Street food in Ica: how to eat it without getting sick

Yes, you can eat street food in Ica without getting sick, and you really should try it. The trick is choosing well rather than avoiding everything. Go for food cooked in front of you and served piping hot, stalls with a queue of locals and drinks in sealed bottles; be careful with ice, pre-cut fruit and anything raw. And one piece of advice from us: if you've got the dunes the next day, that's not the night to gamble on the dodgiest stall in the market.

We say this because we see it. Every so often someone shows up at the briefing looking grey, and when we ask, the story starts with "last night I tried this thing on the street...".

What street food to try in Ica

Food in Ica is about rich stews and serious sweets, and much of it is better at the market or a street stall than in a tourist restaurant. Here's what we wouldn't leave without trying:

Carapulcra with sopa seca. The signature plate of the region. Carapulcra is a potato stew with ají panca chilli and pork; sopa seca, despite the name ("dry soup"), is a noodle dish with achiote and basil served alongside it. In the province of Chincha it's the centrepiece of big gatherings, where carapulcra is served on its own or with sopa seca alongside (Spanish-language Wikipedia).

Chupe de pallares verdes. A creamy soup of green lima beans with milk and cheese. Ica is lima bean country, and it shows.

Tejas and chocotejas. Ica's sweet. The classic teja is a dried fruit or pecan filled with manjar blanco (a caramel-like milk spread) and coated in fondant; the chocoteja swaps the fondant for chocolate. According to Spanish-language Wikipedia, tejas are almost impossible to find outside Ica, so this is the place to buy them.

Chapanas and frejol colado. Two local desserts few visitors know. Chapana is made with cassava and chancaca (unrefined cane sugar) wrapped in corn husk; frejol colado is black beans cooked with chancaca, milk and cloves, so sweet you'd never guess the main ingredient.

And then there's the fruit. Ica is a farming valley dropped into the middle of the desert, and the local grapes, in season, are nothing like the supermarket kind.

A tip the guidebooks skip: tejas travel well. Buy them on your last day and take them home or back to Lima. Manjar blanco in your pocket under the dune sun, on the other hand, ends badly.

How to eat street food in Peru without getting sick

A bit of judgement goes a long way. In fairness, the US CDC's guide to safe food and water for travellers says to avoid street vendors altogether, and if you do eat street food, to pick things cooked thoroughly and served very hot. Locals eat on the street every day; we've taken the rules below on temperature, water, ice and fruit from that guide, and the rest is what we see working in practice:

Hot and freshly made. Food that comes straight out of the pot or off the griddle in front of you is much safer than food that's been sitting out. The CDC puts it simply: hot food should be served hot, cold food cold. A lukewarm stew in an open tray is what we like least.

Stalls with turnover. Look for the stall with a queue of workers at lunchtime, not the empty one with a full tray. Where food sells fast, it doesn't sit around. If the mototaxi drivers eat there, that's a good sign.

Water from sealed bottles you open yourself. The CDC warns that some vendors refill bottles with untreated water. Don't drink from the tap, not even at the hotel. Then comes the most common mistake of all: you order a bottled drink, all good, and it arrives in a glass full of ice of unknown origin. The CDC advises skipping ice where clean water isn't guaranteed, so ask for no ice or drink straight from the bottle.

With fruit, the easy rule is to peel it yourself. Bananas, tangerines or a whole avocado are fine. Pre-cut fruit from a cart, juices made with water and raw salads are where the risk is, because they get contaminated while being prepared.

Wash your hands before eating, or carry sanitiser. After a morning of handling coins, mototaxi rails and sand, your hands have picked up a bit of everything.

Raw food, with care. Ceviche and raw shellfish are tempting, and Peru does them brilliantly. But if your stomach's sensitive or you've only just arrived, our view is to have them somewhere busy rather than from the corner cart. For the record, the CDC advises travellers to avoid raw seafood, ceviche included, because the lime juice doesn't make it safe.

Why you shouldn't gamble the night before the dunes

This is the part that concerns us directly. An upset stomach is annoying on any trip. On the dunes it matters more.

In the UTV you're strapped in with a 4-point harness and a helmet, climbing and dropping over dunes. In the zorb you're spinning inside a ball. Neither is a good idea with a bad stomach, and comfort is the least of it: a driver who's nauseous, dehydrated or cramping doesn't have full attention on the route or on the guide ahead. On sand, attention is safety.

It has happened to us more than once: the friend who says "I'm fine" at the base turns pale on the second dune and the whole convoy has to stop. We stop, of course, and the lead vehicle carries water and a first-aid kit. But that person misses what they came for, and everyone else ends up waiting around on the sand.

Our advice is boring, and it works. The night before the dunes, eat something familiar, or something cooked and hot from a busy place. Save the food adventures for after the tour; the market will still be there tomorrow. Go easy on drinks the night before, and have none before you head out.

If you feel unwell on the day, tell us before we set off and we'll work it out together; riding as a passenger instead of driving is one option. Keeping quiet so you don't let the group down is exactly what we don't want.

The CDC page on travellers' diarrhoea lists South America among the higher-risk regions and says the first thing to do if it hits is drink plenty of fluids. In the desert, that counts double.

For what to eat right before heading out, see our guide on what to eat before a dune tour, and if you also get motion sick easily, read the one on motion sickness on a dune tour.

How to fit it into your Ica itinerary

What works best is to put the dunes on your first full day in the area, with a settled stomach, and save the market and street food for afterwards. An afternoon on the UTV tour leaves you properly hungry, and that evening is the perfect time for carapulcra or a stop at a teja shop.

Meals aren't included in the tour, so that time is yours. If you have questions about your day, message us on WhatsApp at +51 967 564 701 with the date, how many of you there are, where you're staying, and whether anyone has a delicate stomach or gets motion sick. We'll help you arrange things so the dunes find you in good shape. The rest of our protocol is on the safety page.

Frequently asked questions

Is street food in Peru safe to eat? Mostly, if you choose well: food cooked to order and served very hot, busy stalls with high turnover, and no ice or pre-cut fruit. The risk is in raw food and anything that's been sitting out. The CDC's official line is more cautious than ours, so the stricter your stomach, the more you should lean towards it.

Can you drink tap water in Ica? We wouldn't. Stick to sealed bottled water you open yourself, and use it for brushing your teeth too if your stomach is sensitive.

What sweet should I buy in Ica? Tejas and chocotejas: pecans or dried fruit filled with manjar blanco and coated in fondant or chocolate. They travel well, so you can buy them on your last day.