Surviving Peru!! Extreme Meats from Coast to Rainforest!!

Peru oh holy [ __ ] a land of mystery freshwater Dolphins they really are pink of diverse Landscapes and cultures it just slaughtered the animal right before doing so she said a prayer a place that almost finished me off there I found myself face to face with food poisoning from a dubious Ceviche and I consumed jungle meat I feared might be my last supper oh it's powerful pungent smell yeah so this kills me I don't know I need a helicopter evacuation but let's back up and explain how we got here one of 12 countries in South America is home to 34 million people with nearly a third of them residing in its capital Lima oh you crack the code parrotfish who would have hopped here high-end Cuisine pushes the limits of culinary possibility and street food vendors charm your heart and challenge your stomach I'm gonna grab this eye out right here there we go that's yours but Peruvian food is hard to pin down partially because it's geography people and traditions vary so widely across the land I would say that this is like the second best anticocho I've ever had in my life well thanks for not bringing me to the best one what's the best one then General geography expands three regions the coast the mountains and the rainforest and so like culinary conquistadors we embark on a journey through all three starting with the coast which stretches an impressive 1500 miles in other places the time passes slowly and Lima in everything's really quick the sprawling capital is built right up to the ocean here you'll find pescaro terminal the Disneyland of seafood markets take a look at this it's upside down this is how they swim in the wild goose fishing industry Reigns Supreme in Latin America offering more than 2 000 species to the world both eyes are on one side and we're on the hunt for the strangest of the strange this is massive I've never seen anything like it the Humboldt squid or Peru's flying jumbo squid heading Inlet Peru's towering Highlands emerge within the Andes mountain range a shift in elevation geography and climate reveal new ingredients and recipes including some peculiar proteins this right here what do you think are we eating that it smells like jerky Mountain dwellers in have an affection for a little fuzzy rodent known as the guinea pig oh man I wish they didn't see this wonderful in the stew or even better fried whole they eat this one in party it's like a Filipino and mini Filipino a personal chunk at elevations of 10 000 feet you'll find this country's iconic Shepherds tending to herds of fluffy soft alpacas get close to your hair yeah these guys offer high quality wool awesome right but even better they offer a one-of-a-kind protein experience you can have it cooked or eaten like the locals completely raw I've got my half a kidney you got your half a kidney how about some spleen if you like some spleen he's like he doesn't like that descending from the mountains you'll land in Iquitos who lose gateway to the Amazon jungle and a city of half a million people accessible only by planar boats and they have to be bee larva right I'm not eating maggots am I here many are still nourished by the Exotic jungle Meats found within the Amazon this is built to survive in nature but it's not built for the ultimate Predator Hungary peruvians and the rainforest from tortoises to Wild Boar wild pigs dude and even howler monkey aside from the dolphin everything else no problem holy cow venturing deep into the Amazon requires a lengthy journey by boat but once you're there you'll witness a completely unique way of life the ultimate cooking vessel a place where villagers Forge for food and happily devour whatever the jungle offers them no matter the offering he got one yeah what is it this is the other type the piranha this one is better than those joining me on this adventure my good friend no no last time we toured his mother country of Cuba oh my God this time he's gonna experience what it's like to walk in my shoes I did it you're holding her like The Lion King whether he likes it or not okay she's telling me to gra oh my God like the country itself Peruvian cuisine is a vast ever-changing landscape outside influences are many the proteins in Plants vary depending on where you are and recipes differ depending on who you're with one thing I can say is there's no place quite like Peru but first let's back up a bit [Music] today or when I went deep into Lima's bustling markets to find the city's wildest street food and it all starts here with this simple plant this is aloe vera anytime I'm introduced to A new ingredient I gotta try it out plain to get the real idea of how it tastes so sir could you please cut this open very ceremonial aloe vera is a succulent plant that's been used medicinally for thousands of years oh dude that looks slimy here in Lima it's usually found at emolliente carts which sell a load of natural power drinks meant to boost your energy right now I'm just gonna grab some oh yeah this vendor has consumed so much of this powerful liquid oh it's good it's like a seven-year-old just sneeze he can hardly contain himself we found the most stoic guy in all of Lima I didn't have these feelings in childbirth I think salute [Music] it's like gak do you remember gak I don't remember a guy but I remember Kobe when you tried to cough and the cup didn't come you know what I mean that is the Salinas thing I've ever eaten in my life I would say it has virtually no flavor there's a hard part in a slimy part the texture of the hard part is almost like a dragon fruit but then the gooey part is incredibly gooey it feels like my first kiss a little bit why are people drinking aloe he says that it's good for the skin also for the stomach it starts with freshly scraped aloe mixed with Maca soy milk and quinoa when you put this into a drink does it make the drink kind of gooey and slimy too start to disappear a little bit so it doesn't feel this way [Music] I'll say pretty slimy The Taste is good you can tell they put some sugar in there there's quinoa so you taste kind of like a weedy grain flavor to it it's definitely very rich we don't just have the drink to start out with we have this a very famous Peruvian sandwich it's stuffed with chicken onion tomato potatoes mayo and a yellow chili sauce the main flavor is it's like a blend of chicken and fried potatoes it's very crispy and it feels that a bread was made right now actually they make all of it at home it's food it's quick it's cheap it's made for on the go it's built to last [Music] let's get down to business oral I brought you here to Peru for three reasons first of all number one you're my friend I want to hang out with you bro number two you speak Spanish so you get home translate here because Spanish is the national language in Peru they have few different words but overall we totally understand each others is the same he's gonna say I'll get by just fine number three I brought you here to torture you why you mean talk to me basically I want to introduce my daily life to you we lived together for several years in Korea now our lives have changed drastically you live in Miami and I travel for half the year eating exotic foods oh my God sorry it's just that this is the creepiest thing I've ever seen it's like a sci-fi movie when someone's making a clone of themselves and it's not quite finished yet that's what this is well might as well eat it now I get to share that with you in a way that may make you suffer I see I I seriously have no idea why Sony made me do this I came here I thought it was a full review show not a cleaning poop joke you know what I'm up for the challenge anything you do I'll do that's fair for the most part no man you come on you gotta do it you gotta do it all right this is breakfast but today we've got a lot more to eat you ready let's do it thank you Nemo is a knock gold punch to the census the energy here you can feel it in your chest the streets are electric flowing into Metro stations congested with hurried commuters and vendors trying to make a bump off the foot traffic if you're on the hunt for the most prized local food catering to actual locals follow the people in Lima that means heading straight for the Beating Heart of Commerce the infamous gamara Market the epicenter of the rag trade in Peru the last time I was in a market like this that had this Vibe I was in Legos in Nigeria and here it's just like an overwhelming amount of people noise honking cars people yelling out selling stuff people on megaphones yelling out what they have to sell and there's people from every Walk of Life there's food there's produce and then beyond that you can just see that there's people hustling from every strata they're like trying to figure out whether it's Beggars or whether it's people selling food or people just creating jobs that didn't exist before like this woman when she came to this Market this place just has a Vibe all its own [Music] right at the corner near the subway station you'll find the true gems of vemma's street food scene how long have you had a food stall in this market welcome to Georgina's spot she's president of the women's Association of sellers at gamara Market 10 years here she's the one that directs that Association they bring food from the mountain the coast and the jungle they equalize and sell the food here here she's offering a Savory dish that hails from the Andes Mountains you have a very special dish what is the name of the dish you're selling here this is an enhance too I don't want to surprise you too much but there's actually a custom here in Peru there's a special part of the head people don't usually get to eat what part is that can you guess the ice [Music] thank you for giving me the heads up I'm gonna grab this eye out right here there's a bit of skin attached to it there we go you know I have a technique to approach these I like heart so sure I just look at it and imagine this is a heart can you see let me tell you something that ain't no heart cheers actually it's not bad it tastes a little bit like soap have you tried soap yeah chewy okay so much it tastes cheapy a little gaming but Savory the stew that she's cooked this in is very nice can I tell you something eating the eyeball not a custom I just made it up so I ate the eyeball yeah for no reason can we still be friends this is also going to join the soup I can't wait to try out the actual final dish with maybe even more ice yes no de Cabeza also known head soup made by boiling the sheep head with potatoes onions corn and peppermint for hours why use the head and not just general meat when it's dished this too includes every part of the Cabeza cheeks tongue eyes and ears with some organ Meats tossed in as well she said no you can get anything she said that the testicles are excellent too it's the more you put the more delicious topped with potatoes and corn then sink it with that soup I gotta say this is such a gorgeous dish if you want some flavor you can put this on your soup local demo lady and fixer for this series Marella sits down to show us how it's done this is goat cheese yes and this is like fried Peruvian corn a lot of texture a lot of crunch I put the parsley lime and you can put this Red Hot Chili and go with the chili oh that looks like it could be cheek meat oh yeah oh man it's very rich and warm it's such a Savory comforting broth all the meat it's become really soft and tender but then here this corn the white one what do you call that it's distinct because it has these huge white corn kernels not really something we have in the U.S so I want to try some of that you can feel the starchiness it's interesting that the flavor of one corn kind of balance the flavor of the other corn it's pornography sorry I've used that joke like 10 times that much I'm gonna get some of this cheese it's the last thing I haven't done goat cheese I'm really blown away you can put a flip-flop in here and somehow it would still taste good you live in Lima did you grow up here no I grew up in the north of Peru so how long have you lived here eight years I mean this is legitimately my first day here we're out in the streets we're getting like the full immersive experience right off the bat for you what separates Lima from any other city in the world or in the country first of all Lima is really really big everything is really quick it's kind of chaotic but I think in that it helps like its beauty I'm going to say this in Spanish she said that yes is chaotic but when you start living here at the end it kind of like traps you and gets into your heart at its surface parts of Lima undoubtedly feel like crashing waves of chaos and disorder but when you shift perspective you witness the entrepreneurial Spirit within beyond that just serving food for her is a way to educate her kids to be entrepreneurs and encourage everybody to succeed in life [Music] [Applause] [Music] just down the road of the same Market a street seller turning the cows underrated offcuts into on-demand dining with this not tongue not liver these here are beef lungs they're loans you didn't think we're just gonna have some fun noodles did you this dish is the creation of stall owner Tia Nina there's potato cowlungs and it's got noodles too you know how they prepare the Meat part they have to marinate the day before and then they fry it put it all together with Peru's giant white corn and top it with red onion and a squeeze of lime I know you're supposed to mix it up but I think we should get a taste of just straight pure cowlung I bet it's similar to the heart ah all you're gonna find out not like hard clothes actually more like chicken what part is that they ask why do you open the chicken test you know the gizzard yes it tastes like chicken gizzard a little bit for me gizzard can be a little bit more tough this is very soft almost like spongy oh this is some of the best long I've ever had but it's not alone this is some lima pasta right here and very delicious I think they're taking ingredients that don't cost that much money onions a lot of flavor there's the noodles for great texture potatoes and then using this unique offcut and then making it just taste extremely delicious so far we've just had three things we've had like a soup and then some slimy drink and then we're having this and uh it's not gotten me any closer to understanding like what is food in Peru I think it's food that comes from migration because we have a lot of influence there's a lot of variety you can find anything you want like from Seafood from this kind of food dishes without with pork with Fish And we have a lot of upper descendant food too there is Asian influence here yes when the second world to come here and we have a lot of migration from Japan from China I'm sorry but when you mix Asian with anything it just gets better we cannot forget that there is a lot of indigenous influence too like the Spanish side and the Asian side mixed with the indigenous culture here and and that's what we are tasting right here when the sun sets in the streets cool down the charcoal heats up this is the best time of day to eat outdoors here Alberto and his mother Alodia have been serving up one of Peru's most coveted late night snacks for 45 years this is our grand finale we've been eating street food all day and it all has built up to this moment right here with the antique how's that pronunciation exactly perfect what are antiqueos [Music] is a tradition from Peru and it's made with the heart of the cow the beef heart is cut into small pieces and marinated in a blend of spices vinegar and oil when it comes to anti-cultures there's a lot of people cooking this up what is the secret behind doing it the best or better than anybody else he said that the secret is to put heart onto it cow heart or your heart he's hard what other types of meats are you serving here and what's popular so they sell also the stomach and the testicle because it's a aphrodisiac those two I think he listed a bunch of stuff for them I think he has more than two selling I know plate here are also piled high with tripe or chicken gizzards why the offcuts and not these Prime Cuts they say that the cuts that is using the Articles it used to be the extra cards from the meat that was fit to the slaves when the Spaniards came here but then with the time they start to eat it as well and God integrated in the heart of the culture ladies and gentlemen this looks spectacular it looks good it is there's a multitude of different grilled Meats on here there's only two skewers of testicles they're bigger on this one you can have that one so nice of you thank you cheers [Music] thank you actually it's not that bad is that bad yeah I think he's done a good job of cooking these up it's really spicy really strong charcoal taste the thing is worth the idea outfit that they taste by itself they have plenty of other skewers here oh he keeps it I'm not telling you you have to he's volunteering you're now a ball guy we have to try this next I love cow heart it is really good delicious it's oily because it keeps adding oil making it kind of Juicy the most striking thing to me about this meat is the charcoal flavor it's like right on the edge of being too much really Smoky almost like a hint of gasoline flavor if I'm honest yeah I got you but I think the point is people are probably usually drinking when they eat this because it has really strong flavors so if you have a buzz if you're six to eight beers in this is exactly what you want underneath the heart there's this loose meat that's not unuscure what is that that is like the stomach oh really no way I was blowing my mind there's no gamey flavor nothing too intense it just tastes like that magical seasoning he's put on there this is like the mix of things that shouldn't work but somehow it works really well but then you should not work here starting with the balls I want to switch gears a little bit to talk about a different topic it may be a slightly sensitive topic and maybe not what you're expecting but I hope you feel open to talk about it what well about 10 minutes before this conversation I was on the sidewalk and a gentleman I assume he's a gentleman you drove by on a motorcycle and he tried to steal this phone from my hand unfortunately it fell to the ground and he sped away this is the first time this ever happened to me enjoy in my life oh my God yeah see well that reaction already tells me so much about the city yes how often does this kind of stuff happen in Lima like a lot it's like the most common kind of robbery here so when I make the show I feel a certain amount of responsibility when I go to places like Egypt and we had some difficult experiences I was straightforward about it and even today I should be straightforward in saying as we move around Lima as a team we have security who has a gun we have some different issues that you have in the states or in other places so you have to be prepared because Peru has a lot of class difference right economic disparity between the very rich and the very important and that actually in those types of economies is where you see the most crime I guess my big question is if people do come here what's the best way to conduct themselves in order to assure their safety they have to have their things with them try to walk in safe places with lights I'm a woman I'm aware all the time every time I travel I always do like a mental preparation because I believe that I'm leaving my home I'm in a foreign territory so I'm a weird entity and I'm actually even more vulnerable than everyone else you know in a way it's a blessing I didn't lose anything this time this is a warning and be prepared because it might happen again thank you for being honest I'm sorry today Oro and I are on a mission to reveal Lima's best from the country's biggest seafood market this is about 15 to 20 pounds of squid and that is just a medium-sized one they get much bigger than this the tropical fish species cooked up in unbelievable ways is there anything particularly special about this fish the blue meat the meat is actually blue [Music] Lima City Center is a maze of narrow Lanes teeming with activity this is one of the wildest most busy bustling streets I've ever been on as soon as we sat down somebody in a blue vest walked up to me and said hey what are you doing what are you doing we got a system here what are the rules for this street if you're here to spice up your Instagram stories funky Street dance and striking costumes will not disappoint this is an informal market so there is not really a rule they are just here to help the flow if you're on a souvenir Quest the selection varies from vintage Hollywood posters to Asian Lucky Charms I mean they were nice they said at first what are you doing and we said we're sitting here we're filming a thing and they're like yeah let's go if you're a foodie you've got to meet this guy put it there I'm Marco oh you speak English so so we can conduct the interview completely in English I'm done goodbye Marco is the second generation of this 20 year old restaurant we've come here in search of Peru's national dish Ceviche Ceviche is essentially fish cured with lime first Cube the fish fillet into bite-sized pieces can you make ceviche from any kind of fish yes I'm gonna name a fish and you tell me Ceviche or no Ceviche halibutes squid yeah octopus delicious starfish ah thank you got you there marry those fish cubes with salt Julie and chilies garlic and ginger paste cilantro and the most crucial component lime juice the use of citrus to kill bacteria and cure Seafood dates back 2 000 years when Peru's indigenous people used the local tumbo fruit instead of lime when the Spaniard came they brought the lime and they started to use the lime on the ceviche the mixture is put to rest for half an hour so the acidity can essentially cook the meat then it's served here it comes with seafood rice can we start with the rice I want to work up to the ceviche so we've got an orange rice with a thick orange sauce we've got shrimp we've got squid all [Music] the lady in the dream wants to know when it's tasty she was like you better like it well season super Savory rice there's an orangey Seafood gravy on top they prepare the main sauce with tomatoes some other spices and celery it's really Lively super Savory it's a perfect binding agent to bring the rice and the seafood together let's get to the ceviche is there any trick to it or we just eat it foreign what's interesting about Ceviche is you can put a lot of different types of fish or you can add more vegetables or fruit or you can try to do extra stuff to it the fish itself is just really tender and soft the acid the Citrus has made it firm up a little bit and it's got a little bit of a sour taste but it's just really fresh super delicious what kind of fish is this in particular ah this is a tropical fish loved for its white flesh and slightly sweet flavor Peru is the leading mahi mahi producer worldwide but that's just the tip of the iceberg for Peru's fishing industry in general how important is seafood to folks in Peru restaurant this is a pride for them it's something that they love and they love to represent their food with seafood today we're diving deep into the world of seafood by visiting the largest seafood market in Lima here you're gonna find pretty much any kind of seafood you can imagine digging up the most exotic fish we can find this looks like an octopus budding fact is not an octopus and presenting it to a top-tier chef I don't think I ever had a fish that resembles a bird [Music] ladies and gentlemen welcome to terminal cascado a market so big they couldn't call it a market they had to call it a freaking terminal Peru's fishing industry is the largest in Latin America offering more than 2 000 species of seafood to the world and the pescado terminal is the central Hub of this Marine Colossus in this market alone there are over 200 species I love it because it's so organized you go in the ocean you go scuba diving fish are everywhere they're mixed together it's chaotic here they take them out of the ocean and they separate them into little bins ah this is fish for people with OCD more than an endless seafood market pescado terminal is a mini economy all on its own above the market you have this whole floor full of different restaurants like this everything comes really fresh right from that market yes here the parihuela is a must try a seafood soup containing all of The Little Mermaids Little Friends the loads of Butter Fish Head stock sold MSG pepper cumin oregano chili powder and mahi mahi fillets Kickstart this Coastal concoction is this a dish you created continue with cilantro black beer and two whole crabs cheating inventing but this one in particular has her special Tosh how did you especially touch this one she said she may have to kill you remove the Maki Mahi and toss in scallops shrimp squid clams and mussels thicken with cornstarch and milk so we start with a broth yeah just a broth bro dude I don't understand this country this is good it's really good amazing it's like deep Savory Seafood flavor it's thick it's like heartwarming it's delicious this one right here we have a big shellfish on Top This is the scallop this is being juicy it's just soaked and saturated in that gravy we should both have one good that's very nice sweet soft like some parts are very tender some are a little bit chewy in a pleasant way and then there's just a big white fish in here the mahi mahi let me get this meaty bite the line turned it up a notch mommy is really like a meaty white fish it's not flaky at all it's got a bite to it it has some nice texture you can feel the strength of the spices but they are tender it's not like overpowering it doesn't seem like regular restaurant cooking it feels like home cooking presented beautifully sophisticated let's talk about the market downstairs what is it that you like about the market first thing is really good because no matter how low the season is there is always people coming here and second thing is because this is a seafood restaurant and there is a seafood market you know that the people that comes here they are looking for seafood well guess what order every time you say guess what order I'm like I don't know if I get excited get a scare or well this time you don't have to eat any eyeballs or testicles okay yet next you and I are going to be looking for seafood we're gonna go down there we're gonna separate alone we're gonna try to find the most unique exotic interesting Seafood we can find and bring it to the chef he's gonna pick his favorite and cook it up for us so it's kind of a competition that sounds who has the privilege of a long coastline that meets the Humboldt current which brings nutrient-rich water from the ocean steps to the surface making it the perfect breeding drop for an insane amount of sea creatures some so exotic they even surprise Seafood Fanatics like us so we are here there is a lot of fishes here that I haven't seen before but we will find the right fish to cook first of all here's the problem oro's superpower is that he speaks Spanish peruvians also speak Spanish for me I can say hello and I can order a beer the end she said it's really good for the grill actually I think this fish can be a good dancer because it has a lot of movement look at that yeah we have Mahi Mahia in Flora they'll call mahimahi a dolphin like to be cute in the Faroe Islands they call dolphin dolphin and then they actually eat dolphins and what it can look like Longs or bowls whatever