# Alternative Food - Guinea Pigs - Would you?



## TreyEZ

I was watching an episode of Bizzare Foods with Andrew Zimmern,
and he ate something interesting while in Peru.

It is Peruvian local culture to raise and EAT guinea pigs.
Yes, these fluffy fuzzy fur balls are food to these people.

Why!??!! you ask...

First, guineas reproduce quickly, eat almost anything,
And they TASTE good!

During the show, they skinned and gutted the guineas, then
they roasted the small rodent on a stick over an open flame.

Even without Zimmern's commentary on how delicious it was,
I can say that it looked good... my mouth watered.
But, I didn't really think seriously of trying a Guinea.

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Until, about 3 months ago, I was chatting with some international students
who were partying at my house. We were all sharing a few beers.
One of them was heading home in a few days, so I posed
my most common question:

When you get home, whats the FIRST thing you want to eat?

Do you know what she said?
Cooeai (or Cooey), or something like that..... I don't know the spelling.

But she said the Cooey was Guinea Pig!

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This was the one thing that she couldn't wait to eat,
so I can't imagine how delicious and delicate the meat is.

I expected an answer about Mom's home cooking or something,
not Guinea Pig.

So, again my interest in Guineas is revitalized. I have got to try it!

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So, I pose my question.... Would you raise Guinea Pigs to eat?

My girlfriend won't let me, because she is against eating pets,
but I think its the same as raising a chicken and eating that.

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I have actually taken my Guinea idea to the next level
(I haven't done it yet, just have thought about it).

In my idea, I will start raising the Guineas, and when I have some
babies, I will attempt to teach them to walk on a leash.
The leash will not be much more than a string tied around their necks,

Now, when I go out hiking, I plan to walk two Guineas beside me.
When I reach camp, one unfortunate Guinea will get skinned
gutted and fire roasted.

Yum! Fresh Meat! Its not something common when roughing it.

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So, do you think Guinea Pigs will walk on a leash if taught from early age?

Do you see any problems, ethical or legal with me eating Guineas
at a campsite?

Guinea Roast with carrots, onions and potatoes, makes my mouth
water thinking about it.............

Or, should I be institutionalized?


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## Earth

Never, been a vegetarian for over twenty years and refuse to allow anything to suffer to satisfy my hunger.


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## Nile

Probably get in trouble for animal cruelty.
PLUS
The guinea pigs you get at pet stores probably wouldnt be suitable for eating. Theyre a LOT smaller, and mostly fur.
PLUS
You're going to train an animal, bond with it, just to eat it? That's sickening.


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## TreyEZ

props on vegetarianism, i couldnt do it,
although i know that my health would improve.....

but, nile, are you completely against raising your own livestock.....
this is traditionally the only way to raise your own meat.....
aside from the traditonal grocery store shelf...

also, i ner said they were going to be my buddies..
i would grow them just as a cattle rancher would..
also, i would feel good knowing that i have
hormone free pesticide free food to eat on.

or, you could always trust that the grocery stores and mc donalds
wont pump your meat full of growth hormones and other contaminents.

i bet your great grandparents had livestock that they raised,
and were gracious for.....

trouble is, todays society wants all the cruel things don for them,
they dont want to butcher their meal.
but, we would be closer to nature and moe
thankful if we all did....


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## TreyEZ

also, if vegans view eating meat as a sin.....
dont animals eat each other...
do animals sin when they eat each other,
or is his just how mother earth designed it


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## Weston

> also, if vegans view eating meat as a sin.....
> dont animals eat each other...
> do animals sin when they eat each other,
> 
> or is his just how mother earth designed it



I am not personally vegan but the idea has been in and out of my mind a few times. In response to your post about "sin" and animals I would argue that some animals need to eat one another to survive. Humans have evolved past the point of having to kill animals to eat. Our nervous systems also allow us to empathize and feel remorse for our cruel behavior toward animals and I view that as a signal of the future being a vegan universe.


