Peruvian food is one of my favorite cuisines and has a huge variety of dishes. It is based on South American Indian, Italian, Japanese, Spanish, Indian, Chinese, and myriad other cuisines that have developed into what food researchers call the cuisine with the highest number of distinct dishes. That's around 400+ compared with French cuisine which has far less. I love ceviche, jalea (lightly battered and fried seafood), deliciously spice rubbed rotisserie chicken, chicha morada (a sweet, spiced purple corn drink) and Cuy. That's the Peruvian, Ecuadorian, and Bolivian name for guinea pig, also called cavies, raised for meat in the Andean Mountain region.

This is a traditional Peruvian food served on special occasions. The cuy has been a domesticated meat animal since 2000 B.C. It wasn't until Dutch and British traders brought them to Europe that these tasty little fur balls started to become known as exotic pets. Many times a young Peruvian couple would be given a breeding pair when they got married and they would raise nice, fat, furry, cuy roasts in their backyards and on their rooftops, to enjoy when the time was right. I have had it a few times fried and quick grilled, but sadly never prepared how it should be. Spice and herb rubbed rodents, slow cooked on a rotisserie over a smoky fire.They have only been available in some parts of the Eastern US, mostly New York, New Jersey, and Florida. I have seen and tried it in restaurants in the NYC area and it isn't unusual to see them roasting at food stalls in Flushing Meadow Park in Queens. Now it will become more widely available because a Houston, Texas based import company plans to start distribution soon. Cuy is a high protein, low fat meat that is very healthy. Reminiscent in taste of a combination of rabbit and dark meat chicken, with a texture more like quail, it makes for some mighty fine dining. It is so popular in the Andean region, especially Peru, that in the main cathedral in Cusco, Peru there is a painting of the last supper with Christ and his disciples eating with gusto a nice roast cuy. Peruvians alone eat approximately 65 million each year.

I have seen it for sale in my NYC suburbs area in the freezer section, nice, clean butterflied roasts all ready to pop on the grill. They are raised on vegetables and grass which give them such a great flavor. If you get the chance, try this tasty meat. Just don't go getting ideas about your kids cuddly pet. It may be a nuisance but those have been bred to be much smaller, cute and friendly, and with a complete lack of taste from eating those nasty little dry pet food pellets. Not only will it be a scanty meal, but your kids will never forgive you.