Ecuador To Choose Blue Ribbon Guinea Pig - Then Likely Eat It

[matcom]

if just ONE of you makes the "tastes like chicken" joke........ :D

<snip>

QUITO, Ecuador (Reuters) - Farmers are known to win blue-ribbon prizes or trophies for their best livestock.

In Ecuador, that now includes guinea pigs.

On Sunday, Ecuadoreans in the Andean city of Riobamba will select the nation's top guinea pig in an effort to encourage rural villages to raise the rodent, which is eaten as a delicacy in the South American nation.

"I guess you could consider the heaviest guinea pig to be the 'king,'" said Fatima Ortiz, an official at local development organization Sedal, which oversees the judging.

While guinea pigs are popular pets in many countries, Ecuadoreans raise them for local consumption and to export their meat to immigrant communities abroad, she said.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=573&ncid=573&e=1&u=/nm/20040419/od_nm/ecuador_guineapig_dc

[GOPisEvil]

1. Note to self: when traveling to Ecuador, ASK what the meat is.

[maddezmom]

2. it's common here in Peru, too

haven't eaten nor I plan on it in the future. :puke: