Widely considered the first openly homosexual figure in Peruvian history, Juan José Cabezudo had, by the early nineteenth century, also become one of the most recognizable public figures in Lima despite their modest social and economic position. An Afro-Peruvian cook, street vendor, and culinary entrepreneur, Cabezudo built a reputation largely through the preparation and sale of tamales, sweets, and other prepared foods that circulated through the city’s busy streets, plazas, and elite social gatherings. But while they were known for their culinary endeavors, Cabezudo’s visibility within Lima also extended beyond the food they prepared and served. The combination of their perceived effeminate dress, gestures, speech, and demeanor resulted in them becoming publicly identified as “el maricón,” a pejorative term used in nineteenth-century Peru toward men understood to be feminine or sexually nonconforming. Despite the hostility embedded in this label, Cabezudo was able to live freely and openly, occupying a highly visible and socially legible role within the city’s urban culture and becoming one of the clearest documented examples of gender nonconformity in early republican Latin America.