Peruvians cat-alyze tradition with feline-eating festival

LA QUEBRADA, Peru -- In the middle of La Quebrada's dusty square, onlookers crowd a tent where a Peruvian cook adds onion, garlic, then hot peppers to a frypan sizzling with the day's first serving of the local delicacy many have driven up to two hours to savor: feline fricassee.

"It's really tasty," 21-year-old Ada Torres said as she finishes up a plate of cat cracklings. Around her, children lick their fingers and adults line up to try the dish.

One weekend a year, the farming town of La Quebrada on a former plantation, 90 miles south of Lima, heats up with a festival celebrating Peru's black culture that features dance, music, and a feast where the adventurous turn into what locals call "cat-eaters."

Some people just watch, giggling, as the cook adds diced squash and warns fry oil must be scalding for the right results. "It's the first time I've tried it. ... I was curious and it's excellent," Torres said.

But the culinary novelty isn't the only highlight to the annual Saint Efigenia festival -- just perhaps the strangest, said the festival's organizer, Sabio Canas.

"We want to show black people -- and people of every race -- that here in (La Quebrada) we have a black saint and we are descendants of (slaves) ... so we have a great big party," said Canas, president of a black art and culture association.

About 70 percent of Peru's 26 million population is of indigenous descent but there is a small black minority, many of whom Canas said are descendants from those brought to colonial Peru to work as slaves on cotton plantations.

The festival honors St. Efigenia, who is one of the few black saints honored in the largely Catholic nation and whose image adorns the town's small, ramshackle church. They say an Efigenia statue arrived to nearby Canete on a ship in the 18th century.

The St. Efigenia festival, which takes place over a weekend in September each year, also includes dancing and singing to the black rhythms famous in the poor Andean nation.

"There isn't much left of our culture," said Jaime Rojas, 49, an education worker from Canete who said the festival has given new life to La Quebrada, a town of 3,000 where most people scrape by with cotton, potato and corn crops.

"We've tried to rescue the dance, the food. It's like in Spain with the running of the bulls -- these are our roots and can't be forgotten," he said.

Canas said the cat-eating tradition is rooted in culinary pragmatism when slaves lived on cotton plantation and had little else to eat.

"There have always been some people who eat cat but we've broken the silence," said Canas, adding that residents go out looking for unlucky beasts to capture in days before the festival.

During the festival, residents also parade the statue of St. Efigenia through the streets of La Quebrada.

"This is the first boost we black people have had ... and we're going to celebrate," said musician Caitro Soto. "We may be poor, but we're doing it in style," he said.

But most come to try the cat -- which tastes "just like rabbit," many say -- and organizers say they hope it gives a boost to local tourism.

"I prepare it at home -- in stews or with a cilantro sauce and I serve it up with yucca," said Antonio Rojas, a 59-year-old port worker who said he brushes off rumors cat meat can induce disease. He said he often prepares it secretly for unsuspecting guests.

But some locals look on the custom with disdain and Canas said he had to scale back this year's catch as angry members of an animal rights group complained about reports some 100 cats would be killed for the festival.