Feria de Arequipa

Each August, Arequipa marks its founding anniversary with nine days of celebration at Cerro Juli, blending consumer expo, cultural festival and civic pride into one event. Known nationally as the 'Ciudad Blanca' for the pale volcanic sillar stone of its UNESCO-listed colonial centre, Arequipa uses the anniversary season to lean heavily into its distinctive regional cuisine, widely considered one of Peru's richest.

A dedicated gastronomic route runs through the fair, serving typical arequipeño dishes alongside other Peruvian and international cooking. Arequipa's picanterías, or old-style eateries, are famous for hearty specialities like rocoto relleno (stuffed spicy peppers), adobo (a pork stew), chupe de camarones (shrimp chowder) and ocopa, and the anniversary season draws heavily on that heritage, with standalone events like an arequipeño adobo festival and the long-running 'Sabores de Arequipa' gastronomic festival running alongside the main fair.

The centrepiece of the wider anniversary celebrations is the Corso de la Amistad, a four-kilometre friendship parade through the city centre, but for food-focused visitors, the fair's gastronomic route is the clearest single showcase of what makes Arequipa's food culture so distinctive within Peru.