Bring out the Guinea Pigs

Domoviye

Having just bought a guinea pig I started to wonder how we could get the guinea pig to return to its former position as a food animal.
I know in the Andes its still an important part of poor peoples diet, but what kind of POD is required to get other groups of people to stop thinking of them as pets and return them to the dinner table.
Any ideas?
 

mojojojo

Gone Fishin'
from Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guinea_Pigs
Spanish, Dutch, and English traders brought guinea pigs to Europe, where they quickly became popular as exotic pets among the upper classes and royalty, including Queen Elizabeth I.[5] The earliest known written account of the guinea pig dates from 1547, in a description of the animal from Santo Domingo; because cavies are not native to Hispaniola, the animal was likely introduced there by Spanish travelers.[1] The guinea pig was first described in the West in 1554 by the Swiss naturalist Conrad Gessner.[17] Its binomialErxleben in 1777; it is an amalgam of Pallas' generic designation (1766) and Linnaeus' specific conferral (1758).[1] scientific name was first used by
 

Mark E.

I think they are too small to be a viable food option today. It would take too many to make a full-sized serving of meat by today's standards, at least in the US.
 

Tyr

It supposed to be christmas, this is just horrific! Poor cute little squeaky guinea pigs....

Semi :p, semi :mad:

It is strange they didn't make it big in Europe really, I know sailors often took them aboard when they supplied in South America. Poor Europeans of the time could well keep them like the Peruvians do- just a bunch in the corner of the house, throw some grass in for them then you have meat on demand without the bother of having to hunt a rabbit.
 

carlton_bach

I think they were called pigs because of the sound they make - sort of like hedgehogs.

The problem is that they are exotic, which means expensive. In the European food paradigm, you don't eat exotic pets (we don't do roast parrot, either, though the Romans did). So the key step would be to make them unexotic. I also think they don't deal well with low temperatures, but surely it can't be a big problem given they live in the Andes.

So, by way of an idea: Some improvement-minded European rules in the eighteenth century decides to advocate raising guinea pigs as a solution to suburban meat supply (IOTL, rabbits filled that niche). IIRC, keeping and breeding guinea pigs is quite similar to rabbit-raising, except that they take better to being caged. By the 1850s, a guineas pig cage is a common sight in the back garden or kitchen of every upper working class household, and many agricultural labourers keep them for variety alongside the more economical chickens. Initially, the recipes used are those for hare and rabbit, but later on, we see specific guinea pig preparations. large varieties bred for meat are also likely to replace the cute, fluffy kind we're used to. Rabbit becomes a rural food.
 

Tyr

carlton_bach said:
I think they were called pigs because of the sound they make - sort of like hedgehogs.

The problem is that they are exotic, which means expensive. In the European food paradigm, you don't eat exotic pets (we don't do roast parrot, either, though the Romans did). So the key step would be to make them unexotic. I also think they don't deal well with low temperatures, but surely it can't be a big problem given they live in the Andes.
.
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They are exotic but then so were potatos- yet whilst palm trees remained in aristocrat's menageries for centuries the potato soon spread to the masses.
Guinea pigs breed very very fast. Sailors often took them aboard for food.
I guess the problem here comes from the GPs being in Peru, i.e. totally the other side of the nautical world from Europe. And meat is popular, its going to be the first thing to be eaten on a ship.

So I guess the first step in sending GPs to Europe would be to get them spread well in central America. Then ships resupplying on the east coast could take them on. If say a Spanish treasure ship is making a straight line for Europe then it isn't totally beyond reason that some GPs could be left over. Perhaps some sailor particularly takes a like to the taste; he takes a bunch of them home with them and they start breeding. Within the decade he has more than enough for his needs and is passing extra young GPs onto his friends. By the time the century is out they could have spread far and wide.

But....why didn't they spread to Mexico?
This is the big problem I have with such 'technological' WIs. If they could have happened they would have happened, there must have been a good reason they didn't. What was it? Distrust of exotic food when chickens are so plentiful?
 

Domoviye

Thanks everyone for responding.

AmericanCaesar said:
But like cornish hens they could be a nice delicacy or appetizer.
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That was my thought, or used in soups.

carlton_bach said:
So, by way of an idea: Some improvement-minded European rules in the eighteenth century decides to advocate raising guinea pigs as a solution to suburban meat supply (IOTL, rabbits filled that niche). IIRC, keeping and breeding guinea pigs is quite similar to rabbit-raising, except that they take better to being caged. By the 1850s, a guineas pig cage is a common sight in the back garden or kitchen of every upper working class household, and many agricultural labourers keep them for variety alongside the more economical chickens. Initially, the recipes used are those for hare and rabbit, but later on, we see specific guinea pig preparations. large varieties bred for meat are also likely to replace the cute, fluffy kind we're used to. Rabbit becomes a rural food.
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This is a good possibility. Maybe during the potato famine, someone gives guinea pigs to the Irish since they can be raised easily and live on grass. The Irish refugees bring the guinea pigs with them, or at least the idea of guinea pigs as food, to the various countries and they become a common food for the poor and working class.


