View Full Version : Guinea Pig - Not Just Another Pork Feast
Are hard times threatening your Christmas dinner? If so, Peru has the answer: guinea pigs. ;)
Richard's $.02 :munchin
Peru's cash-strapped Christmas treat: Guinea Pig
Officials in the coastal Peruvian province of Callao on Monday hailed the Andean rodent as a low-cost, low-fat alternative to a traditional turkey or roast pork Christmas dinner.
Guinea pigs, long eaten by Peruvians, can feed seven or eight people for about $3.20.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081215/ap_on_re_la_am_ca/lt_peru_guinea_pig_feast;_ylt=AlUpjwZpiV6Weog3Ks1e JCK3IxIF
Hay do not knock my pet/Dinner....
They are a multi functional animal. Keeps the kids happy and their belly's full for near to nothing...... Plus you can make some nice ear muffs, gloves, etc
ZonieDiver
12-16-2008, 09:37
I can hear the ad campaign now - "Guinea pig - the other, other white meat!"
My neighbor was in the oil business and spent 5 yrs in the Peruvian Mts. He met and married a local young lady who had just graduated from the local university in Lima with her geo-physics deg.
Last year at our Xmas party my wife & the 'girls' were talking about local tradition,, ie: NY, Texas, Georgia, Scotland...
Can you hear it coming??
Young Teresa pipped up that her mom not only helped her pay for her degree,, but made all her X-mas present money by selling and cooking...
I have to add,, most of the ladies took Teresa's statement at face value. The lady from Georgia even asked for a recipe, thinking it could apply to fox squirrel. The sole exception was the Lady from NY, who was a ACLU lawyer,, she left early...
Bada Bing...
What's next? :rolleyes:
Richard's $.02 :munchin
Hay do not knock my pet/Dinner....
They are a multi functional animal. Keeps the kids happy and their belly's full for near to nothing...... Plus you can make some nice ear muffs, gloves, etc
LOL, that appears to be the case with my nieces and nephews. I didn't know it was possible for a rat to get so fat from eating romaine lettuce.
Anthony Bourdain's "No Reservations" featured Peru last night replete with guinea pig roast. My 3 yr. old granddaughter oohed and aahed over the cute little guinea pigs and wants a few, not just one, for Christmas (fat chance). Knowing what was coming I sent her to help her grandmother in the kitchen. She came back in as Bourdain was gnawing on a nicely browned hindquarter. Didn't make the connection. They looked pretty tasty but kind of scrawny. Maybe if they were stuffed with hamsters?
anythingrandom
12-19-2008, 13:17
Bizarre Foods also did a bit on Peruvian foods, and the guinea pig was of course included. I have a friend that's tried it when he was in Peru last and he said it wasn't that great, although he likes squirrel.
although he likes squirrel.
Growing up I had squirrel a lot, mostly in gravy it’s great. :D
Red Flag 1
12-19-2008, 14:20
Wanna bet?
Tastes like chicken.
:munchin
RF 1
Richard, of all your pictures of pigs....my favorite pig is the one on the squash bike.....muy jugosa poppi
Never had it whole.
Think it was halved and served on a stick last time I had guinea pig.
IIRC, at a special dinner we also had little baby rabbits... pretty much could eat the bones and all because they were so small. Naturally they were considered a special delicacy.
Well I have escaped the Bolivian Nightmare and I will see if I can get you some Holiday photos...... It is a Highlands tradition not one here on the coast or the jungle.