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## bryanpaul

dogs are bigger and easy to take care of............................................
but fer real in a S.H.T.F. type situation this would def. be considered......
(for the haters.. my ideal situation would be to be vegan.....i'm not ...but i know thats the right way to live...oops)


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## bryanpaul

bryanpaul said:


> right way to live


came out kinda wrong...."is a good way to live".....
i think raising rabbits would be a good way to get yer meat too....


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## CXR1037

I couldn't ever do it and I think it's fucking sick to do so.
And same goes for rabbits. I love rabbits. I'd rather kill traveling kids then rabbits.


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## bryanpaul

CXR1037 said:


> I couldn't ever do it and I think it's fucking sick to do so.
> And same goes for rabbits. I love rabbits. I'd rather kill traveling kids then rabbits.


...if shit hit the fan.... spinach and kale dont grow in alot of climates in winter.........i mean you could be canning and pickling...but fer real....if you had to, raising some kind of livestock would be smart.......... ruh roh..... thread is now vegetarianism debate  ...... if you lovingly suckle on your pet cow's teat, are you still vegan?


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## sideshowbxb

my thoughts on this, i dont think id raise it then kill it, not unless your going to treat like livestock, no connection with the animal, if your hungry, you gotta do what you gotta do bro, on the dogs, asians i heard love them, but im not being racial, im just expressing what i heard, some dude from the Beaumont TX area, armadillos are suppose to be a source of food too, no matter what, whatever you kill, be sure never to eat it raw, cook it, well done, no blood, i mean depending on size of animal, take at least 10 minutes on the thing you kill, my grandfather use to tell me this shit all the time, 'if you kill it bobby, you eat it' i do believe that is a good rule, because these animals are apart of the ecosystem just as much as we are, they have a role they play, in fact id have to say, it would not be a good idea to raise guinea pigs just to eat them, because its most likely gonna end up costing you more than what its worth, due to the fact you got to feed them take care, all that shit, i dont doubt they eat em down in south america, hell, they are prolly abundant down there, but here, naw, i dont think its a good idea, you wanna eat something wild, go find yourself an armadillo, heres something for you http://www.eattheweeds.com/armadillo-cuisine-cooking-a-hoover-hog-2/ they dont got great vision, but they got a nose sumthin like a dogs, thats how there able to get the grubs, theres another thing too, you can bugs, i mean you got lots of choices, whatever area your in, research the native life, figur it out, take it ez


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## TreyEZ

Hey guys, before you get offended....
Let me just say that I am not attacking Vegans,
I usually find its the other way around.....
Vegans usually assault meat eaters for what they view
as a slight upon nature..

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The choice to eat meat or not, is a personal decision,
and it usually is prompted by the person's religion,
and seperate choices.

It is neither my place, nor yours to say what each other should eat

The lucky thing is, that we live in a world where we get the choice.
That might not always be the case

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As Bryan pointed out, what if you are not able to grow
your own vegetables because of the temperature, or
perhaps a serious drought, or too much rain......

What do you do, if you can't make your weekly trip
to the grocery store.

I would wager that less than 10 percent of vegans grow
and harvest their own vegetables

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Many societies eat different foods, someone pointed out
dogs in Asian countries. This is not just a funny stereotypical
joke, but it is a harsh reality.

There are countries that would kill to be able to eat out of
our trash cans. Again, we are lucky to be able to choose.

As for choices, it is your personal decision what to eat.
You must not force YOUR choices on the rest of the world.
Thats what the Broke Hussein Obama administration is attempting
to do to this country

India regards cattle as holy, yet we eat them by the truckload, literally.
How would we feel if all of India says that we can no longer eat our
precious hamburgers?

I would be pissed.....

What if all Muslims declared that no one can eat bacon anymore?
I would lose weight, and miss that crispy salty treat.

We can not let any minority choose what the entire populous
must eat or must not eat.

This is about personal freedoms. Your choice is your choice.....


