24814 Sat Jul 05 10:31:44 -0700 2003 6 1 San Francisco Bay Area 0 97734 A long shot, but I'm looking for authentic ingredients for a "reunion" for a recent month-long trip to Peru. To the point, I'm looking for a Bay area source for Alpaca and Cuy[guinea pig], as well as the kinds of potato and corn varieties I've not seen on this side of the equator. For anyone who's never been to Peru, alpaca tastes/ looks like extremely lean beef with just a hint of liver, and cuy tastes, yes, "like chicken"- actually more like rabbit- but there isn't much meat under the skin. Any leads?... Sat Jul 05 10:31:44 -0700 2003 0 Jimbo 1 97750 Hi JImbo, you seem to know your Peruvian. Today I had the halibut ceviche at Fresca on W. Portal. The dish included what was described as pop corn. I have had the same designer dish at Alma's and it came with microwaved PC. The pop corn today was a delicious peanut sized, toasted, crunchy on the outside, corny on the inside, kernal, that was perfect with the limed fish. Where can I find the corn and if you know what is called in Spanish? thanks-Tom- Sat Jul 05 20:04:10 -0700 2003 97734 0 TomG 2 97770 My Spanish/Cechuan is limited to the pleasantries, so I don't know the name of the "popcorn" [more like "cornnuts" if we are talking about the same thing] you're referring to, but just about every bar/restaurant/street vender has it and there are infinate variations as to the kind of corn and preparation details it seems... Sun Jul 06 11:39:21 -0700 2003 97750 0 Jimbo 3 97785 One of my easier quests. Found a bodega at the corner of 23rd and Capp that specializes in foods from Peru. They had the corn(cancha) and to their knowledge neither alpaca nor g.pig has been available in the US for at least 2 years. They recommended two Peruvian restaurants one at 20th and Mission and the other at 30th and Mission. Cheers-Tom- Sun Jul 06 19:21:40 -0700 2003 97770 0 TomG 4 98143 Thanks for the detective work.... Thu Jul 10 11:54:23 -0700 2003 97785 0 Jimbo 1 97762 The market on Mission between 21st and 22nd carries a bunch of Peruvian dry goods. I've never studied their meat selection, though. Even if they don't have what you want they might be able to send you in the right direction. Sun Jul 06 02:55:07 -0700 2003 97734 0 heidipie 1 97850 You might try LIMON a Puruvian restaurant in the Mission. They have a websight (limon-sf.com) in which they say that they distribute products from Puru. Mon Jul 07 11:22:59 -0700 2003 97734 0 B L Croteau