If you like seafood you are not gonna have any problem there; specially if you are on the coast, like in Lima; there is really good seafood there: ceviche, chita al ajo, choros a la chalaca, jalea, etc.

It should not be impossible or even very difficult. A lot of the popular restaurants cater to tourists and offer lots of pizza and pasta dishes. Peru is really known for grains (quinoa), corn, and potatoes, so you should have a lot of options.

I’m vegetarian and I had no problems there. The one thing that was a bit of a pain was breakfast. I’m ovo-lacto veg… so I ate probably my body weight in eggs by the time I left :) I still have an aversion to eggs after that experience!!
Like Dianalisa said, plenty of pasta and potatoes and such. Also, Cuzco is a fairly modern city. You will be able to get all kinds of cuisine there. As you know, Italian, Chinese and other Asian foods make it very easy to eat veg.
Good luck! I am SO jealous of you going to Cuzco. One of my favorite cities anywhere! The market is fun!
P.S. Tres Cruzes is near to Cuzco. You should hit that! I’m sorry I didn’t get a chance to.

Check this out:
“The Cusco area is home to several sites of outstanding natural beauty. The Pongo de Mainique, a long, but beautiful, bus ride from Cusco, is a narrow gorge, with 300m-high cliffs on either side of the Urubamba River, with waterfalls pouring down into the river. Tres Cruces, only four hours from the city, offers one of the world’s most spectacular sunrises, with optical illusions giving the impression of the sun dancing, splitting in two and changing shape.”

Lots of meat-free traditional andean food. Shouldn’t have a big problem. I wouldn’t recommend greasespoon pizzas or any other fast tourist fare. But if you are going to live in a pension, ask them for potato and corn based food. They will appreciate that. Peru is to potatoes what France is to cheeses. White, black, blue, yelow, red, small and large, very sweet, not so sweet, freeze dried, sun dried, you name it. And Cusco corn is amazing. Vegetables do have flavor, and you will find fruits you never knew existed, at extremely low prices. To give you an idea, the current price of fresh, never refrigerated bananas in an expensive Lima market is one sol “the hand”: five bananas for 50 canadian cents. I just hope you are not averse to cheese, since many of the meatless dishes use cheese.

Hmmm interesting! I am a vegetarian too!! I had no problem. You have to be flexible enough to try whats available.

Apart from yummy veggie local food at most restaurants, there is an ISKCON restaurant in Cusco (side lane of main square), run by Hare Krishna mission and they have some yummy food too!!

PERU
Arequipa-Jerusalen 402/ Tel. +51 (054) 229523
Cuzco-San Juan de Dios 285
Lima-Pasaje Solea 101 Santa Maria-Chosica/ Tel. +51 (014) 910891
Lima-Schell 634 Miraflores
Lima-Av. Garcilazo de la Vega 1670-1680/ Tel. +51 (014) 259523

Hope this helps!

Come on, you’ll be fine. Peru has lots of grains like quinua and many kinds of corn. Food is really yummy. It’s a pity you don’t eat seafood, the one I’ve tried in Peru was the best I had during all my life. Hmmmm!!!

But you’ll find many options. :) It’s good you’re going to Peru and not Argentina or Uruguay – where meat is really popular.

Good luck!

Yes, I had heard about their love of beef in Argentina so this should work out better. I know I should try to be more adventurous with the seafood…maybe I will…maybe. The one thing I have heard about quite a bit is the guinea pig? Anyone try it?

plenty of potatoes and other vegies – lots and lots of different kinds of potatoes though, literally hundreds of different types

potatoes! don’t eat the guinea pig…sooo greasy.

potatoes though…yes! yumyum.

Hi Katie marie,
Its funny how many people commenting are vego’s. I am vegetarian too and didnt have a problem in the big cities of peru. Cusco was great, lots of choices, and i was there in 2002 so by now i am sure there is even more. Shashank Kansal mentioned the hari krishna restaurant…. i had at least one meal a day there the food was great….
Even though i was vegie i actually did try the local dishes and braved the tasting of the guinea pig. To be honest i dont remember much of the taste as i drank to much sangria that night but it looks quite scary when it comes served whole with a cherry tomato in its teeth.
I was a huge fan of the ceviche ( fish cooked solely by the juice of lemons) .... watch out for the chillies … one i tryed was soooo hot it was painful.
If your not too strick with your diet i would definatly venture out a little.

I was in Cuzco in Feb this year and had no problem finding vegetarian meals. I’m not completely vegetarian, I eat fish to, but I did eat a lot of vegetarian meals there as well.

Govinda is the Hare Krishna restaurant just off the main square. We ate there once and it was fantastic.

I traveled in Lima, Nazca, Arequipa, Puno, Cusco, and Aguas Calientes. In the big cities (Lima, Arequipa, and Cusco) there were many, many vegetarian restaurants which I consistently found to be really good. Between Lonely Planet and HappyCow.net they were easy to find. In Puno I was pleasantly surprised to find a good place as well. In Nazca and Aguas Calientes it was not so easy, but I was either in a hurry or with a large group so I just made do with veggie burgers or pasta. Good luck and enjoy your trip!

Hi…

Sorry late response on these questions, but here is my input…

I just got back from a few weeks in Peru. As many people have said, no need for meds for Cusco, just protect yourself from bites if you go down to the Amazon area for the weekend.

The Inca Trail was increadible. Bring plenty of kleenex…we all ran out and were scrounging! Sounds like you are on a pre-organized trip with classes and everything, but if they haven’t arranged the trail I would rec the company we travelled with: Llama Path. They were great!!! Very eco-concious and really had great respect and knowledge of the area. They also treated their porters very well which was important.

I don’t think you will have huge problems with finding veggie food. One thing no one has mentioned is Quinoa. You will see plenty of it and it is one of the best grains as far a nutrition and you don’t see it around much but it comes from that area so you will see it a lot when you are there. Try the soup, I’ve been trying to recreate it here at home, but it is never quite the same!

Enjoy!