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## TreyEZ

That being said about choices, What would you do if you had to
choose between an animal and your family.

If your children were going to starve, or you could feed them a
Guinea Pig, would you?

Do you think that rodent has a stronger right to live than your own
child, than your seed, than your legacy?

I don't.......

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I am ultimately talking about a S.H.T.F scenario.
What if we don't have grocery stores?
What if we don't have room for livestock?

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Would raising Guinea Pigs be much different
from raising a coop of chickens?

You wouldn't call a chicken a pet,
but the moment that you see something fluffy,
you decide that its a pet, and can't be eaten.

These are your own personal problems.

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As for empathy twoards animal's deaths,
I would only have empathy for animals that are
cruelly killed in slaughter houses, and not truely cherished
for their life bringing properties.

I would reslish in the fact that I could give the animal
a quick and humane death.

I would praise the animal and my god that gives me nutrition
and allows me to continue my journey on this earth.

If you read the first book of the bible, God gave me the
animals and weed to use as I like.
I eat and smoke respectively.
You can cuddle and not partake, thats your choice.

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So, if you were on the road, hadn't eaten in a week
and I had cooked a meal, would you share it with me, or starve?

Personally, I would eat squirrels, pigeons, or whatever I could scrounge.

Luckily , we live in a society where we get choices,
I hope it stays that way


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## acrata4ever

guinea pigs are the houdinis of the animal world. they will chew through the string escape reproduce and fuck up the eco system. if you had a permanent residence id say ok start a hamster ranch. also if tou read your good book nobody ate meat until after the flood because all the vegetation was gone.


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## EphemeralStick

putting religion aside... i could definitely see the benefit of raising guinea pigs for food. but consider this, one guinea pig may be easy to take care of but multiple? once you let them start breeding it becomes really hard to get them to stop. soon you might be overwhelmed with guinea pigs. not only that but you would have to make sure theyre all clean and their cages clear of waste so as to prevent disease. not only that but rodents, unlike cows, tend to get competitive and fierce when food is scarce, they'll bite, scratch, and just overall injure each other just to ensure that they get their fill. take both disease and temperament into consideration, then think of putting up with about 30 of those little fuckers and it seems like one big mess to me.
do i have any qualms with eating them? no, not really. but you're not gonna find me raising them for feed thats for sure


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## acrata4ever

i worked with this guy, as a kid he had guinea pigs. he went on vacation and had another kid care for them while he was gone. the guy never came to feed them. when he came home there was only one guinea pig henritta, the survivor. and he had to take care of that thing knowing what she did. he was a nam vet but this incident seriously scarred him.


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## TreyEZ

houdinis huh....
i never thought of them chewing through rope, good point...

funny that you would think they would ruin an ecosystem,
i doubt it, they would be quick food for any predator...

breaking news..... theres a guinea outbreak... they have taken over the city


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## sideshowbxb

the original topic of this, would you eat a guinea pig, i answer yes, but if i had choice between other foods, i would most likely go for the other, depending on what it was, all meat is mostly the same, ive eaten gator before, tastes like chicken, and most people say this about other kinds of meat, now, venison, im sorry, i love venison, deer meat, im all more for the vegans though, even though i still eat meat, i just try to vary my diet . . . remember back in school when they showed you that food pyramid? . . . see the thing is before you ever kill something and eat it, remember its role, how it plays out in the ecosystem, deer are fewer than what they were millenia ago, not trying to force my beliefs on anybody, just suggesting, . . . vegetables are very good for you, its better a meal of vegetables in love than a meal of the fatted calf in hatred, that being said, vegetables are not what they use to be, so many chemicals are now used, its far better to eat produce from local, unincorporated produce, than to buy from your local grocery store, due to the fact they are less likely to be using chemicals than those like the farmers you see on commercials for frito-lay, (this also being said, i dont think there is too much done to chemically enhance the potato, but then again i dont know for certain, im a dumbass, i dont work for frito lay), the point im trying to make is no matter what you believe, its not that you take this to heart or anything, most anything you hear from anyone in the world you have to take with a grain of salt, i believe it is good for people when they vary there diets, we are omnivores, if you eat too much meat, your body will need to find other methods of curing itself, due to the fact its only getting certain chemicals, meat is a good source of protein, but aside from that aint really much else, some meats, especially some fish, are loaded with omega 3s, this is supposedly good for brain function, plus good for blood flow, and is good for hormones, i think, . . . if you vary your, diet, eat more grains and vegetables, i believe it can sustain, and make you feel better, than eating alot of meat,


