Eat me!
Posted on 10/23/2004 6:14:36 PM PDT by Pokey78
To most people they are lovable pets, but guinea pigs could soon be on the menu at British restaurants after the development of a "superpig" designed to offer diners a nutritious low-fat meal.
The new "Raza Peru" variety has been bred by scientists in Lima, who say that it contains more protein and less cholesterol than beef, pork, lamb or chicken.
The animal has already been sent for consumption in America, Spain and Japan, and exporters say they are ready to market it in Britain if there is sufficient demand.
Gloria Palacios, one of the researchers at La Molina University in Lima responsible for the new breed, said that she hoped the animal would become a delicacy for Westerners, despite their aversion to eating pets.
"I think that if people could become more familiar with the guinea-pig cuisine, they might be tempted to try it," she said. "It is really delicious and tastes similar to rabbit."
Guinea pigs are already a staple food for Peruvians, who consume about 65 million each year, often eaten fried or chargrilled, with rice, potatoes and salad.
The average Peruvian guinea pig weighs about 1.5 lb, but the new strain, which has been developed using cross-breeding and a high-protein diet, offers up to 2.5 lb of low-cholesterol meat.
Dr Lilia Chauca, the lead researcher on the project, which began in 1970, said that the new guinea pigs were already being exported to countries with large Peruvian immigrant communities.
Adventurous diners in Britain may not have to wait long. Old Trading, a Lima company that exports Peruvian food, ships up to 1,000 of the new guinea pigs to America and Japan every week, and said that it means to include Britain in its export market.
Luis Marece, a director, said: "The export of the new breed is still very much a pilot scheme at the moment. However, if it proves profitable and there is a demand, we would definitely look at exporting the animals to Britain."
The idea met with fierce resistance from guinea pig lovers, however - about 100,000 cavies are kept as domestic pets in Britain. Myra Mahoney, an executive member of the British Cavy Council, said that she was appalled by the idea.
"I think I can speak for the majority of guinea pig fanciers when I say that we are horrified by the idea of the animals being a source of food," said Mrs Mahoney.
Mrs Mahoney, 66, from Emsworth, near Portsmouth, who has bred guinea pigs for 40 years, said that the British Cavy Council would be prepared to launch a campaign against the import of the new guinea pigs as a delicacy.
"They are such lovely creatures and I can't imagine them being eaten over here, any more than we would eat our cats and dogs," she said.
Heather Henshaw, the general secretary of the Northern Cavy Fanciers club, who keeps 83 guinea pigs at her home in Romilley, near Stockport, agreed. "It would deeply sadden me to see guinea pigs being served in restaurants," she said. "It is difficult to comprehend eating them - to me they are just wonderful pets."
Fernando Ramos, the general manager of Tito's Peruvian Restaurant in London, said that he would be prepared to offer the new guinea pig as a speciality. "We would consider serving them on special occasions, such as the Peruvian Creole food day at the end of October, which we celebrate every year," he said.
"There are many delicious ways of serving guinea pig, such as fried in a peanut sauce or a guinea pig stew, in which the meat is marinated in beer before being cooked.
"Quite a few of our English customers who have travelled to Peru have asked us for guinea pig dishes," he said.
At Fina Estampa, another Peruvian restaurant in London, specialities include "ceviche", a dish of marinated raw fish. Guinea pig, however, is not likely to feature. "There is no way I would serve it at my restaurant," said Bianca Jones, the owner and head chef.
"I could never bring myself to cook guinea pigs and with the new breed so much larger than the normal animals, it makes me wonder what on earth they have done to them."
Oh, yummy, fried rat.
Eat me!
Damn Europeans/Asians will eat anything!
just damn..
barf
That looks like Terry McCauliffe
Boy! I had better not let Brownie read this! She could be traumatized for life!!
LOL!!!! I had one too and he just died on me last year. I can't even picture eating one!
We named the Christmas present that we received "Spam" it took me two weeks to get rid of the cage and shavings, "Spam" lasted 3 days. (NO we didn't eat him, although I did aquire many recipes)
You know, I think I'll stick to the cocaine, but thanks.
I'm not eating glorified rat no matter how low in cholesterol it is. Besides, my kids would never forgive me.
uhm. uhm.uhm.uh.Taste like chicken.
Feh!
Beat me to it! I'd like to hear Miss Morford's take on this.
I don't have a problem with it--it doesn't gross me out any more than eating rabbit or squirrel. But like rabbit and squirrel, there isn't a lot there. The amount of meat relative to the bones is just discouragingly small. It seems as though guinea pig would be, like rabbit, more trouble than it's worth.
Hey folks, it's nutria. The main ingredient in Ratsaroni.
If you were starving you'd eat it, Mahoney. And you'd fight over the scraps.
Tastes like chicken?
Send a few cold-roasted to the PETA.
That's the first thing that I thought of.
Ate some with sauce piquant in South Louisiana a few years ago.
It was OK!
Yeah. Until now, guinea pigs were only used for guinea pigs.
We brought home Angelina and two weeks later she gave birth ot John and Gabriella. Angelina lasted three years and her daughter a year longer. John went to a good home at the pet store.
Street food becoming mainstreamed?
Can't they breed them any bigger!
Much of the protein consumed in American households in WW2 was a bigger form of rodent, the groundhog- and it was very good meat. I've had them as pets, too and they make quite good pets and actually know how to use a bar of soap [try to find a dog or cat that lathers itself with a bar of soap!]. Woodchucks are also very quiet, except if they see an intruder. Then they whistle sharply- hence the name "whistlepig." They come instinctively litter trained, too. And they sleep during the cold months so they are very low maintainence if you let them dig their own holes outside in which to sleep. They will knock on your door come spring and demand some corn chips so you'll know when they are up.
Quite useful critters as pets [they eat all the dandelions out of your yard], but also a valuable and plentiful protein resource if need be, as proven by their use in WW2.
Since they are a much bigger 'rat' than a guinea pig and haven't been widely associated with the pet industry, maybe we could outcompete the Peruvians by exporting woodchucks.
Lil'kitty says, "tastes just like mice".
Save a rabbit- eat beagles and lox.
Hey, it's the beagles that bring home the rabbits! Have you ever gone beagling? It's a blast. It's like foxhunting--all the fun and liquor without the horses and Medevac helicopters.
My older brother once had a pet groundhog. It was a riot to feed it pizza or macaroni & cheese, because it would make all kinds of approving grunts and squeals.
We live on a quasi Farm, all animals on it (Chickens, Ducks etc) are food, and treated as such, when my daughter got her "Rodent" the discussion went far afield, and "It Tastes like Chicken" was one of the first things my daughter heard, we did the research, I collected the Recepies but poor "Spam" couldn't wait, he/she self destructed before we could extract all the pain and suffering from the little girl that got it and the cage as a Christmas Present. "Spam" got a decent burial (as if it were a Dog or Cat) but the recipes remain.
If Spam animals were a bit more durable, they might catch on, cause there really are a lot of good recipes.
heh heh... TT
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