Hakka Lunch in Lima

A lively Hakka woman, Liliana Com, leads me on a whirlwind tour of Lima’s Chinatown, the largest in South America. She tells me that the Chinese make up 10 percent of the city’s population. Many Hakkas used to live here, but now the largest Chinese community is Cantonese. At first glance, this neighborhood looks like any other Chinatown. Restaurants, gift shops, temples, and markets line the streets. Cabbages the size of bowling balls, long beans, bok choy, and silvery bean sprouts are mounded high on store shelves. Roast ducks the color of polished mahogany and glistening red barbecued pork hang in restaurant windows. Steamed pork buns, sweet dumplings, and cakes tempt from their glass cases. Yet a Latin vibe pulsates through this Chinatown: Spanish phrases are interspersed with Chinese, signs are written in Spanish, and hungry Peruvians rove the streets, searching for a good Chinese meal.