your preference is actually the eggs of this beauty right here can you um show me how to pick it up this is a very good compliment with the salad by probably not the best option for today ah under the Gill under the hips oh it's a big fish that's a lot of take a look at this it's upside down this is how they swim in the wild very awkward fish the question is is this a suitable fish to bring the chef is it unique I'm uncertain I want to get a better look at what else the market has to offer let's keep moving right here we have a treasure you'll find this all over this Market this is the Humboldt squid or peruse flying jumbo squid Peru is the boss of the jumbo flying squid game here they've got him as big as they come these are the legs and the head is connected to the leg actually it looks like a cousin of mine can you see that right there is the body the skin is actually super thick these plus size squid can grow a gigantic mantle over three feet wide and they can weigh in at more than 82 pounds this is kind of like a pig look how I say Hello Johnny I'm coming for you a normal squid like the squid UT in Vietnam the top triangle piece on their head is about that big here it's freaking massive just that top head part could feed a whole family it is incredible the size of these creatures and how slippery they are too these are trouts you have a very beautiful eyes it's like look directly to your soul this is a flat fish this one is super popular in Korea the reason I love it so much is because the nickname for it is the bastard halibut both eyes are on one side it um it looks special it looks special this is even better contestant look at this it's like an evil version of the mahi mahi when I haunt you for the rest of your life very wobbly as well this is a tiny monk fish the last time I saw a monkfish I was in Japan and it was gigantic I could fit my whole head inside its mouth probably this is just a little guy I could fit his whole head in my mouth the tables have turned Heaven they monkfish finally here we have something I have never seen before this is called a devil fish the spines look brutal it's got spiny fins as well so if that pokes you well it's not going to kill you but it'll be inconvenient I'm gonna have to be clever and find something Aura would never think of soon we're both gonna reveal our picks to the chef and see which one he wants to prepare it's like Iron Chef but it's not like iron okay [Music] is a bright star in Peru's culinary constellation this restaurant Embraces Nikkei Cuisine a marriage of Peruvian cooking with Japanese influence and this man here is the boss of the kitchen my name is Manuel I'm a chef Team 15 years ago I'm working here in dollars three years ago I'm really happy to be here in the show we have both brought you a fish you're going to see both of our offerings and choose one to prepare for today there is 200 plus species in the seafood market so how confident are you that you can cook any of those I trust my skills for anything yeah shark mean yeah snails I can try yeah we take the challenge I've got mine right here I don't know where yours is but I think I should start I put some storytelling on it so I'm very confident about it oh geez I just went for looks like when I picked my wife Chef yes I present to you right here the parrotfish big blue giant forehead like my friend Oro just kidding you have a normal size for it I don't think I ever had a fish that resembled a bird all it needs is two little legs down here and it's basically a bird would you folks in Lima usually do with a fish like this so plenty of different options all right good colorful option like pretty good dry but being humble I think I have a better option bring it bring it oh he didn't even put his on ice are you ready I'm ready right here it looks like a toy but look it's it's like a Mahi a big Mahi but like French could this potentially be cooked into something maybe deep fry or just Stoke yeah just not today right it's a lovely fish it looks like it had a good personality and it's probably a family man or woman there's no penis I don't know my main concern is the size there's two of us essentially three of us if you join you know what I always just keep it in the side of my bed for tonight keep while oral's choice is uh native and inspiring I think this time I'll choose this one my parrotfish is destined for two different dishes but first it must be filet I'm gonna cut it this one and a half head to tail just to hit the bone we're separating the meat from the bone gently because it is a very delicate fish sometimes the meat is blue we need to be very lucky to get that this one is the fillet and you can see that the meat is really soft really delicate really thin strips like a sashimi put it on the plate some lime juice and make a very traditional Peruvian dish we call it tiradito what makes this pop is the sauce a mixture of lime and lemon juice chili salt ginger and garlic I recommend use a spoon because of the juice let's do it oh it's delicious the meat is very delicate like a lively fresh Citrus but not overwhelmingly like sour feeling or tasting for me it has some of the spirit of a Ceviche what do you think separates the ceviche greatly from this basically the tiradito has no onions on it the cut of the fish and the sauce ricotta paste with the rich is it sour is it creamy how should it taste because it's not really spicy creamy a little bit spicy and sour this is like an elevated version of the ricotta sauce that we tasting outside in the car yesterday it was like very rich and strong but this one is like a more delicate elevated like really good with the thing yeah it's just stunning and delicious oh it's got corn Peruvian corn so at what point are the ingredients not considered Peruvian because this country is so Dynamic so many different regions and agriculture that takes place in at so many different elevations I mean you just have so much to work with it's hard for me to pin down what Peruvian food even is well it's a mix the whole Peruvian food is a mix of cultures places regions altitudes Peruvian ingredients are the base of it from the humble beginnings of potatoes and legumes 20 000 years ago Peruvian cuisine has been shaped by various influences Spanish conquistadors Arab Raiders Africans and even Asian migrants most countries are known in the American culinary lexicon as having a few standout dishes you look at Italy it's like oh get pizza Japan sushi Sashimi Vietnam we've got fall on me what would those foods be for Peru Ceviche I think it's two of chicken so not guinea pigs no not in the top five no I love guinea pigs it's more On The Fringe though this right here we have the parrot fish I love that you took on this challenge this is your first time preparing parrot fish and it looks incredible for our second dish a whole paired fish is scored then rub down with a fish broth in flour then submerges the fish in a hot bubbling pool of oil Chef Manuel elevates this culinary work of art with his own twist prawn head sauce first try the sauce oh okay you're right it's a bit fishy it taste of shellfish and snails so I recommend to cut just the meat because it's boneless deeper on the sauce cheers oh it's Kentucky Fried Fish it's like the shell their skin that's outside is really crunchy and oily and so very yummy you know now I understand the fishiness of the sauce because this fish is not fishy at all and the crust works really good with the sauce yeah absolutely it's like sometimes Fried Chicken needs gravy sometimes fried fish you need some of this shrimp gravy man I've never had anything like this it's so good I know that recently Peru and Lima in particular has gotten a lot of recognition for the cuisine here in the time you've been cooking how have you seen the international perception of food in Peru or food in Lima change I think it's getting better every year it was lovely for us because Peru is not just Machu Picchu llamas we got great food great people great restaurants and the tourism is bringing it's nice is the food getting better or people just starting to recognize it and become aware of it I think the places are getting better but the food is the same I think that's well put and I talk about Vietnam maybe too much but that's like my second home 50 years ago it was way different obviously now things like all these Vietnamese foods have become much more popular internationally because people started to figure it out and vendors and chefs started to execute better at bringing those Foods abroad and marketing them to people and showing them to people so it's not always about just having the best or a great product sometimes you have to know how to bring it to the people for you do you feel some responsibility on your shoulders as one of many representatives of Cuisine here a lot I think all previous game and Cooks working here or outside in every country we representing your country I think as ambassadors go you're doing one hell of a job this is just a small sampling of what you have to offer but this was outstanding [Music] now we're leaving the coast and heading Inland up to Andes mountains to the city of ariquippa [Music] here you'll find a culinary identity different from the rest of Peru and identity shaped by ingredients only found here like meat from the alpaca one protein source that stands out above any other the guinea pig now I know for those in my motherland guinea pigs are anxious squealing Fuzzy Friends that stare at you through beady eyes at the local pet store oh look at that that's a foot but here guinea pigs are food and it's just as common a protein as chicken or beef we even have a national holiday for the eating of koi I want a mission to learn why locals adore these hairy rodents yeah yeah oh my God it is fresh yeah don't squeeze the life out of it and soon I'll learn from myself what they taste like this is a way they've been cooking this creature maybe for hundreds of years at this point it's super traditional and it looks like things haven't changed from time they began but first I'm headed to ariquippa's biggest Market where I'm being introduced to a different type of protein this right here what do you think are we eating that it smells like jerky this here is a llama fetus to people eat this is yes I know bullet dodged instead it's crucial for certain rituals of the local indigenous people they use this to pay tribute to what they call pachamama which is a mother earth they're using different ways they burn it like in Christmas for example another purpose is hanging in front of a business to protect from Bad Influence to come and also to attract Better Health and better Prosperity but no consumption no eating no no it's like who wants to eat bones I've seen more unusual stuff than that this is the biggest Market in South Peru every aisle reveals clues about this Region's unique culinary offerings produce protein and ready to eat food made quick and for cheap if you're overwhelmed I recommend ordering whatever the locals are gnoshing on for their morning meal soon we'll be trying a local breakfast but not before I show Aura what makes this Market truly different from any other whoosh oh man I wish I didn't see this this is a guinea pig in Spanish it's known as ma'am do you know how far people eating guinea pig goes back in Peru people have ate kui since 5 000 years ago five thousand years yes guinea pig meat was a crucial component to the everyday lives of the Incan people who once dominated this mountain range they even have a national holiday for the eating of kui how does that not make you excited even with the spaniard's introduction of chicken pigs and cows to South America this guinea pig eating tradition is still going strong how much is it for one of these around five six dollars it seems like that's more expensive than chicken no matter is not because of the size it's because it's more healthy it's very good for your body defenses it boosts your defenses naturally so that's why it is a little bit more pricey than a chicken today we're going deep down the guinea pig Rabbit Hole trying an old recipe that only feels to remember lucky for us we found our Chef Mary Lou Mendoza is the owner of a local food stall in San Camilo market and she carries with her an ancient guinea pig recipe but before we experience that we're sitting down to a typical orikipa breakfast this is a big breakfast she said that we eat like that yes I'm looking at the menu it says Americano is this a dish designed for Americans yes Americans but not the Americans that you're saying because it's double diversity in the Americas no necessarily the US right North and South America it starts with arroz con pollo or chicken rice next a noodle cake called pastel defideos then there's Peruvian fried beef ribs there's a fried in stewed pork belly a rocoto pepper stuffed with potato and ground meat and finally some fresh onion and tomato on top we have the rice here what is making the rice green cilantro it's really delicious from there it looks like a giant hash brown except for that it's like two inches thick and literally potato cake those are noodles that's not potato nice papa no no no no it doesn't have potato at all it looks like oh come on that's what I'm saying it looks like hash browns but really what it is it's a pasta cake with some fried cheese on top it's like a lasagna without tomato yeah that's a good way of putting it we've got pork belly I want to take a bite of that this is a female baby pig I could feel that it was female oh it's delicious oh I mean any place where the Spaniards have been the lechon remains for hundreds of years I'm just so curious we were just in lima lima seems to be the Melting Pot of perum to get the inspiration from all over the country and perhaps all over