readership news that doesn't routinely get reported. Some of it will be soft, and some of it will be hard. While we do our own digging, if anyone has news dealing with New Americans in St. Louis, please contact me- lucas@archcitychronicle.com.

Rebecca Rivas, Producer, writer, videographer, Fulbright scholar, and Mizzou Journalism grad, is going to help out. Following is a great story she recently wrote about peruvian fruitcake (and much, much more)

Have Yourself a Merry Paneton!
A Story of Peru’s Beloved Holiday Fruitcake

By Rebecca S. Rivas

My love for the paneton comes less from the ingredients and more from the holiday adventure in which it came to me.

At first, I couldn’t help but laugh that the Christmas fruitcake – the dreaded holiday gift in the United States – is absolutely revered in Peru. But alas, the cake won me over, just like the rest of Peru. This is my story of the paneton, the moist, raisin-filled cake that Peru loves.

Two years ago, I was traveling throughout the Peruvian Andes, reporting a story about maternal health care. Overall, the experience was magical, but it sometimes it involved staking out pregnant Andean women who could give birth at any moment and skunking around clinics and hospitals, in hopes that one doctor would be organized and helpful with statistics.

That was pretty much the all of my December. After 11 months in Peru, fatigue and frustration were fighting off holiday cheer.

One day, the investigation led me down a stone-paved narrow street, lined with tiny shops that sold used clothing. Above some steep Incan-style steps was the door to Sara Teresa’s house. This woman is known city-wide for being the Coca Lady of Cusco, a midwife, an obstetrician and a devote researcher of natural medicine. I knocked on her tall wooden door -- so tough it hurt my knuckles -- and the sliding eye window opened.

“Si?” the two peering eyes asked. I explained my visit’s purpose, and she unlocked about three bolts to let me in.

Sara Teresa stood an inch or two beneath me in stature, which is only 5’1 feet. Her gray-speckled tight curls were carefully combed away from her smooth radiant face. She dressed in her typical uniform of a calf-high gray skirt, long-sleeve button down blouse and black nurse shoes. When I spoke, she squinted her eyes and raised her nose up a bit, as if to get closer. “Interesante,” she told me (interesting).

Then, she invited me to tea.

While she prepared it, I waited in her Spanish-style, tiled patio in the middle of the modest house. The roof looked like a glass pyramid. A huge cactus -- the height of the room -- stood against one wall like a bodyguard and an old friend.

“Entra,” she said (enter). I followed her to a room straight out of an English cottage. It was decorated with white sculptures and a china closet full of teacups and plates. With all her diverse styles, I couldn’t wait to find out who this woman was.

“So what have you eaten while in the rural areas?” she asked me. “Have you tried cuy (guinea pig) or the breads?”

She wanted to know all about my travels and especially the foods I had tasted here. We talked at lengths about typical food in my family’s house.

Finally she brought out the most delightful cookies. They were made from coca leaf and wheat flour. She began telling about her travels and adventures as a nurse in Northern Italy and England. Her father was a high-ranking military officer from northern Italy, with connections. We spoke for hours and everything was a “maravilla” (miracle).

We hardly touched on maternal health.

As I was getting ready to leave, the most incredible thing happened. She said, “You would be welcome to stay here during your investigation.” I found out later that the last time anyone had stayed at her home was 15 years ago.

Maybe I had a pitiful travel-worn look, or maybe she thought it might be nice to share the holiday season with someone. In any case, I accepted and explained I would be bringing my colleague and good friend Leah, who was on her way.

Now, I’m sure we must have been quite the oddity when we arrived. Leah and I came in with our big bags of camera equipment, sandals, and sun hats. But Sara Teresa seemed interested. “How curious,” she would say to us about our experiences and equipment.

Sara Teresa showed us her research lab where she makes creams, soaps and pills out of herbal extracts, which she also produced in the lab. She shared her research of 20-or-so healing properties of the coca leaf, which was approved by the medical community in Cusco. (For the record, it takes 80 pounds of coca leaves to make one ounce of cocaine.) And she talked about her health campaigns in the rural villages, where she treats hundreds of Quechua people with natural medicine and the pills she produces.

Every morning, she or her helper would tap on our door to invite us to a scrumptious banana shake and bread. Lunch was promptly at 1:30pm, not a minute before or after. And at 5pm, we had tea and a homemade pastry, the most delicious I had ever tasted – no contest.

Now, my favorite memory was Christmas-decorating with Sara Teresa. One day, we scooted out the huge cactus and hung ornaments all over it. On a table next to it, she laid out the Nativity scene with five baby-Jesus statues, an overwhelming livestock display and a couple Santa Clauses. Then we hung lights around it all.

As spontaneous as it looked, it was extremely formulated. And at one point, Leah and I just smiled and stepped out of the way.

Outside on the street, the town was buzzing. In almost every store, there was a pyramid or some mountainous display of the paneton, a traditional holiday fruitcake. The breads come in bright red boxes that can be spotted from a steep Cusco-hill away.

The funny thing about the paneton is that it originated in northern Italy and has found fame in Peru. The tradition is to save the paneton for the midnight feast on Christmas Eve. However, I’m sure some get eaten sooner, just like Santa’s cookies in U.S. homes.

One afternoon we came home for tea, and there was a piece of coca paneton on our plates. One of her devote followers had made it for her. Her influence as a master coca baker was spreading all over Peru…and of course, throughout the world.

Looking back on it, for me, Sara Teresa is the paneton. In good Peruvian nature, she took us in at our weakest moment and restored our Christmas. And she helped to make this Peruvian-Italian cake – one that’s been chosen to celebrate Jesus’s transforming love -- into a true healing bread.

I wish I could share the recipe, but it wouldn’t do much good. The leaf’s gift is unexplored and even outlawed in this country. But if ever in Cusco, go to the Casa de Ecologia and seek out the coca paneton. You can also find Sara Teresa’s products and baked goods there.

Or you could try your own version and indulge in a Peruvian classic. Good luck and provecho!

Picture of Cusco

Sara Teresa cutting herbs