The guinea pig experience

When in Rome you do as the Romans, well I've done just that...

One of the traditional dishes in Peru is cuy, or guinea pig. Given I'm a man to try new things cuy was on the list of things to try.

And try cuy I did a few days ago. Let me tell you it wasn't the most appetising thing that has been put down in front of me. It looked like a large rat with big chompers. I took some photos which you can see what I mean.

After the photo opportunity the waiter grabbed the cuy and took it to cut it up into managable pieces.

When he returned he instructed that cuy is to be eaten with your hands. So that I did....

The cuy was chewy, sort of like pork crackling which hasn't fully crackled. The skin was tasty, and the meat was sweet. Unfortunately there wasnt a lot of meat on the lil guy. Reminded me a bit of rabbit, all bones.

The stomach of the cuy had been stuffed with some sort of green seasoning, maybe coca leaf? I didn't really like the green stuffing.

Along with the cuy was a stuffed chilli which was delicious (rocoto) and some fried potato.

The rocoto over here have been delicious, I'm half tempted to try and get some seeds..... ;)

Overall I would suggest people try cuy, but I don't think I would order it again, too much work for little meat. But if it was a life or death situation, lookout cuy!