the continent but here in arkipa what makes food different from anywhere else Lima is a capital everything goes there but arequipa is more agricultural everything that goes to most of the country comes from here this is the base of the production of food in Peru perched at an elevation of 7 600 feet arikifa serves as a Gateway between the coast and the Andes Mountains While most people associate oriquippa with its stunning Landscapes and ancient Incan infrastructure its culinary offerings tend to be overlooked that is until today the staff rocoto which is this tough chili is a very old tradition here in the arequipa region tastes almost like pepperoni and there's meat inside there's cheese there's peas there's carrots it's like Peruvian tater tot hunt dish thanks to its long history and distinctive climate I do have to try this because not just because they're beef ribs but they're from a baby or Keeper's Cuisine Blends European and Andean Traditions to create an array of unique dishes you can taste the Innocence Innovative recipes and an open-mindedness towards peculiar proteins aurum it's time I reveal our mission for today guinea pig it seems to be this interesting unique staple that's part of Peruvian culture here ma'am your thoughts on guinea pigs of course she loves cooking with it and it's not also tasty but it's also very good for your health and your well-being it's good for you it's good for you okay I guess later today Miss Mary Lou will prepare her long pass down Family Recipe but first she's requested we Source some fresh guinea pigs that's why we're headed here the main reason I wanted to come here is because my friend Oro has never seen a guinea pig before how seen it on pictures if the site of sweet innocent guinea pigs Bound for a dinner plate makes you sad take solace and knowing the number consumed each year is barely more than 65 million there feel better guinea pig farming is something strange in Peru especially in this region whether short-haired curly-haired or cow licked altogether these pens hold 500 guinea pigs they have to purposely hear one purpose is for eating and the other purpose is to breed them and take them to compete like a beauty pageant see if I was at a show right now and they're judging this guinea pig what are they going to be judging he said that this one here if you can touch it and you feel it his hair is more pristine and more soft and it looks heavy but good looking heavy I don't know if you know what I mean like stop you yeah it's like me right I want to know how the process works from beginning to end where does the process begin the males are usually very solitary in age group there's always one male for all the females actually just two hours after giving birth she's ready to get pregnant again guinea pigs can multiply like rabbits they lands from birth to fry pan is 47 days and they only require a bit of Alfalfa and grape Oro I'm gonna need you go ahead and cash one hey man how you feeling engaged keep in mind they technically could bite you all right what in a country where the average monthly salary is 470 dollars starting to see the appeal of these personal sized pigs okay he's tapping it on the shoulder as if it's going to say yes senior may I help you by my experience with a crocodile if you touch their like softly they relax yeah take a look at that clip ah you see very relaxed oh no I've been in these situations at some point you just have to commit I heard that before from you oh I thought from your wife no yeah yeah yeah oh my God it is fresh you gotta pick it up like a cat kind of by the Scruff I had never picked up a car I have no you give me the wrong reference I I think I got it you gotta lift it up I dated oh you gotta stand up all right you're holding it like The Lion King you did it I got it that's fantastic you ready to head out okay stay right there I'll be right back in five to ten minutes with our guinea pig in hand Oro and I are headed to a local home where we'll reunite with Mary Lou the settlement belongs to her friend Luis and he has a delightful surprise just outside his home this is incredible the folks in the USA they might have a chicken coop so they can have fresh eggs daily here in areakipa on the Mountainside this band has built a little pen for guinea pigs there's maybe 20 terrified guinea pigs inside of here right now what does he do with them they get big plump and juicy he eats it [Music] foreign after dispatching and removing the inedible bits Mary Lou coated the meat with corn flour then deep fries it until it Cooks all the way through in another pot Mary Lou simmer's minced garlic pepper peppion sauce Purple Onion and cumin when the time is right she plops in the meat finally she adds dried cilantro ground peanuts coconut milk boiled potatoes and a pinch of salt cooking it down until the water evaporates oh yes wonderful oh man it looks like chicken uh yeah what about the head with the ears oh that's the head oh look at that that's a foot the skin is really thick I think we should jump into it I'm just gonna kind of watch what they do she starts with just plain white rice I'm not sure about that like this oh it tastes like white rice I've peeled this off the meat is super soft the way she students I got a bunch here let's go for it or screw that bite that's just a bunch of rice get rid of that noise okay please come on all right cheers the sauce is delicious like it almost tastes like a really Savory pasta sauce except for the human oh it's good it's really good there's a lot of fat on it because it's wrapped in this skin that is quite thick what's tough is I'm trying to figure out what animal to me it most tastes like oh that's a nice see or oh this is implied that's a real bite that's a man's bite soft tender neutral tasting meat with strong tasting seasonings it's really delicious it's somewhere kind of between chicken and pork she would say that the guinea pig is like a healthier version of a chicken with more mineral no cholesterol more protein value what do you think what animal is this like you say that comparing a guinea pig to any other animal is a disservice to the guinea pig it's an insult yeah he's saying that please let's just keep it that it tastes like guinea pig because he's in love to the flavor did you grow up having guinea pigs being raised next to your home same of course since he was a kid there was always guinea pig around them there is no a Countryside house here without it's good pan of guinea pigs that's fascinating because I didn't realize I didn't know guinea pig was so deep in the culture in the cuisine here I know people at home watching this maybe from the USA or some other such country they're wondering how could you do this they're cute they're pets when you look at them do you think they're cute like those he respect both opinions the opinion that he's a pet and is cute and the opinion that he has which is yummy is food if you live in a place where you can raise it as a pet and you have all the elements for you you know you don't really need to eat this that makes sense for you to call it a pet but when you live like him like people here who live in the countryside when they have less resources an easy resource that you can grow by yourself and it can feed you and your family it thinks like it's really hard to just eat a as beloved as the guinea pig is for home cooking this proud tradition was perfected and presented in restaurants for more than a hundred years is a century-old restaurant I'm here to try their best selling item guinea pig fried whole ladies and gentlemen I am in the kitchen right now with Mr Umberto I'm excited because this guy is the hands the vision behind the guinea pig right here we're about to see how it gets cooked sir take it away one guinea pig at a time descends into the pan of oil the oil is not that hot yet but it's about to be very very hot Premier he has these big Iron waist study slabs on he puts that on the body dude this oil is going to start bubbling and get incredibly hot once he's done he's going to switch it to another pan where he shallow fries it for 10 minutes so the meat can get super crispy that is it that's the whole process it looks simple but it ain't easy this guy's got many many reps you can tell look deep in his eyes can we get a quick Zoom deep in his eyes that demand has seen some things probably thousands of guinea pigs being tried to The Shield delicious one thing I really like about this kitchen is that they're really doing it the old style they could replace all of this all the brick that could have like a gas oven here but that would be super boring the restaurant kitchen is a cultural heritage site meaning it looks now much like it did over 100 years ago they eat this one in parties it's like a Filipino lechon a mini Filipino Legend a personal chunk okay very good ma'am this one is incredible meet the woman behind it all Miss root she's running the business passed down by her grandmother my first question is what's this it's a digestive alcohol they call it turn on and turn off you'll feel that you can feel the Anis down to my I need [Music] you can see there is no utensils on the table because the only way to eat this is with this you don't have to do that I have to do that I don't have to do that you don't have to do that all right okay you don't have to do that or let's start with this at the last location we didn't even try the organs we got liver we've got kidneys cheers oh crunchy oh really crunchy completely different experience is very having a lot of fun seeing when I was eating liver is half chewy half insanely crispy it's like a liver snack I'm gonna just break off the back leg oh yes the meat is insanely crunchy and this smells handsome let me see I agree 100 Cheers Cheers crispy greasy crunchy it's wild because you know the last preparation we had was good too but they're just vastly different there the skin was like kind of gloopy soft and really rich in here it's just really crunchy yeah now I want to get into that meat listen this is good stuff right here cheers [Music] we tried the organs we tried the skin we tried the meat The Only Thing Remains so we're done right we're done the only thing that remains is the treasure within the head the brain I believe I'm doing this oh [Music] that's definitely the brain I would say it's twice the size of a chicken brain it's soft it's gushy this is the final bite of the day you know she normally they don't eat it but guess what we're not normal especially oral he's not normal cheers fatty it dissolves in your mouth creamy to me it basically tastes like a chicken brain it tastes about as a brain should my question to you you know we talked to a chef in Lima about maybe the top three signature foods that represent Peru so not guinea pig no not in the top five [Music] I love guinea pigs it's more On The Fringe though do you think guinea pigs should be included on that list okay yes because our keeping food has a high place on Peruvian food guinea pig is one of the most requested dishes in our Kiba so making the math how to keep our food being the best and this won't been one of the best ditches in our keeper she said that should be top one per second place really I love getting different points of view you know food is so subjective depends on where you come from your background and your experience and what you've been exposed to day by day obviously we've seen so far that food in Peru is very wide-ranging and this is just another fantastic element of the food here ma'am thank you so much I know you're trying to challenge me giving me every time more weird food but I think it's taking a different effect on me I think instead of scaring me and challenging me I'm getting more curious I'm more open in eating different things that I never thought it opened up a new part of my brain overall good really good yeah now we're going even higher climbing to elevations of over 10 000 feet all to experience the meat the gods the smell combined with the sound with the visuals it's like an IMAX experience right here meet the alpaca they play an important role in Peru's Andean agriculture about 82 000 families independently breed and rear alpacas and llamas next we'll meet one such family this is alpaca liver Ceviche style I mean you could say it's cooked with love exactly I want to understand what it takes to raise these amazing creatures but I also want to learn how they taste to telling me to test it by myself sniff test we started in arkipa this morning two and a half hours later I woke up here population for Generations it's nestled in the hypnotic Andes Mountain Range 14 000 feet above sea level I feel the elevation immediately just speaking long sentences get to be winded have you ever jogged before without dying he was born here dude if you went to Ocean level and ran a marathon you would break a world record of course right now we're surrounded by alpaca and llamas alpacas and llamas are domesticated camel bits native to South America they play a crucial role in the lives of people in chilitia and here in Franklin's pen there are about 30 of each the first and most obvious question is how can you tell the difference between a llama and an alpaca we can make it easy for you this is a llama ah it works as llamas are bigger and stronger than alpacas they're the go-to for transportation and herd protection on the other hand alpacas produced top-notch wool and what the locals refer to as seriously delicious meat this time we get into our mission for the day we're gonna Slaughter an alpaca and eat the whole thing one alpaca five different recipes do you feel comfortable with using the words louder yeah what's like a nice word what would you use put it to dress so we can enjoy the interior meat and it's meat will contribute