When we travel, I always download the Wikipedia page about the food and drinks in each country, usually called “Peruvian Cuisine” or something similar. I read the article on the bus on the way to a new country and reference it as we are traveling throughout the country. Jon and I like to try local foods and drinks, and especially as each country’s cuisine can vary by region, we review the article periodically to see what we should try as we visit each new city.

Both of our meals together – we each ordered a local Peruvian dish and had a great time!

When we first arrived in Peru and were reading about the foods and drinks, we read that cuy (pronounced coo-eee) is a popular dish. During our food tour of Lima, we asked our guide about it. He said that it’s best enjoyed in the mountain area of Peru rather than on the coast, since the mountainous region is where the cuy are raised and therefore are going to be fresher than alongside the Pacific. After hearing about cuy, Jon stated that he wanted to try it when we got to Cusco.

The presentation of cuy on a bed of lettuce with some peppers for color.

He selected a restaurant on the San Blas plaza called PachaPapa, where we had already eaten once before (although we had ordered pizzas on that visit!). Since cuy takes up to an hour to fully cook, we went knowing that the meal would be our evening’s entertainment. We each ordered a pisco cocktail (pisco is the national liquor of Peru and the most widely-used ingredient in cocktails) and a potato appetizer to have something to eat while we waited for Jon’s cuy to cook.

He was so excited to start eating, but let me take a couple more pictures first!

Shortly after we ordered our food, our waiter came to get Jon and tell him that they were going to start cooking his cuy and that he could watch. At PachaPapa, there is a large wood-burning oven set up on the side of the terrace where they cook the cuy. Jon went over and stood in front of the oven taking pictures and videos with his phone while they prepared and then slid the cuy into the oven. I wandered over for a minute to see it and could hear the sizzle of the meat cooking. We sat down to our appetizer and then Jon went back to see it again halfway through cooking.

The cuy was stuffed with some herbs and then placed into the wood-burning oven to cook for an hour.

When the cuy was fully cooked, they first presented it on a platter on a bed of lettuce with colorful peppers surrounding it. Our waiter took a couple pictures of us and then took the platter back to the kitchen to transfer it to the actual serving plate. Typically they will slice the cuy in the kitchen and serve it ready-to-eat, but Jon likes the experience of picking the meat off the bone himself. So it was served whole to him, with a side of potatoes and a salad.

Our waiter presented the cuy on a platter and took a few pictures of us together with it. This is one of the only times the waiter has offered to take pictures without me asking – I guess they are used to it when people order cuy!

We didn’t talk much during dinner, as is typical when Jon gets a plate of food that he really loves. He sliced off pieces of meat and skin, relishing each bite but also taking his time and enjoying the experience. Midway through our meal, a man came into our portion of the dining room with an Andean harp and proceeded to play a few songs. The harpist added to the atmosphere of our special dinner and brought a tear to my eye as I looked over at Jon relishing in a meal so foreign to us.

The harpist added to the atmosphere and provided beautiful music as a backdrop to our meal.

For us, this is what travel is all about: trying out a small portion of the local cuisine and getting to know a little bit of the culture. While we don’t spend enough time anywhere to become true locals, we have been able to learn the flavor of a city and make an effort to get a sense of what it means to be a Peruvian (or Mexican, or Chilean, or…). We travel to gain an understanding of another culture and people, and what better way is there to do that than through their cuisine? Learning about what someone eats and why gives us a glimpse into how they live and where they have come from. From gorditas in Mexico to lobster in Belize to platanos in Ecuador to cuy in Peru and now chorrillana in Chile, some of our favorite memories on our trip thus far have been centered around food. I can’t imagine that will stop anytime soon as we continue our travels around the world!

I think part of the fun for Jon was being able to have the whole cuy on his plate to pick apart and eat.

A few miscellaneous notes about our dinner, for those who are interested:

• Cuy is guinea pig. They are raised on farms in the mountains of Peru. Guinea pigs are not treated as pets the way they are in the USA, but instead as a source of food.
• Cuy tasted like a mix between chicken and pork. There wasn’t a ton of meat on the bone, compared to other animals that are commonly eaten, but it was flavorful.
• Lest you think I sat at the table and watched Jon eat, I also had a local dish for dinner but it wasn’t nearly as unique as the cuy! I ate aji de gallina – shredded chicken in a yellow pepper sauce, served with rice. It was delicious and I have eaten it a handful of times throughout Peru since then.
• We only went out for cuy once during six weeks in Peru, since it’s a rather expensive dish. Jon’s cuy dinner was 70 soles, or about $22. To give a point of reference, most restaurants where we ate had dishes that would range from 10 soles to 30 soles ($3 to $10). This was easily the most expensive meal we had in Peru, and that price didn’t include my dinner, our drinks, or appetizer. It was a splurge but well worth it!
  

  He was so excited about it!