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## acrata4ever

http://webecoist.com/2009/05/31/wild-pets-the-worlds-strangest-feral-animals/


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## acrata4ever

from what i understand you can hunt pythons in florida out of season with black powder hand guns, the meat is full of mercury. but burmese python skin is banned from import and theres gotta be big money in it.


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## Cardboard

I'd eat one for sure. I guess they must be along the same taste as rabbits. I think they were originally domesticated as a food source anyways, and only later became pets. weird. I guess if you did it in your home, the animal cruelty thing wouldnt be a problem. especially if you dont live in the city. and as well, hell yes raise and train your own food. Much better than someone else doing it. I say go for it, let us know how it was.


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## Vonuist

I can't see the point of raising guinea pigs, it seems like a lot of effort for such a small amount of meat, you'd probably be better off learning how to snare or trap small game like rabbits or squirrels which would provide you with the nearest wild analogue without the extra effort of raising the animals.

Disclaimer: I was a vegan for 18 years and transitioned to a notionally paleo diet about four years ago. After a great deal of soul-searching about the environmental, social and psychological effects of agriculture (or, maybe, just time in the woods without any peer pressure) I decided that I had a number of personal moral, ethical and intellectual objections to continuing to be vegan, none of which I feel the need to discuss here. I concede, of course, that vegans are deeply commited people who are, simply, better than me and I ask them respectfully to please not flame me for choosing to eat a different kind food to them.


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## Cardboard

The point is that they breed like hell, and its a lot less work, and more sure, than trapping. I cant say for sure with Guinea pigs, but thats my guess after a lot of years raising rabbits. They also arent much meat, or chickens for that matter. Thing is if you have 5 litters of 5-6 pups per year per breeder, you have a good amount of meat available. And they breed year round, so there isnt a season.


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## Puckett

my dad saw a thing in the paper on how to cook guinea pig soup, he put it on the fridge (mostly to piss off my sister because she had 2 of them). when my sister saw it she got all upset because he said he was making it for dinner. she knew he was joking but it was still funny.

so yeah i would eat one, why the hell not. its food and a delicacy in some country's.

and on a side note its not like my sis was 12 when he did this she was 20 and it was funny, my dads a big joker.


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## Vonuist

Cardboard said:


> The point is that they breed like hell, and its a lot less work, and more sure, than trapping. I cant say for sure with Guinea pigs, but thats my guess after a lot of years raising rabbits. They also arent much meat, or chickens for that matter. Thing is if you have 5 litters of 5-6 pups per year per breeder, you have a good amount of meat available. And they breed year round, so there isnt a season.



In that case, the only real drawback is that it's rodent meat so you'd need some form of supplementary fat intake to avoid the risk of getting rabbit starvation.


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## Vonuist

That new one minute editing rule is bollocks.


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## Cardboard

I think as long as you still have a bit of diversity in your diet, it shouldnt be much of a problem. I wouldnt advise eating a strictly guinea pig diet, or any other single source diet for that matter. I imagine as a supplement to a diet that could still contain milk/butter/yogurt or whatever other animal sourced fats year round, it shouldnt present any problems at all.
Which brings up the very exciting prospective of guinea pig dairy farms. Mmmmmm, guinea cheese.


Vonuist said:


> In that case, the only real drawback is that it's rodent meat so you'd need some form of supplementary fat intake to avoid the risk of getting rabbit starvation.