Tyr said:
They are exotic but then so were potatos- yet whilst palm trees remained in aristocrat's menageries for centuries the potato soon spread to the masses.
Guinea pigs breed very very fast. Sailors often took them aboard for food.
I guess the problem here comes from the GPs being in Peru, i.e. totally the other side of the nautical world from Europe. And meat is popular, its going to be the first thing to be eaten on a ship.

So I guess the first step in sending GPs to Europe would be to get them spread well in central America. Then ships resupplying on the east coast could take them on. If say a Spanish treasure ship is making a straight line for Europe then it isn't totally beyond reason that some GPs could be left over. Perhaps some sailor particularly takes a like to the taste; he takes a bunch of them home with them and they start breeding. Within the decade he has more than enough for his needs and is passing extra young GPs onto his friends. By the time the century is out they could have spread far and wide.

But....why didn't they spread to Mexico?
This is the big problem I have with such 'technological' WIs. If they could have happened they would have happened, there must have been a good reason they didn't. What was it? Distrust of exotic food when chickens are so plentiful?
Click to expand...
How about if the Polynesians got the guinea pig instead. Peru got Polynesian type chickens at some point, so there is a small chance the Polynesians could get the guinea pig in return.
In this case Europeans might bring them to Asia for food in their colonies and for the slaves. Then it would spread through Asia first, and later go to Europe and America.

So any ideas how this might affect history?
 

Sachyriel

Banned
I don't know, I'm not too fond of the idea of eating rodents. I don't recall if I have before though.:rolleyes:

Why would we really want them when we can have larger, more efficient animals? Like, sure, they can be a household product you grow and slaughter yourself, they're that small, but I don't see them being frozen and put onto the shelves next to ribs or sauces with a big multinational farm corporation label on them. And I don't think many people will want to kill them themselves; they're that cute.
 

carlton_bach

mmmeee0 said:
I don't know, I'm not too fond of the idea of eating rodents. I don't recall if I have before though.:rolleyes:

Why would we really want them when we can have larger, more efficient animals? Like, sure, they can be a household product you grow and slaughter yourself, they're that small, but I don't see them being frozen and put onto the shelves next to ribs or sauces with a big multinational farm corporation label on them. And I don't think many people will want to kill them themselves; they're that cute.
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So are rabbits.

Guinea pigs are actually pretty efficient - they don't compete for food resources, require minimum space and take well to human company. In a modern setting, they're unlikely to be popularbecause of the cuteness factor and because we tend to prefer high-status meat types and cuts (most ofthe traditional poor people's fare is no longer sold by most retailers). An agricultural or industrialising society, on the other hand, could take to them much more easily.
 

Lyly

Another point toward Guinea Pigs becoming a major source of food that I'm not sure people have thought of yet, is that since they're thought of as toy pets (toy as in small) today, is it possible they've been bred to become smaller? I don't know the answer, but I would bet on it. In any case, I'm sure if they selective breeding were in favor of larger Guinea Pigs instead, that's what we'd be seeing today, rather than the small ones we're all thinking of.
 

Domoviye

LylyCSM2 said:
Another point toward Guinea Pigs becoming a major source of food that I'm not sure people have thought of yet, is that since they're thought of as toy pets (toy as in small) today, is it possible they've been bred to become smaller? I don't know the answer, but I would bet on it. In any case, I'm sure if they selective breeding were in favor of larger Guinea Pigs instead, that's what we'd be seeing today, rather than the small ones we're all thinking of.
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Reading up on the subject ancient remains of guinea pigs show them to be smaller than the modern day versions. So the ones raised to be eaten may be a little larger than the pet ones, but probably not very
With a wider population there could more variation and a few larger breeds, but it would definitely require careful breeding.
 

OneUp

They may not be much on size, but there were tons of them cause they breeded fast and they could eat scraps as well as grass. It's possible, but requires right conditions. I'm a little doubtful though that it'd retain the same eating status today, it'd probably be treated a lot like how rabbit is today.
 

Domoviye

OneUp said:
They may not be much on size, but there were tons of them cause they breeded fast and they could eat scraps as well as grass. It's possible, but requires right conditions. I'm a little doubtful though that it'd retain the same eating status today, it'd probably be treated a lot like how rabbit is today.
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True. I was smart and got two females, having 5 or so litters a year does not appeal to me.
I know domestic rabbits are seen more as pets nowadays, but in China they're sold pre-cooked in grocery stores. So guinea pigs might only be eaten in certain places, or a niche market. If they did become a food animal, they'd probably be eaten until the 1950's or so when people started to get more particular about their choice of meat.
 
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