to our nutritional requirements for the day and contribute with the cycle of Life absolutely correct so which one should we Slaughter foreign [Music] here the act of slaughtering in alpaca for meat is considered a profound sacrifice the chosen animal is taken far from the herd and hidden from their Gates [Music] before ending its life a prayer is offered to Express gratitude to the sustenance this alpaca will provide [Music] thank you at the moment they're collecting its blood the blood is going to be used for a dish and then they're going to begin the butchering process basically every part of this animal is going to be utilized in some way this is just a beginning we have a lot more to see today as butchering begins villagers join to help out how often are you eating alpaca they sacrifice one every 15 days first they collect the wool prized for its warmth and durability utilized to create a wide range of products from blankets to Luxurious Furniture upholstery combined you have 60 animals so are you slaughtering about half your animals per year for consumption then they extract the organs from within yes but if you think about it it's not a half they have between 15 and 20 babies a year so refill like American drinks thank you in no time the alpaca meat is broken down into different cuts ready to be transformed into five different dishes the two we're starting with require no cooking at all first course of the day remember the ceviche we had in Lima this is alpaca liver Ceviche style we're going to try that in a moment but first I have something even more fun would you take a look at this small liver no that's a kidney a kid well I would say two kidneys oh yes so we're not just gonna eat a plane we're gonna eat it with a little bit of salt oh that helps a lot that's all we need this has got to be I think the most difficult challenging thing we'll eat this whole trip like that like that dude after your face I don't think I can put it okay let me start like wrong it's not that bad lying to myself I think you're so very important [Music] it is like a medium rare filet mignon maybe rare rare the salt does help I think all the minerals in your body get filtered through your kidneys so when you eat it it tastes like minerals kind of the outside is a little bit like the skin of a grape actually if you don't look at it no it doesn't yeah are those delicacy do people usually fight over the kidneys yes there is always somebody alone leave that piece for me and they come with this all waiting for it I've just hung up with so many different cultures where that's like a guy thing but you like it yes normally this he consumes everything right here we have our liver Ceviche this highland Ceviche begins with tomato onion mint and Peruvian pepper now balance this harmony of fresh aromatic flavors with the bowl irony raw liver [Music] pinch of salt in a square of line then bravely allow it to overwhelm your taste buds cheers oh it's good there's layers of experience it starts fresh the jelly ooh onions lime a little bit of mint and then it's like wait it's a weird raw squishy liver texture and then you're like oh it's like gamey and a lot of minerality inside the liver so you're tasting all these flavors trying to cover up that liver smell but the liver is like no I'm still here baby I have eaten liver before cool and when you eat it cooked the flavor of the liver is really strong and really bitter but when you eat it like this more chewy but very soft it's crazy because it feels very free like you eat it and it moves in your mouth you know what I mean it feels more alive I talk too much about texture and flavor but I don't really talk about how it moves in my mouth I should get into that I hear so many different places around the world where the thing they do that earns their money they try not to deplete it as a resource so they can have more money they try not to get high on their own supplies and so it's fascinating being in a place finally where they're like yeah we eat the alpacas all the time like why do you think we have them we sell them too we share their wool but they're actually eating the animal that's awesome it's very sustainable like that's how the way they do it listen I'm excited cooking is underway we have a lot more dishes to try out or I got a fun task for you next you get to clean the [ __ ] out of the intestines so we can eat the intestines okay are you excited I'm super excited can you tell as active participants of today's forthcoming meal Oro and I will attempt to give the locals a hand Oro is helping with the sausage but first he must help remove the undesirable contents of our sausage casing I I seriously have no idea why Sunny made me do this I came here I thought it was a full review show not a cleaning poop joke but anyways hola get out right now Oro is having a lot of fun oh I hold this we're making a very special dish this dish is like he's giving me kind of vanity things to do he's like I really need help with this hip I swear she's telling me to open them up like this I'm trying to be gentle because I don't want interaction with the thesis now the thigh meat well I think you didn't get that by yourself [Laughter] oh my god look I'm making a pop tunnel a present and they poop travels oh next up now that the meat is cut down into little bitty pieces it's ready for the marination we are cutting it and go to the second part she said that we have the honor to be the first on putting the poop out it starts with salt garlic paste this feels like when I have my first child look at that I like he just puts the whole lime in there here we have cumin going in just a dash just a couple dashes three dashes give it a little bit of a mix I would get in there but there's not really enough room for me I'm fine just watching I didn't cut to Oro it passed this sniff test it smells like a adult male after gym when we finish cleaning this would become one of our foods for today we're gonna boil this for a little bit and then fry it and that is how you get Peruvian chicharon Franklin boils the meat making sure it's fully cooked through in the meantime we're turning oro's squeaky clean intestines into Highland sausages most sausages around the world are stuffed with some ratio of meat and fat but here we have a mixture of blood corn flour and salt super simple I'm curious how the corn flour is going to affect the viscosity of the contents of the sausage I gotta say I'm super proud of Oro I'm looking at these intestines they look fresh they look clean he really got his hands dirty like quite literally in this situation [Music] please man well done handshake [Music] yeah let's go cook inside the training now these blood-filled sausage tubes take a plunge into a Boiling Pot together with the alpacas Andy's proof hearts and lumps once they boil through they're hacked into oversized chunks and prepared for Indulgence [Music] just so you know you're not the only one who was working yeah I'm sure that you were working as hard as me this is the fruit of my work start with we have the blood sausage it looks magnificent [Music] wow it tastes very similar to liver because of the bitterness it's a powerful taste I'll tell you that it's very interesting yeah well so what I'm used to with blood sausage is mixing in more like meat but here it's mainly what it is like a half cooked blood paste the salt brings out the flavor of the iron and then the intestines have a little bit of gamey fattiness overall it's real fun and it's a little bit challenging and something new this is actually very good for a soup or in a rice to distract from the Flavor yes it's really bold I think we should go around the table here we have lungs very soft squishy it's interesting because before the lungs we had were very brazer in a gravy there's so much flavor and they're cut very small this is bigger as you would say they're spongy and you move inside talk about the movement what do you like about the lungs oh she said that when they sacrifice in alpaca these are the three favorite dishes that they like from the whole Community yes but what about the kidneys I thought the kidneys are the best he said he likes everything okay I love cart from any animal there's no way I'm not gonna like this that's my favorite so far me too I guess what's most surprising or interesting or noteworthy about the preparation is it's just very straightforward it's all the very natural flavors enhance to it a little bit of salt actually for me the heart is the candy of an animal that's the part that I love the most of any animal because it doesn't matter how the animal taste I think the heart always tastes the same I want to ask about this area where we are right now this to me looks like a more traditional construction here I see mud I see bricks kind of put together do people still build homes in this way today yeah it is very effective and they like how it keeps the heat has the village grown since you were a child villagers or descendants of the mighty Inca civilization as a result of being shaped by a multitude of historical events their culture is an intriguing blend of influences yes but especially the last 15 to 20 years the population has increased even more they speak both kachua their indigenous language as well as Spanish their religion is syncretic blending Catholicism and their Andean Faith known as Adoration of Mother Earth as for their lifestyle are all the families here doing the same job as everybody raising llamas and alpacas yes but at the same time all of them also Produce Salt they have thistled lakes here so they are part-time working with the llamas and they are podcasts and part-time working in this sole production is that the same salt that you season this food with yeah that's cool that's really cool I think that's my first time where literally everything on the table came from this place this is delicious but soon we're gonna eat together I'm very excited thank you so much for this our grand final meal is still underway with plenty of work to do we've got a pot of steaming head soup the mouth-watering cheats your own I helped with and then we have this check it out I'm with Elena we're making something called kankacho we have a bunch of different body parts from the alpaca bits of the spine right here we have the leg we have the neck it looks like a giant turkey neck beyond that we have the most important part perhaps the tail every part no matter their degree of importance gets a good rub down with salt garlic and lime from here she's going to finish marinating everything it's gonna head into the smoker behind us and then I'm going to get my first taste of smoked alpaca I cannot wait now the meat is smoked for about three hours the idea of low and slow here well it doesn't exist as the smoker is a bit more like a blast furnace for meat but once it's pulled out you'll need discover meat so tender you can easily cut through it with the hacksaw okay so maybe it's not soft but let's see how it tastes I've played up this incredible spread of alpaca dishes with chilitia's staple corn potatoes and fresh flavor enhancers first of all thank you for coming to their humble place and taste a little bit of what they experience every day I want to say thank you to everyone here because this meal looks delicious and this is truly a once in a lifetime experience let's eat here we have the [Music] I've got some ribs I love the ribs it's salty and sweet at the same time perfect description it's kind of jerky but easier to chew I agree it's half dried out half roasted I mean it is not low and slow so it's not Texas barbecue they pair it with the sweet potato one bite of meat then one bite of the potato yeah and now combine them pork sweet movement dense flow architecture architecture as long as you're saying random [ __ ] but I'm trying to pin down what does this meat taste like that's interesting because I would think that would taste like lamb but for me it takes closer to whole Cafe it's this weird combination of like shaped pork and chicken together yeah it's crazy it's quite delicious I want to jump into this right in front of all of us we have a soup but not just any soup this is alpaca Head Soup start by singing the alpaca head directly over an open flame remove the skin then hack it up and get it ready to mingle with some new ingredients heat up oil and toss in garlic onion cumin salt and celery to create a fragrant base for our heady broth finally add the Cabeza corn and potatoes just a bit of simmering you'll have the perfect soothing antidote to a chilly day in the Andes this is a hearty soup there's corn there's potato and then tons of face meat when is the last time you had this one just one week ago this is not like luxury this is a necessity they need this I can tell it's freezing cold out here every moment I think it can get colder the wind picks up even more and this is one of my favorite things so far today because the cooking and seasoning is still straightforward it's just salt only but all the body fats have kind of leaked into the broth that part of the animal race together with the starch and the particles it gives you a really good texture to the soup these are great particles I'm so curious about your life here how close is the closest city the closest is where we came from how to keep them it took us two and a half hours to get here today is there electricity that comes out here they say they don't have electricity or any kind of connection with the city they have solar panels and that's how they distribute the electricity among their neighbor so do you have a phone signal out here internet mail no mail so do you love that or you hate that he says like he likes it what's good about being so disconnected so I got carried away with the food I eat it and then I I speak