Street food in Peru

(75 Reviews)
100% Recommended

Nora Blum

Minneapolis, MN
Customized guided and experiential vacations

I have over 25+ years of experience providing safe and worry-free vacations for my customers.  I am a specialist in Latin America and Europe, but never hesitate to search out new vacation experiences around the world for my clients. My specialty i...

Peru is known for potatoes. There are so many types of potatoes, our guide said it was thousands of varieties, and they are in many of the dishes served both hot and cold.
One potato based dish was prevelant called Causa. This was a mashed yellow potato layered with fillings like tuna or chicken salad. Then it is rolled or cut into small pieces and garnished beautifully.


The guinea pig is a delicacy in Peru and it is roasted on the spit whole. On Sundays, our guide would tell us his family would roast the guinea pigs as a family treat. We saw many road side stands with sweet little grandma's shaking their skewered roasted guinea pigs at us as we drove from Pisac to Ollanata.


While in Aquas Calientes, Neil tried the cuy (guinea pig) and I played it safe with some chicken. He did give me a taste of the cuy which was much like rabbit or dark meat chicken. Neil noticed a sweetness to the meat that reminded him of pork. It was served whole and with a little bit of cheese to cover the face of the guinea pig but the teeth and little claws were still evident. This is not something I feel very comfortable with, especially when Neil grabbed the little claw and swung the leg at my singing "I want to hold your hand".


As we traveled through the Sacred Valley on Sunday, we got to see the Pisac Market in full swing. It is important to try to plan your stay so you are there on Sat or Sun to enjoy more of the local flavors and flair. During the week the market is open for tourists, but on the weekends the local farmers come in with a huge variety of produce. More potatoes than you can imagine and huge corn cobs with kernels as big as a quarter.


While in Lima we enjoyed the local seafood. Ceviche is available all over the served with crispy corn chips. We also tried some octopus wontons and experienced our first of many Cusquena beers.


The one local specialty I didn't get a chance to try was a Chifa. Chifa is a term used in Peru to refer to Chinese cooking, in which Peruvian and Chinese ingredients are fused to cantonese culinary tradition. I'll have to save that for my next trip.
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