Machas are a very popular mollusk in Peru, a member of the Ensus genus of clams. In past years it has been very important to Peru’s economy. But because of the weather related phenomenon of El Niño, its gathering, transport, and sale have been forbidden since it was at risk of extinction on the Peruvian coast.
In recent years, people have become aware that it would not be good to let machas disappear and so have developed projects of seeding the coast of Arequipa, especially the beaches of Las Cuevas and La Virgen in Camaná and the beach of La Mansa in the province of Caraveli.
Thanks to this project we hope to recuperate this marine resource and to also favor the people who dedicate themselves to its commerce. As a result, the Government of Arequipa has worked hard on this project and has dedicated some 950,319 /S to it.
This marine resource is also important in our gastronomy, since with it we can prepare excellent dishes that have amazing flavor. We can mention the great variety of dishes made from Machas, among them a picante de machas, a ceviche de machas, and so on.
Despite this importance, we have quit making so many foods from machas for several years in order to allow the machas to reproduce and, as a result, they were only available in the market at a very high price.
In Arequipa there is great joy because it has been announced that in 2014 people will be able to once again commercialize this mollusk and, as a result, once again we will have these delicious dishes to enjoy without having to pay astronomic prices.
You can see that people are valuing ever more our natural resources. As a result, on the day when machas reappear in the market all of Peru will be very happy because we will have been able to recuperate something for our culture and our people.
