Cuy: Eating guinea pig

           Before arriving in Peru, I was determined to make the most of my experience by trying out many aspects of the local culture, especially the cuisine.  There have been many delicious novel foods, such as tequeños, alpaca, and palta rellena, however there was one food in particular which I had some reservations about: cuy.  Cuy is a Peruvian delicacy which consists of a fried or baked guinea pig.  Despite the popularity of guinea pigs as pets in the US, I knew I couldn’t let this deter me from trying this local cuisine. 

            The first chance I got to try cuy occurred during our trip to the town of Pisac.  Having just finished our hike down from the old city, I was starved and ready to eat just about any food put in front of me.  What better time to try this interesting dish?  Thus, I joined a group prepared to share a guinea pig and walked over to a table.  Interestingly, the restaurant had all its live guinea pigs out in the open for us to see.  They were quite cute, running around in their shelter, not knowing they were destined to be consumed by the very customers looking in on them.

            When it came time to eat the cuy, I was surprised by the manner in which it was presented on the plate.  Instead of the meat appearing on the plate in formless chunks, the guinea pig appeared whole, with a nearly defiant stance.  The head was still attached, with the mouth open in a snarl, the claws of the feet still visibly clenched.  Aside from the lack of fur and the slightly darkened skin, this guinea pig appeared as if it could have jumped off the plate and run. I found this manner of serving the food interesting, as we often hide the sources of our meat in the US.  For example, there is no telling which part of a chicken winds up in our chicken nuggets, or what goes into a sausage or hot dog.  The presentation of cuy in the clearly recognizable form of the very same guinea pigs less than five feet away from the table shows that Peruvians are perhaps more comfortable with a natural food chain than we are in the US.

            Overall, I thought the cuy had an interesting taste.  The meat itself didn’t have an overwhelming flavor; it mostly just tasted of the spices it was cooked with.  The texture of the meat was nice, not too chewy or gamey, yet the skin was almost rubbery.  The process of actually eating the cuy was a bit more work than I anticipated.  The amount of meat we got from meticulously stripping the bones of the guinea pig did not quite merit the amount of time we spent doing so.   In all, I am glad I tried the guinea pig, such a renowned local dish.  I would likely eat it again, but I would be interested to try the version with more crispy skin.  This was a great step in immersing myself in the local culture!