The chino - cochino question

Photo Credit: www.flickr.com/photos/motoperu

My first official visit to Lima, Peru left me impressed with the many Chinese restaurants that were in the city. Known as "Chifa," many were quite humble while a few looked pretty extravagant.  

Photo Credit: www.flickr.com/photos/motoperu

Photo Credit:  http://middleofmydreams.wordpress.com/

Photo Credit:  http://newworldreview.com/

I wanted to give Peruvian Chinese food a try.  I live in Monterey Park, after all.  It was sort of a cultural and culinary experiment.  

My hosts and driver in Lima were Peruvian.  On my next-to-last evening they asked where I wanted to have dinner. Commenting on the number of Chinese restaurants I had seen in the city, I mentioned my interest in trying one of the "chifa."  It was at this point that I ran into something of a culture clash.  

The driver, who spoke no English, shared a story with me related to this request.  The two words I picked out of the conversation were the words, "chino" and "cochino."  Chino was clear to me.  Most Asians in South America are misrepresented as being "Chino" (meaning someone of Chinese descent).  The other word I didn't understand was the word, "cochino."  Somehow it seemed to be the heart of his observation, comparing "Chino" and "cochino," like some play on words.  I would later find out the meaning of the word, and this could possibly explain my experience that evening.  

We ended up driving for close to an hour, many times passing some promising looking Chifa restaurants.  "Oh, that's a nice one," I would think.  And then we would pass it.  The driver and the hosts were talking to each other, evidently trying to decide what to do.  

After a long drive around the city, we ended up in an upscale shopping mall.  We parked the car and walked to what was essentially a Peruvian version of Panda Express for our dinner.  I thought, "What??"

It is my guess that my hosts had never eaten at an authentic Chinese restaurant.  They were unfamiliar with what restaurant would be a good choice.  But perhaps most telling was their perception that Chinese restaurants were unhygienic, and that the cooking style was unsanitary.  

And here it clicked.  The word, cochino in Spanish means "pig" and is descriptive of something that is filthy or dirty.  Unless I totally failed to piece together the conversation of the entire evening, the sense I got was that there are Peruvians who consider Chinese food as something dirty.  And that they being good hosts, did not want to expose me to anything that might create a health problem.

I would like to imagine that it wasn't a racist thing, but a socio-economic thing.  The church I had the most contact with was a native Peruvian, lower income group.  It was not likely that they would have much opportunity to interact with the Chinese Peruvian community nor to spend their money on restaurant food.  Especially food that would be considered "foreign."  That notwithstanding, a quick perusal of the internet reveals that this combination of words is considered extremely rude and not something spoken aloud in polite company.  

I'm going back to Lima in October.  I write this simply as a bookmarker, an opportunity to remember.  I may have been completely incorrect in my perception, but I want to go back and to give another try at understanding the Peruvian perspective as it relates to Chinese culture and cuisine.