Where can I eat a guinea pig in Ecuador?

Question

In South America, cuy (guinea pig) is a local specialty, and is supposed to taste like rabbit or chicken. Wikipedia claims that it is to be found in the highland areas of Ecuador, but doesn't elaborate much on its availability in the coastal regions.

^{Image source - Wikipedia}

So, I'm interested whether it's a common sight in restaurants in the Ecuador Sierra in general, but especially in Guayaquil and surrounding areas -- I would definitely like to nibble on one of those sweet, sweet rodents! Also, slightly off-topic, are there any health concerns related to consuming guinea pork (is it still called pork?) that can affect my gentle European stomach?

Answer 1

In the Andes regions of Ecuador, Colombia and Peru I've been to several restaurants where they served cuy. There was no need to search for special cuy eateries, I just saw them randomly on people's plates.

However I did not see any in restaurants in the low lands along the coast, but this could just be because they are not so popular there. I imagine that people from the mountains who now live on the coast still like to eat their cuys and there may be special places that serve them there too.

Whether your stomach can handle cuy meat is up to you but I met nobody who had a problem after eating them. Please make sure you eat them at a proper restaurant. In 2004 two locals in the Ecuadorian highlands died after eating their own guinea pigs which were infected by some sort of plague. See this article in German.

Answer 2

First off it is a highland food. People on the coast will basically say they don't eat rat (I know it is not a rat). I find it easier to get in the smaller highland cities as opposed to say Quito or Cuenca but you can get it in both.

By far the best experience I have had is eating it is in Banos with the locals on a weekend evening just after dark. Each evening an hour say after nightfall, but particularly Friday and Saturday, a Cuy Street Cart appears just in front of the church below. He is a nice Andean man and serves the best Cuy with the night sky lit by the active lava of Tungurahua on one side and underneath it the waterfall flowing down into the wonderful Hot Springs and the church lit beautifully on the other side. You will never have Cuy so good. No fancy restaurant needed.

It is served "on a stick" straight off the charcoal grill.

Man, I leave again in four weeks to go to Ecuador and I was not planning on Banos but now...I can smell it.

It tastes as you think it would taste but the history of why they eat it in the Andean highlands is worth eating it alone.

Answer 3

Cuy is NOT tasty ;) It was very rich and oily and just not that pleasant at all. Most backpackers I met in Peru etc had the same opinion (although as always, there's always one or two that claim to enjoy it). Still, it had to be done ;)

I saw it in Puno (by Lake Titicaca) and in Arequipa as well, but I'd been trying llama, alpaca and any other animals that they believed were worthy of being on a plate. I tried cuy eventually in Cusco - we had to hunt a bit price-wise, but were told by locals in Puno that Cusco would be the place to eat it!

I also went through Ecuador, although only via Quito and nearby towns as I was running short on time - but didn't see it anywhere in Ecuador, unfortunately.