Spanish for him is blessed because he loves to be in just with the alpacas with the environment just walking and no connection and not a stress he doesn't worry about anything speaking of alpaca we have one final alpaca dish right here whoa the cheats around after boiling the alpaca meat gets a light fry as it sizzles in The Clay Pot it's you gradually transforms into a golden brown the universal indicator of ready to eat fried meat oh yeah now it's suddenly like on the side of being more beefy like beef ribs man the alpaca is like a chameleon it can be anything it depends on how you prepare it I've had bites that were Porky chickening and beefy though actually I like it more that I was expecting that's my favorite thing all day it's crunchy it's a little bit dry but it's a little moist at the same time it's nice to chew on because it just releases the flavor crystals it's really nice it's so impressive to me that out here it seems like nature and the work you do you're able to provide so much of what you need just by yourselves with the resources available around you you have the meat you've got salt you got solar electricity when you do go to the city what do you have to go to the city for they go mainly for fruits and vegetables because of the harsh weather fruits and vegetables are the hardest things to get here and so many things also they have difficulties with water so they have to extract the water from the well sometimes they have to get tools or parts that they might need for their wall exactly the city it's a decent sized City compared to you know here where there's like maybe 300 people what do you feel when you go into the city they don't have enough time to actually be aware of the city because they go get what they need and they have to come back I wish I could spend more time here it's so fascinating and it's so different from any place I've seen so far in Peru I'm curious you're born here you grew up here is this a place you'll retire and spend the rest of your days for now he's young but he also want to visit all the places and amplify his suspectful of knowing the world right now this is home but in the future not sure good I like it keep it open-minded anything's possible things are going great now but it could always change in the future men ladies thank you so much for everything way to the Amazon this place has a lot of rivers right now we're basically on their Supra Highway they have almost no Bridges if you got across you got to take one of these this city of half a million is home to the controversial Belden Market I thought I'd seen my share of shock inspiring bazaars like tomahome Market in Indonesia where you'll find piles of fruit bats meant for consumption have you ever had that yes of course you have what do you mean or Vietnam's not Sea Market where bug vendors sell fresh salads complete with live dragonfly larva this is one of the most terrifying insect Creations I've ever seen in my life still nothing could have prepared me for this place uh Oro take a look at this I don't want to take a look at it beside this multi-block Maze of tables meat fruit and fabrics you'll stumble upon unlikely proteins that were hunted and shipped straight from the nearby Amazon jungle do they keep the foot attached so you know what animal it is yes what is this I'm on a mission to discover this Market's most extreme food it is a little bit like salmon is your mouth numb and why the locals love it yeah bananas cassava bean stew fried fish grilled meat and a whole array of other options are offered here at Berlin Market which most grabbed my attention is this I thought I've seen chicken prepared every way possible here it's basically a chicken spine being used as a dish a vessel to hold all the eggs I'm used to this that's unlaid eggs and this right here this is intestine usually in some countries it would take these eggs out sell them separately I thought they put an egg here no they didn't put it in they just didn't take it out Jesus before an egg can be laid it must be formed inside the hen starting as an unlaid yolk is there a name for this dish the yolk then transforms into a fully formed egg with an egg white and a shell after about 20 hours in this case the egg met a premature ant and was boiled while still inside the hen but this two for one deal was certainly no accident stick the finger of a chicken's ass what was the reason for that again meet our local guide edus he was born in a small village a two-day boat ride into the Amazon jungle today he's here to guide us through this country's most extreme Market ah to realize if he has eggs or not because how do you know that a chicken has eggs inside well clearly yeah with this I've never had to peel my egg out of the intestine and then peel the shell mine doesn't want to get out into like look for it maybe if somebody shove their finger up there too far Cheers Cheers it's like egg so this is a standard hard-boiled chicken egg let's eat some of this it's intestinal fat wait wait wait wait but the intestine is still inside so that means they didn't clean it up yeah are we eating um sometime what is Laura sometimes well let's just go for it stop thinking so much all right yeah juicy my man yeah more is more it tastes almost like a really juicy chicken breast has a great texture so more delicious this chicken is about the most normal thing you'll find in this market but among the beef bits pork parts and jungle Meats fish are consumed most often there's a ton of seafood here in this market a lot of fish is it all from the Amazon yeah the diamond River will have 600 kind of fishes this city is surrounded by rivers and it butts up against the Amazon rainforest where a wide variety of freshwater fish are caught and brought here to sell from giant catfish to species new and exotic some sectioned up to Southern chunks and some already ready to eat like this what kind of fish is this corbina a type of firm white fish similar to sea bass women eating a lot of fish from the ocean so this has a lot of minerality like a freshwater fish this Market is kind of famous for the different wild animals that it has here but before we get started my first question is how dangerous is this Market you know I've traveled to many places in the world and once in a while we need security you know when I went to Johannesburg when I went to Lagos in Nigeria we needed guys with guns but today at this market we've brought three extra people to come watch our back what's going on here a lot of people there are some big Pockets yeah it's still in some things like cell phone cameras if you're a tourist and you come here should you come here alone or not coming along we're a little bit more down to the market they use knife or organ yeah this is Belen Market a glimpse into the soul of Peru deeper into the market I begin to spot wooden tables piled high with mystery meat a closer look reveals the animal appendages still remaining helping to identify just which species you're looking at so this is a giant meat pile there's probably 300 pounds of meat here at least I would say can I pick it up by the toes oh what is this a pig yes Pig wild pig wild pig this smells like it's smoke yeah does that make it last longer yeah how long will this stay good six months yeah because it's dry and salt wait what is this guinea pig guinea pig fantastic well Oro knows all about the guinea pig oh my God they change shape I did it you tell by the color of the hair meat go that one oh I'm guessing this did not come from a farm no no no no it's a white it's a wild deer how far away from here do you think this deer came from almost three days by boat the vast green Amazon rainforest blankets 60 percent of Peru a thriving and diverse ecosystem that's a Lifeline for the locals markets like this have emerged as vital trading hubs fueling the economic engine of the region however the Journey of this meets on this table has its own story freelance Hunters spend up to a week voyaging deep into the Amazon jungle by boat there they hunt for any force-dwelling creatures that cross their paths how many deer will a hunter try to get or how many animals 10 12 or 20 not just one once the hunter accumulates a pile of varying animal protein it's sold here to Distributors it's not like oh we happen to like smoked meat there's no other option they must smoke it in the jungle then or else it cannot be preserved it's not going to make the journey back here to eat the meat do you have to cook it more or can you eat it like this yeah you can eat it like that this is incredible because this was just in the jungle probably days ago or actually he said it could last six months should we get a piece from the bottom all right I want to try just a little piece of deer it smells like charcoal it smells deary it tastes like turkey it's really salty it seems like something they would put in a soup do you put this in soup yeah because after they put in the water the check out a little bit of salt right like it's a meat and a seasoning next the board it looks gummy on the inside it's okay to eat them yeah divisible on the first aid kit I may need it a little bit more sweet insanely salty Smoky and softer fantastic this is a good start let's see what else we got those range in price but species that are harder to find or hunt will Garner a few more souls than easier to find animals like wild boar or deer live animals this little guy is called a pygmy marmoset the world's smallest primate guys take a look at this it's got a big tail it could fit in a shot glass it is so tiny and you can see it's a little brain trying to figure out what is going on and why this giant is looking at him I've never seen something more adorable than this live animals stay fresh longer and they can fetch a higher value like these tortoises here we stumbled upon the yellow footed tortoise you can see right here gets a little tail it's a little feet and they keep it upside down so he can't get away this is built to survive in nature but it's not built for the ultimate Predator Hungary peruvians and the rainforest this is the shell of a much bigger tortoise you can see in here the actual turtle eggs they will actually use the shell to make kind of a soup or a stew out of the turtle bits and parts here they've also classified the turtle Parts into different piles so we have a turtle liver we have Turtle intestine Turtle heads and then my favorite oh foreign it's a slippery little guy now this is not going to waste either but people aren't just simply eating it they put it into wine they let the wine and the penis get all happy together then you drink that wine and guess what it's an aphrodisiac it gives you stamina it helps you with your action on the lookout for food I'm quickly drawn to a myriad of exotic insect options like beta larva and even this right here we have stingless Amazonian bees what's interesting about it is the color I guess the hive is dark kind of Blackish Brown the bees are black and I'm gonna try a bite of the hive stingless bees are closely related to Common honey beets but they're darker in color with bigger mandibles that can inflict a painful bite I see actual eggs or I'm not eating maggots am I their nests are usually found in hollow tree trunks termite nests or Rock crevices that's really sour it's not sticky it's just waxy it almost is like taking a bite of a lime this bike is supposed to spit up I'm not being rude that's wax you want me to eat wax I'm not gonna do it a stunning Discovery something like I've never seen before I'm told this type of Honey is being more and more sought after because it has medicinal applications is that Chrome I don't know hopefully it heals me soon because I am a Broken Man what do people not eat here when it comes to meat is there any meat that people don't eat yes so only that Dolphins because in the Amazon River or in this market everything that moves that people is eating they have a legend that the Dolphins are humans from another life right so that's why they don't eat it but otherwise aside from the dolphin everything else no problem no problem holy cow well Aura we found something new that's for sure take a look at this I don't want to take a look at this what is this so this is a red howler monkey [Music] oh my God that's a beautiful monkey is this legal to eat than to hunt because it's a dangerous species every year we have a less monkeys the different species the topic of endangered species here appears to be well understood yet it doesn't cause much of a stir so this one's endangered the woman selling it is very aware that we're filming right now we ask permission she's not worrying no because everybody is eating this is a cell this is one Local's understanding but outside experts espouse a different story claiming indigenous communities are allowed to hunt and eat wild game but selling the meat at all is prohibited half a block behind we have the police station but that's not the problem is illegal when I find some animal is alive but like that but another problem so it's it's too late yes too late much like other parts of South America there's a wide gap between what's illegal and what's actually enforced by men in uniform can I pick one up oh this is literally the hand it looks kind of like a human hand but with sharper fingernails you can see the there's like a paw pad here it smells exactly the same as what we tried already yeah it just smells like smoked meat oh my god oh dude man that's so bizarre that is the head the face I mean there's no questioning where this came from you know what's crazy my heart is like pumping right now like I have a rush of emotions right now what are you feeling I don't know I feel like I'm nervous I think because it's closer to human it feels even more weird well you don't have to