r/Damnthatsinteresting 25d ago

Video A peruvian long haired guinea pig.

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162

u/grungegoth 25d ago

I unknowingly ate guinea pig at a hotel buffet in Quito

tastes like ... small birds, or chicken

64

u/CitizenHuman 25d ago

My dad also unknowingly ate it like 40 years ago. He was told it was rabbit.

17

u/slackfrop 25d ago

Yeah, cuy. Very common in Peru. I declined trying it.

1

u/Flylatino24 25d ago

I’m Peruvian and I’ll decline to eat it. Heck no

10

u/rguerraf 25d ago

They lived their full lives and the farmer takes care of the children with top quality feed.

They are harvested with more care than all the animals we eat every day.

5

u/shane-parks 25d ago

This is absolutely not true. I am in the Sacred Valley and there is a cuy farm in front of my house.

They live in their own feces, it smells terrible. The owners feed them the cheapest food possible. They are slaughtered after a few months as soon as they can have babies and get to 700g+. They could live a lot longer.

Why lie about this?

1

u/Skratt79 25d ago

You are generalizing, I have seen them breed in Ecuador and they only feed them fresh cut grasses and fresh fruits. But like any animal there are different farming conditions from one place to another.

The same conditions you saw for those cuy I have seen for cows here in a California Dairy farm.

1

u/shane-parks 25d ago

I am not passing judgements on eating meat. People may choose for themselves. However you accuse me of generalizing when in fact you made a blanket statement that is frankly patently absurd. I've lived in Peru for more than a decade and traveled all over Ecuador, Peru, Chile, Bolivia, and Columbia.

Sure they are fed grass, because it's cheap. But generally fruit isn't given to cuy unless it's fruit humans wont buy or eat. Again because it's cheap. I've seen more than a hundred Cuy farms as an environmental activist, not only one. This is universally true. Cuy are harvested young, fed efficiently for profit, and kept in enclosures to ensure they are easy to catch and keep predators away, again for profit. Nothing about that is any better or worse than chicken or cattle factory farming.

Your comment made it sound as if Cuy farming is some noble and humane form of farming when in fact it is the same as any other farming business built for maximum profit and economic efficency.

The answer to my question "why lie?" Is because you saw and likely ate cuy once and want to justify your actions. Your actions need no justification, do what you want. But don't pretend that your exoerience is somehow superior to factory farmed beef, because it isn't.

2

u/Icy_Proof_9529 25d ago

Why?

2

u/seattle_lib 25d ago

It's good but too many bones

1

u/giraffeheadturtlebox 25d ago

And the hair gets in your teeth.

1

u/Sad-Fishing8789 25d ago

I don't know why would someone decline to try it. They seem to taste like some sort of chicken. Pretty good actually.