Welcome to the first ‘Foodie Friday’. This is our place to introduce you all to some of the foods we have sampled from around the world. Sometimes we will give you information about dishes we have loved (or hated), sometimes weird and wonderful foods we have tried and sometimes we will just tell you about a local delicacy. If it’s something we have learned how to cook we might even give a recipe. This is our space to selfishly indulge our inner foodies in the name of ‘blogging’ while sharing some of the culinary joys of our travels with you!
Currently being in Ecuador, prior to going to Colombia and having just left Perù, I am going to start with something a little controversial but definitely a regional speciality in all three…cuy. Those of you who speak Spanish or have visited South America will know what this is…and for those of you who haven’t…can you guess…? It’s guinea pig. Within this region it is highly uncommon to keep these animals as pets. As with all animals used for meat around the world they are farmed and viewed as being functional rather than cute, fluffy, cuddly creatures! For anyone out there looking for a little bit of random trivia, the reason they are called cuy in Spanish is this is an onomatopoeic naming based on the sound that they often make when communicating…“cuy, cuy, cuy”…anyway, I apologise, I digress! In Perù this is a relatively cheap and commonly consumed meat, particularly in the highlands, but it can be found throughout the country. In Ecuador it is actually considered to be a speciality meat and is only really eaten on special occasions. I have tried cuy in both Perù and Ecuador and I can honestly report that it is very tasty. Some have said that it is a pointless meat with very little taste and others…rather uninventively say that it tastes like chicken. I have to say I disagree with both of these statements. I don’t think it is a pointless meat at all. Obviously guinea pigs are quite small so there isn’t a huge amount of meat on them (you do need to eat the majority of an entire guinea pig to feel full) but what meat there is has a very distinctive taste. I would liken it to the taste of a game bird or potentially if we wanted to go down the poultry comparison road the dark meat on a turkey… Most places you will find that it is simply roasted whole and then you are served a portion of it with some rice or potatoes (or both) and some salad. If you come to South America it is well worth trying. I am fully aware and accepting of the fact that the pet association many of us have to these little creatures could be off-putting. I myself am a former (and future) pet guinea pig owner, however, I was not going to let that stand in the way of me trying something new and different and I recommend you do the same. You may need to take a slight mental leap of faith to overcome this unusual culinary hurdle (as previously mentioned they are roasted whole thus making cuy very much an example of ‘food with a face’) but it is worth it! Go forth, be adventurous, bite the bullet…or in this case the guinea pig. Most of you would be judged hard for doing this in your own countries so why not give it a go when it is totally socially acceptable! Enjoy!!
0 Comments
|
Follow us on Instagram or send us a messageAbout Foodie FridaysWe love food, as most people do! And when we are on the road this doesn't change. We, like many people, believe that food is one of the best ways to really get to know a culture and it's people, as so much about the way people live their lives around the world is centred around food. This means that when we travel we actively seek out the local foods and delicacies. Sometimes that comes in the form of unusual and exotic produce from markets and sometimes from street food vendors serving an array of barbecued, fried, steamed or entirely indistinguishable goodies. Having tried and tested these goodies for some time now, on our adventures around Asia, Europe, North and South America we have discovered some pretty wonderful treats that we have decided should earn a bit of publicity. So, as the working week drifts away and the weekend winks at you like a naughty temptress we will share with you one of the delights that we have encountered from around the world! We hope you enjoy reading about these as much as we enjoyed eating them! Archives
October 2017
Categories
All
|