A guinea pig for all tastes and seasons

THE first thing Fernando Escobal hears when he steps out of his small office at the National Agrarian Research Institute in Cajamarca in Peru's northern Andes is a chorus of chirps. The sound comes from thousands of guinea pigs held in mesh cages. They are destined not for pet shops but for the table. Mr Escobal hopes they will improve the diet of many of the poorest Peruvians.

The guinea pig, or cuy as it is known in Peru (from its chirping cries), is a delicacy throughout the central Andes. It was domesticated nearly 5,000 years ago. “Raise guinea pigs and eat well,” enjoined an Inca saying. Spanish colonial paintings of the Last Supper in the cathedral in Cusco, the former Inca capital, and in Lima's San Francisco monastery portray Christ and his apostles feasting on a plate of roasted cuy. The rodent is still a fixture on Andean feast days. It is also used by traditional healers to diagnose illnesses. The animal is passed over a sick person, and then split open and examined for clues to the disease.