eat it that's a good news that's a great news pointing out what's wrong in this situation isn't hard to do but unraveling the reasons behind the people participating in an illicit Wildlife trade while harming endangered species that's a tougher nut to crack to dig deeper we're venturing across the river to a local neighborhood [Music] foreign our local cook soon she'll be preparing a Meal made from a locally hunted creature that would strike fear into the hearts of even the boldest of men I'm talking about the black alligator but first we're heading to her food cart for some safer local options we just got done touring the market we got to see a lot of unusual animals including monkey and here we are eating some chorizo see I'm taking care of you very safe I appreciate it this dish is called takacho a traditional Peruvian meal popular in the Amazonian region made with plantains cooked then mashed in a large wooden mortar that plantain putty is formed into big bowls and served with grilled wild boar skin and chorizo sausage [Music] it doesn't have a strong flavor it's not banana eating at all just a starchy like a completely unripe plantain I think that the reason why you can find the flavor and maybe you just found it is because you need to combine it that's right really good really good I'm loving them the chorizo is Savory it's a bit like gritty compared to normal chorizo I think this is more expressive meaning the framework it dances so this is pig skin I like that it's almost like a bacon it's really chewy and then it's just full of juice and flavor delicious yeah is this meat all from the market over here so is this farmed or is this from the jungle it's like 100 from the jungle you say that the local people prefer to eat the wild because the taste is better what are some of the most rare Meats you'll find in this market and beef so it's beef more rare than monkey yeah why because here I don't have some people is breeding um cow they don't have big farms here to breed cow I'm very curious about the community here this is a place like no place I've been before I'm told there's no way to actually drive to where we are you have to either take a boat or you have to take an airplane this is a small suburb of Berlin known as San Francisco where Adelaide and her family spend their time away from the chaos of the market [Music] right now it's the dry season and the water is low but during the rainy season flooding can bring these Waters up another 15 feet that would explain why some of the houses are so tall yeah would it be okay if we took a look at your house despite the challenges this presents folks here have learned to adapt to get around they use boats or canoes and move on the four-door sedan meanwhile their homes are either built high to avoid flooding or they're built on giant logs that will later float when Rising Waters come nice to meet you meet hazer Adelaide's husband he's just returned from the market with treasures in hand I would love if you could walk me through what we have here this fish what is this a prehistoric creature that took its own evolutionary path you definitely know they're catfish because they're still alive and kicking and they have been out of water maybe at least a day by now instead of scales their skin is protected by bony plates known as cute so feel this front part dude it's like a fingernail oh man is so hard right they say that it's very ugly but the face is tasty I thought he was gonna say it has a good personality and then here we have the alligator two different types of Tails between these two is there anything different about the taste yes you say that this one is harder and it has more fiber and this one is a little bit softer which one do you prefer he prefers this one great let's try the black one yeah an apex predator with a strong jaw and sharp teeth the black caiman is the largest species of alligator in the Amazon basin able to grow up to 20 feet in length and weigh over 1 000 pounds [Music] as the kitchen heats up adelit will turn this wild protein into a domesticated stew she adds tomato sauce to hot oil then garlic pepper cumin bay leaves MSG seasoning powder and homemade salsa now comes the protein dense Bean chunks of alligator tail meat when is the last time you had alligator cooked like this and say that his taste alligator like two months ago but cooked in a different way have you ever had alligator oil no well I have crocodile he's different it's different one has a U-shaped mouth one has a v-shaped mouth I try not to get that close to the mouth so I don't know how it's shaped now they do say the black one is a little bit tougher than the other one it smells great it looks great let's try it out oh that's really good it reminds me of a chicken breast but more juicy and there's a slight fishiness to it actually the flavor is close to a big fish but the texture is more like a chicken breast nailed it it's wild that you can just go to this Market it's so close to your home and you can buy an alligator here have you ever caught these animals you see a little cousin what is the process of catching an alligator so that you don't die so what they do they go in a canoe and they use a harpoon tie to a floating log because when they they hit the alligator it tends to leave really fast so with that luck they can identify where it goes and then cash it wow when you see these animals do you feel scared he's saying no he gets happy because like food in general it feels like this is not really a agricultural or pastoral Society not a lot of crops not a lot of people raising pigs and cows and so people go into the jungle they bring animals from there they eat them so then that leads to issues with animal populations for certain species so people watching this video are going to go oh that's terrible they shouldn't be eating all those animals and it's like great no problem we have a solution we'll just cut down the forest we'll grow wheat we'll grow corn we'll make room for cows and then they'll go no but you can't cut down the forest either so then what the [ __ ] do you do if you live here I mean is there any solution to like get people off of depending on the meat from the jungle and move people to you know pork beef chicken no because local people is killing for eating every day people gotta eat yeah is there any proposed Solution by the government or by outside organizations when you find some animals in markets policies that take and are going to the rescue center that's great for the animals but what about the people ice breathing some like hangs but how does our Bible in the jungle that's the thing like yes you can have hands and other animals about it how those animals will survive that young when the water goes or older Animal City so it's a constant fire of finding what can we eat with the conditions that they have right here foreign ER preparing the armored catfish is a breeze simply Grill the whole fish until the heat finally penetrates its outer shell and Cooks the meat inside whoa did we eat that glad it's almost away yeah that's the egg it looks like just my fish has an egg Sac I'm so sad mine doesn't have egg okay mine came with a pear [Music] it smells really fishy Oro cheers oh really neutral flavor it feels like Wax balls it's like rubbery corn I'm still chewing on it you can feel every individual egg even the eggs are armored and they're protected I gotta say there's not much meat in the fish right no gosh there's really just maybe a couple of bites a few morsels there's not much to it I say that it's not a lot of meat but it's a treat because it's really yummy I'm pretty good how long have you lived in this community right here he's lived here for 15 years we were with your wife earlier today I can see that she's cooking food as her job and what's your main job right now he transport people from one side to the other side it's interesting because you know speaking to different vendors people working here I ask you know are you closed on Sundays do you ever have a day off and they're like no no that idea is so foreign and when you come to someone's home like this certainly you can see the challenges that are here for people and it makes sense like what are you gonna do with the day off yeah if you just had one thing in your life right now that could make your life easier what would that be he said it's just a good job he's a man of work what kind of job would be ideal for you [Music] so he he will hope in the future he can be a cook or a chef and do more culinary work sir thank you so much it's a pleasure meeting you and your family and drawing this food with you too so thank you I will finish my cheese yeah chicken fish [Music] starting from the city of a Quito we've gone hours down the Amazon River now we're in a small option you'll find a rich biodiversity of plants and animals with many of them ending up on the dinner table out here there's not a lot of Agriculture there's not a lot of pig pastures or cow pastures when it comes to protein people find whatever they can as far as I understand people are allowed to hunt pretty much anything they can find in the jungle next I'm on a mission to learn how these off the grid locals deal with the harshness of Nature and find food in the unlikeliest of places we're not eating that are alive oh it's unknown including this exotic jungle meat Straight From the Heart of the Amazon what do you think are you hungry oh dinner we're both very excited to be here deep in the Amazon forest this right here that's what I like to call breakfast this little organic sack that's got carbs from Rice drenched in a tasty mix of oil garlic and achiote the star of the show here is the chicken and that star is ready for his close-up the chicken is soaked in hot water feather it and chopped into small pieces in a bowl chicken meat teams up with soy sauce chicken stock dried basil garlic achiote cumin and salt all to create a flavor grenade how do you capture the chicken when we came here it was already tied up like some kind of a ransom he captures them at night they are more sleepy and less less sneaky sneaky The Boiled meat is rolled up in flavored rice and wrapped in banana leaves boil these bundles then bring them to breakfast this iconic Peruvian dish goes by the name Juan de Gallina Juan in Spanish is like John in the Bible when they cut the John's head this is a symbol of a head and they usually eat it in a Saint John's holiday that's really dark this is supposed to be some guy's head should we open it [Music] man the smells is already really good oh yeah let's start with the rice the rice is nice it's soft it's hot it's Savory there tastes like a little bit of cumin too we haven't got to the chicken yet but the rice is giving you hint of the chicken flavor right so everybody has a random body part inside I have like kind of the back and Rib area I have a jet to identify part of it ah this is the chest if the chicken tastes good you can tell it's Countryside chicken it's a little more a little more thin but good flavors nice skin and then there's one lone olive inside where do you get the olives from um this they need to get it from the city Manuel and his wife Pauline have lived in this solitary corner of the world all their lives how often are you going to the city you say depending on the need but usually every other week there is a schedule boat that he needs to take it's around two hours to get there and which city are you going to Manuel trades his crops and chickens in the bustling City Market earning him the means to purchase household necessities but most of the food eaten in this home comes from the Bountiful offerings of this Untamed jungle he would say that 90 percent of Waheed is here all sources they get their chickens but then to variate their fishes and sometimes they go hunting that's incredible today manual will treat us to a dose of his daily diet some of which I would not recommend if you have a weak stomach to start an unexpected exotic creature hunted in the dark of night any idea in armadillo an armadillo the armadillo an extended family of 20 species that love dwelling in the warm habitat of Latin America devouring insects and plants before us now a nine banded armadillo looking at it up close it's a combination of like a rodent and a lizard so actually it's a smaller than a word I thought don't tell him that he's one of the hunters imagine he brings something like this home and his wife is like well I've seen bigger my point is for me I thought it would be more scary amadillos or armadillos are the only living mammals that wear such hard shelves their name in Spanish means little armored one that wasn't enough to stop that whatever happened there so how was this animal killed what they do is they put a trap with a line and this line has a projector so the animal passed that line it gets activated and shoes unlike its doppelganger the highly endangered Pangolin the armadillo exists in much greater numbers even though they're hunted throughout South America for their meat so these taste good he says that yes he loves the flavor it's like a little pig really yeah like pork by the end of today we'll sit down to a two-course armadillo meal the first thing she does is put it over a hot charcoal and then she starts scaling it but I'm told that the really thick skin underneath that can still be eaten or will experience a once in a lifetime Taste of the Amazonian wild and this kills me I don't know I need a helicopter evacuation while Pauline deals with a little armored One manual offers a deeper look into the wild how often are you hunting for example they prefer hunting it when the water goes up because they have less land so they are less familiar with the habitat and they go to places where they can cash it [Music] 25 million