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## Vonuist

Cardboard said:


> Which brings up the very exciting prospective of guinea pig dairy farms. Mmmmmm, guinea cheese.



You'd need a very small milking stool.


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## TreyEZ

all i can think of, is ben stiller
telling the story about milking cats.....


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## TheUndeadPhoenix

You'd probably end up with the same problems you have with rabbits: Protein poisoning and worms. If you eat nothing but Guinea pigs, you'll probably get really damn sick, cuz I don't think they have any fat. Unless you eat the brain. And most rodents get wormy in the summer, unless you're in a tundra.


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## Cardboard

TheUndeadPhoenix said:


> You'd probably end up with the same problems you have with rabbits: Protein poisoning and worms. If you eat nothing but Guinea pigs, you'll probably get really damn sick, cuz I don't think they have any fat. Unless you eat the brain. And most rodents get wormy in the summer, unless you're in a tundra.


There are not many things that you can eat "nothing but" without getting some type of sick. And if you take care of your animals, and raise them in a clean way, worms shouldnt be too much of an issue. I said before, I raised rabbits for years for food, and never had any problems.


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## Pheonix

raising rabbits for meat is going to be easier and more productive. if in a survival situation I'd go after an animal that can actually feed me, like a deer, elk, bear or even a dog. but if all else fails I'll eat whatever I can catch and kill.


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## travelin

Want to caution anyone on killing armadillos for food.

Armadillos carry a form of leprosy that can transmit to humans.

It was once considered medically impossible for this to happen but back in the early 80's one of my second cousins caught leprosy from skinning armadillos. He was big into making armadillo chili for competitions so he was handling a lot of armadillo meat. since then a few other cases have been identified.

Once well cooked the disease is killed and wont transmit but handling the raw meat can fuck you up. Use latex or nitrile gloves, long sleeves and wash the hell out of your hands and arms when done.

As for the guinea pig for food idea, you bet id skin and eat one, though if raising small animals for food i think id rather use rabbit.


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## dprogram

CXR1037 said:


> I couldn't ever do it and I think it's fucking sick to do so.
> And same goes for rabbits. I love rabbits. I'd rather kill traveling kids then rabbits.


 
Yeah but would you eat a travelling kid?


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## JoelRailDude

My Ex-Gf was Peruvian, They call them "Cui" (read in spanish) or "coo-ee", because thats the sound they make when they "talk". also known here as guinea pigs. they are the same as the one's you get in Pet store, maybe a sligthly different since they are fed other foods.

They are easy to raise, keep them in a corral, throw veggetable leftovers, they eat any vegetable or leafy Veggie, roots like potatoes and carrots, and they have a special grass for them too.

She said her friend in Peru raised them to sell them to be eaten. Its not that difficult to find. I would eat it, I've also Eaten Rabbit. Rabbits are chewy.

Here near my house, they have an Asian market, they have geese eggs, and small chicken eggs with WITH THE PRE-CHICKEN FETUS inside, They also sell deep friend geese and Duck. they have Eels, Some weird looking fishes, And all sorts of Animal Organs for sale too, like Cow tongue and Bull Testicles.


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## Monterey

I would eat ginny pigs in a heartbeat. They are just rodents, and although are mammals and more complex animals, they are nowhere near on the spectrum of dogs or cats for intelligence and bondabiliy/personality. Rodents are about the stupidest of mammals. A dog can learn it's name quickly, a rodent generally never will. Carnivores are outdoors/pet animals. Herbivores are food.
I don't know about putting it on a leash and giving them names and whatnot. I have raised chickens and you pretty much objectify them. Chicken are retards, so to me they are just walking crops. Every once in a while their egg laying wanes and it's time to lop their head off and have barbeque. I don't believe in anthropomorphizing lower animals. A spider will never "like" you. It isn't even capable. It doesn't even have a brain, just a ganglia. Rodent/herbivore = food. Insect/Reptile = Robot. Carnivore mammal = possible friend or dinner, depending.

- Monterey


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