During Peru’s near-300-year-period under Spanish rule, Spaniards introduced deep-fried dough balls called buñuelos to the region. Unfortunately, colonizers also brought the African slave trade. It was enslaved African cooks who refitted the original buñuelos recipe to make use of Peruvian sweet potato and squash. They kneaded flour and salt with mashed produce and fried spoonfuls of the orange dough in hot lard. To finish off the warm, chewy treat, they doused its crisp exterior in sweet syrup. Peru regained independence from Spain the 19th century, but the modified buñuelos, now…
