King Kongs

Food Types:
Baked goods

By Lorraine Caputo

All over the Chiclayo region the King Kong is a popular treat. This gigantic alfajor has thick wafers layered with fillings of pinapple jam, manjar blanco (soft caramel) and peanut-molasses (cachaca) jam. How did the King Kong earn its name? Was it because the great ape wanted to win the love of Fay Wray with one of these gigantic cookies? Not quite. Official history says it all began back in the 1920s. In her home, Victoria Mejía de García of Lambayeque made all sorts of traditional sweets which she sold to raise money to feed the poor. From the moneys she made, twice a year she provided breakfast and groceries to the destitute : on June 13, the feast day of San Antonio de Pádua, patron saint of the poor, and on Christmas day. Her giant-sized alfajor was a hit—just like the then-just released movie King Kong. Thus the treat’s name. Another version of history says that because the war, women would make their alfajors large, to save on ingredients.

In Chiclayo, the stretch of Avenida Bolognesi sandwiched between Avenida Balta Sur and Colón is dubbed "Paseo de los Kingkones," or Passageway of the King Kongs. Here are shop after shop selling the pastry prepared by a horde of local bakeries. Be sure to grab one before you hop your bus to sweeten that long journey to Lima or Amazonas.