Cuy Tastes Like Cuy

Growing up in the United States, I knew the guinea pig as a less common but not too unusual household pet.  But I also remember when I was younger my father telling me that he used to eat guinea pig when he lived in Ecuador.  As far as I knew it wasn’t too uncommon for people in the US to have a guinea pig as a pet, and it wasn’t any less common for people in Ecuador to eat one as a meal.  In my previous trips to Ecuador my cousins had always told me that I should try cuy (as guinea pig is referred to here), but I just never really got around to it. 

Well in that regard this trip is different.  My brother and I spent a weekend at a vacation house our friend has in the mountains.  While we were there we got our first taste of cuy.

Preparing the cuy to put them on the spit.  We had two to feed five people.

We were playing rummy while waiting for the food to cook.  The cuy have to be turned on a spit for about an hour and fifteen minutes until their done.  We had four people playing three-handed rummy, so we decided that whoever lost had to rotate the spit during the next game. 

My brother also got a turn on the spit.

Once they were cooked we got a quick picture of everybody with the food.

Then eventually we ate the cuy with potatoes and eggs.

I know almost everybody I know in the US is going to think I’m crazy but the cuy was actually pretty good.  The skin gets a lot crunchier than you’d expect after it’s cooked, but the meat is pretty good.  For those who’d ask I’d say it’ doesn’t taste like chicken, the meats a bit chewier, and darker than chicken.  It’s a fairly heavy meal so it’s not something you’d eat every day (and most people don’t).