Adventures in Eating Part II

I mentioned in an earlier blog post that I was looking forward to trying cuy. In Peru, cuy is a typical dish. In the United States, cuy is cooked guinea pig.

Victor's daughter Nikole celebrated her fifteenth birthday this week. As some of you know, in Central and South American, birthday number fifteen is very special. It is also called a quinceaneara, and it marks the passage from childhood to womanhood. Traditionally, the family of the new fifteen year old, hosts a party to present their daughter. Nikole didn't want a party - she asked for a laptop! As you can imagine, computers like these are very, very expensive for families in Alto Cayma. However, the parties are usually just as expensive. Victor thought his daughter was pretty smart to ask for something like this, so he and his wife agreed.

On the day of Nikole's birthday, I was invited to go out to lunch with the family. Nikole's favorite dish is cuy. Of course, I jumped at the chance to try guinea pig.

Friends, this is what was on my plate.



This is Nicole showing all of you in the US what cuy looks like.



Much to my dismay, this is what the underside of cuy looks like.



I really was nervous to try cooked guinea pig. Especially when I saw its teeth, claws and liver were still in tact. It definitely doesn't taste like chicken, and I'm not quite sure how to describe it. I did, however, learn that it has zero cholesterol and is an incredibly healthy meat.

I think I put a serious dent into the cuy corpse. I did draw a line at the head. I could not eat the ears, etc. I was also convinced that it was looking at me.

I asked Nikole if I after I tried cuy, I could be considered a real Peruvian. The family overhead and laughed. Yes, they told me, you are Peruvian now : ).