year old Amazon cradles over half the planet's remaining rainforests and accommodates over one third of all known species worldwide the armadillo is one of many sought after animals for hunters who also pursue elusive prey like agouti the lowland Paka the colored picari the yellow-footed tortoise the mighty red howler monkey and other bizarrely named creatures that we don't have in Minnesota not only do they have animals in the jungle they also have animals in the water I'm told that it's possible to catch piranhas the ones that that you know so we're gonna go fishing what place are we not going to we're going to use you as bait we are not right the Amazon River is the world's largest river by water volume stretching over 4 000 miles across South America it's murky Waters conceal a stunning diversity of over 3 000 species including tiger shovel nose catfish spectacled Cayman the Amazonian Manatee the green anaconda and the infamous piranha the Piranhas are one of the most iconic fish of the Amazon but there's all these misconceptions or maybe they're not misconceptions like can you actually go in the water no problems smell blood if you don't have blood on you you're fine oh no why don't you take a dip of over 40 species the red-bellied piranhas are the most aggressive towards humans they mercilessly Patrol the waters in schools that sometimes exceed 100 facing these vicious creatures requires serious Firepower so we're bringing our Amazonian Ally for backup have you ever heard of someone dying from a piranha attack two months ago there are some children's eight years [Music] oh my God I thought this was horror movies stuff I didn't know that could really happen all right new plan neither one of us goes in the water but today we're going to show the Piranhas are dominance we're gonna use meat from other animals to catch piranhas we're gonna show that we're the alpha one I'm fine being better man this morning manual set out a net Downstream so he's pulling up the net right now we're hoping to catch over a dozen fish there's already one fish in there that'll either be eaten for dinner or get chopped in a piranha bait I'm told that the fish are going to be a little bit smaller in general no huge ones in here but you never know maybe there's an alligator trapped inside oh is that the full net no the dolphin broke the net oh really the Amazon Dolphin oh right there also known as the boto or pink dolphin I just saw it they really are pink is another unique creation of this River it's fantastic and terrible at the same time I mean for this guy he's lost all his fish these freshwater mammals sport long pointed jaws with sharp teeth that allow them to devour an expansive range of food from common fish to hard shell Crustaceans and even Turtles they also can't resist an easy free meal not only do they take all the fish but it looks like they broke the net too is that right how long will it take you to fix that net at least two days to face despite them eating our dinner the Dolphins are off the hook as a meal option their main rule is never touch the Dolphins I'll find out why soon but right now we must focus on a piranha Mission that's just gone South so all right we've got one fish is all right don't be too dejected hang in there stay in the game with flickering hope we move to piranha infested waters here Manuel chops his small catch into bait and sets his hook the piranha fishing has begun it's very different from fishing that I'm used to because he's actually trying to wrestle off the fish maybe he's trying to mimic like an animal struggling or suffering or fighting because that is what would draw blood and maybe attract piranhas in the first place he lets it sink and the meat is off just like that piranhas are notoriously tricky because of their sharp teeth and lightning quick bites the visibility in this water is like nothing you can't you can see maybe two inches down the often snatch bait without getting hooked and we can save some time by you just putting the hand on it however if you're persistent and patient you could snag a whopping catch weighing up to four pounds he got one this is a tiny tiny piranha this is another species of piranha this one is better than those no after hours of fishing it's clear that lady luck has taken a siesta this is our biggest piranha of the day so it's like a snake he kind of like pulls the lip Stone and that reveals these insanely sharp small pointy teeth he crush with the top ones and they integrate like this it has like an underbite yeah it does that so even though it's this size can we still eat this man how many people got to say yeah I ate piran and that's a good point we have about 10 of these plus we still have that whole armadillo let's get off this River the Piranhas are handed over to the chef of the house then they're scored gutted and washed Pauline tosses the fresh fish in a bowl and mixes them with salt cilantro cucumber tomato and onion then she wraps them in banana leaves and places the bundles on the grill [Music] we have a pretty good gang here this is my first bite of piranha ever in my life saying can you show me how because I heard it's complicated right yeah normally take this back later eat it like that so that's the main thing take out the backbone the bones are really tiny so you need to be very careful if the product kills me even though it's already dead I'm gonna be pissed just letting you know [Music] pretty good man super soft flaky you can see there's a million ribs on top to kind of peel the meat off the ribs with your teeth it has a fresh water taste even though it's quite tiny so fun to eat it's so delicious and a really unique wonderful preparation I don't drink but I think this is something that you will eat if you drink alcohol do you guys drink out here dude look at this guy he's 52 he looks fit AF we look like the same age I drink I don't drink yeah and you look young you should take notes from us and curious one of the main issues that we've discovered in the last video and in this one is just how precious the animals are and the resources are animals going away more and more every year and probably the same with fish and seafood and this is you were right years ago the Piranhas were like three times this size at the same time there is a lot less fish because there is more people and not just that the people they cash any size of fishes but they need to eat fish once a week to variate the kind of protein are you allowed to fish wherever you want or are there certain territories where you can and cannot fish the main rule of this area is never touch the Dolphins what is so important about the Dolphins to you the Dolphins are the more scariest animal in the region there is not many of them so they really want to keep them they also trying to educate the people like it look no matter how you know it's their territory they are trying to eat you know what he does is instead of getting mad at the Dolphins just to wash their Nets so they can keep the fish and it's like trying to live in harmony so far today we've learned about animals on land and we've learned about animals in the water but there's another category of animals there's more there's more it's animals inside of the tree right here we have grubs no man just hold it for a second man this feels like a guinea pig oh my God they they squeeze this they change shape they say that this has a process they have to cut the Palm open a little bit so it gets some moisture and wait for between 15 days to a month until they appear they say you loved it and it's a really good Fountain of protein oh Fountain of protein I don't know I remember when I was boy my mom gave me that one like eating I like it's better for the flu or a necklace we can throw it together so here's the thing I have had these raw before but they were with fish sauce and Vietnam this is just plain so there's nothing to like cover up the taste can you go first oh why are you taking a bite out of it dude that's so epic this side is still alive at least eat the head first so this is like a pop carb the sound man can you finish with the head yeah no big deal I mean the same sounds yeah it sounds leathery and then crunchy at the end I don't know if I can do this man [Applause] oh he's trying to bite me [Music] hey Stacy I'm not enjoying him but I'm not hating him it tastes clean tastes like clean water okay [Music] he told me imagine that you're just in the mountain nothing to eat you will die if you don't eat this all right man my man that takes huevos you know what it tastes like nuts no that nuts I mean like it tastes a bit nutty slightly like coconut fresh watery I enjoyed that very much that was a lie armadillo two ways of course one course two oh you can eat them after scaling Pauline portions the armadillo using its body for the soup while the meat is boiled and she shreds plantain and chopped cassava tossing them into the pot along with a dash of salt we have our first dish it smells so peculiar to me you know what it smells like it smells like bandagi United Korean silkworm Pupa that's been like boiling and bubbling how do you describe that it's like mothballs like it's a little bit musty heavy it's an interesting smell to come from meat should we try some raw it tastes like silkworm people broth that is one of the most unusual animal proteins I've ever tasted in my life it's not like okay you have mouse rat guinea pig and you're like it's a little chickeny it's a little no no this is something completely all its own you think this tastes like pork flavor is like monkey always we don't know I've had monkey all that pleasant but it tastes a little bit different from Monkey to me at least can you eat this skin like this armor no you need to like wrap the meat out of it [Music] powerful pungent smell it's soft it's slimy it's been stewing [Music] all right it tastes am I rotten it does is this how it normally tastes sometimes but normalis is more like a pork but now it's like it's born in the hair do you like that taste yeah your voice got really high when you said yeah it reminds me of when I went to the Faroe Islands and I had sheep that was hanging and it was fermenting for months maybe three four months it kind of tastes like that except for this was not fermenting at all so it makes me wonder why does it taste like that am I gonna die Liz everyone deserves a second chance so it's only fair to give the armadillo another shot this time in the form of armadillo Barbacoa the legs tail and head get the complete spa treatment with a salty rub down before they hit the grill cheers actually this is better it's so different it tastes a little bit smoked yeah it tastes like smoked duck how do we go from silkworms to smoke duck in the same animal and this one it smells better than the previous one definitely it's like smoky it's charcoal there's a hammy which one do you like more of course this one which one do you like more um they would like this one usually if you get something like this would you share with the community around you he said that he not just Cherry he also make it like F1 and what we ate for breakfast this place is so unique because we're so deep into the Amazon yet right here where you live you're part of a small community can you tell me about the community that exists here foreign they don't have a lot of habitants that's why you know they share everything they collect and they live in harmony and try to help each other I know you have a child does your son have a school nearby here that he can go to see it they have a school right there it's like five minutes from here you're out here in the jungle I can see there's plenty of things to desire about this lifestyle it's peaceful you're living off of the land but for your son what would you want for his future would you want him to remain in the jungle or to try to find some opportunities in a more populated place he said that every day he works towards pushing his son to study well prepare himself and go to the city find life for himself then what a journey I think it's very interesting because food doesn't come only with the taste flavors but all these meats when you imagine them there is a lot of thoughts in your mind like endangered species it's very weird to eat why are we eating wild food but when you experience why they eat it how they eat it it opens your mind and also there is a lot of questions as well like the future of places and people who live in places like this but there should be a story connected to the food that's what was missing in Fear Factor With Fear Factor In Fear Factor they had to eat weird stuff and they're like why am I eating balloon boom guys that is the end series pretty amazing we went to the coast and then we went to a very high mountain area finally we came here to the rainforest and ate some true true rainforest food very true I want to say a huge thank you to Batman oral right here handshake wow I put him through the ringer I said on the first day I brought him here so I could torture him and I think I maybe tortured myself in the end as well man I think I did pretty good you did great you can check out oil right here on Instagram here's his handle check out his fun adventures in Miami and Beyond otherwise guys that is it for this one thank you so much for watching the Peru series we'll see you next time I'm gonna go find it

Channel: Best Ever Food Review Show

Views: 2,176,120

Keywords: Best ever food review show, befrs, sonny side, befrs team, food, around the world food and culture, peru, south american country, south american food, peruvian food, exotic feed, extreme food, Belen market, guinea pig, monkey meat, turtle, alpaca, dangerous place, Lima, iquitos, monkey

Id: dun-FAG4uXg

Length: 117min 18sec (7038 seconds)

Published: Wed Jun 07 2023