I looked with interest at the gopher skinning and cooking thread....for those with a taste for domesticated rodent dining...apparently guinea pigs can be satisfactorily cooked in a sandwich maker...... Elisabeth Fekonia’s Home Cheesemaking DVD | Ecofilms it looks like pretty crunchy finger food!
Culturally it is difficult for some to get over the idea of eating things we never did before but it is a sound idea. Squirrels and rabbits, snakes ,and crawfish are all good food, and being raise at home there is little chance of disease.
Well...I'm ex-Army, had some survival classes and never been too picky about my food if I was hungry but... I get gophers on the property from time-to-time and trap them quick as they're damn pests but I honestly admit I never considered making lunch out of them, think I would have to be pretty darn hungry. Yech!
One of my friends used to have some as pets... id have no problem eating the wee ******. only practical use I can see for them...
Those pictures are something. I would have to be real hungry to eat one of them. Are guinea pigs in the rodent family?
Although in the rodent family, Guinea Pigs would be better eating than feral rats, given that the Guinea Pigs will be given wholesome vegetarian forage by their keepers. You may consume Guinea pigs with some confidence if you know what they are feeding them with. Rats have the unfortunate reputation of being vermin a disease vectors. Domesticated rats fed with wholesome feed shouldn't taste disagreeable, even though there may be a psychological distaste for eating them. I was visiting a brother in a Northern Territory recently, and but for the fact that the women there were away on women's (ceremonial) business, I might have been fortunate enough to participate with them in a Goanna hunt...and the subsequent feast. Cooked Goanna Gun Kid style! Woodfiring Pottery BBQ: Pots And Goannas! - Marian Williams Pottery
Interesting. I will make note that goannas should be cooked in the crock pot because they are tough and stringy. @chelloveck do you cook a lot in clay pots?
They're not really viable to raise just for meat but if you want to get them free off Craigslist and have a little bbq, go for it.
I do have to wonder about the Craigslist type advertisers who head their advertisements with the phrase "free to a good home", if they realised that the good home will be someone's digestive system.
My stomach IS a good home. Warm and cozy! My experience picking up "Free to Good Home" rabbits and wheekers is that "good home" loosely translates to "any home but one we have to smell the SOB's filthy cage in".