According to a television program on the Discover channel “The Real Lost World”, the Catholic Church has declared this rodent to be a fish, so that it can be eaten on Fridays. Does anyone know whether this is true? Wikipedia asserts it as well, but does not cite.
The Catholic Church doesn’t actually decree that you must abstain from meat on Fridays, just some food. Meat is just a tradition.
As to capybara, no clue.
My BS detector is tingling, just as it did with the whole “Goose Barnacle”/“Barnacle Goose” thing. I’m suspicious. “Capybara” a FISH? Gimme a break!
It’s a paraphyletic fish.
It’s not true, and there would be no need to make such a declaration if the goal were simply to permit the faithful to eat capybara meat on Fridays of Lent. Every area of the world falls under the authority of an episcopal conference, whose duty it is to set norms for their part of the word, and those norms may be overidden by individual bishops within their own dioceses. In many poorer areas of the world, for example, meat is permitted on Fridays, simply because it is for many people a rare enough occasion and a needed source of protein that denying it on Friday would be unwise.
So an episcopal conference or an individual bishops could easily declare that capybara meat is permitted for whatever reason, without having to nonsenically declare that it is a fish for the purpose of circumventing the regulation.
In Lima, Peru there is a large picture of the Last Supper showing Jesus and the apostles eating guinea pigs. Same deal, I would say.
Personally I wouldn’t be too surprised if there was some basis to this story. As Squink’s third link says, it’s not that capybara was declared to be fish, but that it was declared not to be meat, which is somewhat different. Moreover, the original declaration allegedly was made several centuries ago.
I do recall reading that whale, seal, and I think manatee have in the past been considered to fall under the category of fish with regard to abstinence rules, but haven’t been able to find a cite. This would make sense, since these animals were considered to be fish under the common classifications of the time.
It would not be surprising if some local bishops had ruled some centuries ago that capybara, as an aquatic animal, did not qualify as meat under the abstinence rules. This has morphed today into the story that “the Catholic Church” has declared the capybara to be “a fish.”
I’m a little disappointed. I think capybara would probably make some excellent eating. I’ve had the cuy (guinea pig) and it’s a little disturbing to see the little skull and 4 limbs pointing up in the air. Capybara steaks would remove the American societal barrier of consuming entire mammals (regional traditions such as luaus are acknowledged). There’s a new Peruvian restaurant in town and the first thing I did was run over and see if there was guinea pig on the menu. Sadly enough, no.
There’s a painting in a museum that was formerly a colonial house in Arequipa, Peru (Casa de Moral Mansion) with a painting of the last supper with a guinea pig as the main dish. Christ, I’m hijacking my own hijack.
If I had a large freshwater lagoon, I’d be all over having a pet capybara. They are soooo cute! Chicks would completely dig me walking it around town. I’ll bet the turds aren’t all that bad, being entirely composed of vegetable matter. Do they shit in pellets like a rabbit? Probably chicken egg sized pellets, huh?
Has any one had nutria? I’ll bet it tastes pretty similar, being a water loving rodent and all that.
What does the Catholic church have to say about whale meat? Is it acceptable for Japanese, Icelandic and Norwegian Catholics to eat whale meat on Friday’s?
My friend from San Diego says that a capybara escaped from a zoo (this would’ve been 30 years ago) and was surviving in the wild. He claims that he saw it crossing the 15 one night.
Sorry about the hijack, and yes, I’m obsessed with capybaras.
There’s abstinence (no meat), and fasting (one regular meal and two small meals not to add up to one regular meal). The rules of US Catholic Conference of Bishops:
<<Ash Wednesday This day marks the beginning of the Lenten season. The imposition of ashes is an ancient penitential practice symbolizing our dependence upon God’s mercy and forgiveness. Ash Wednesday is a day of fast and abstinence in the Church.
Good Friday—Christ suffered and died for our salvation on Friday. On the Friday that we call “Good,” the Church gathers to commemorate Jesus’ Passion and death. Good Friday is a day of fast and abstinence. The Good Friday fast is the Paschal fast—a fast of anticipation and longing for the Passover of the Lord, which should continue, when possible, through Holy Saturday.
Fridays During Lent—In the United States, **the tradition of abstaining from meat ** on each Friday during Lent is maintained.
Fridays Throughout the Year—In memory of Christ’s suffering and death, the Church prescribes making each Friday throughout the year a penitential day. All of us are urged to prepare appropriately for that weekly Easter that comes with each Sunday.
…
Abstinence—In the United States, this penitential practice consists of refraining from the consumption of meat. The Latin Church’s requirement of abstinence binds Catholics after they have celebrated their fourteenth birthday, and it is practiced on Ash Wednesday, Good Friday, and the Fridays during Lent.>>
I found this:
You’ll enjoy capybaras to eat;
Venezuelans proclaim them a treat.
Those of Catholic bent
May consume them for Lent
If a fine rodent burger’s their meat.
(Capybaras can hold their breath underwater for quite a long time, so maybe that’s where it came from.)
I’m looking into whether the same rule holds for agoutis in Trinidad.
Wee bit harder explaining fetal rabbits, aka “laurices.” 
Mmmmm…delicious fetal rabbits.
- Tamerlane
I am intrigued by this idea. How big are these fetal rabbits? I imagine not very, in which case, are they consumed whole, in the sense of those little crab cakes one gets at parties? Do they have bones?
I’m not sure if it’s the Barnacle Goose, but there was one breed of goose that used to be classed as fish. According to the Clerk of the Fishmongers’ Company, this was because it used to fly in from the sea. Of course, he may have been having me on.
But there is precedent for the Papal dispensation: apparently puffins were classed as fish by dispensation of the Pope (PDF)
What’s in a Name?; October 1994; Scientific American Magazine; by Mukerjee; 1 Page(s)
For some reason, this has sparked my interest so much that I’ve spent a ridiculous amount of time today researching Catholics and capybaras. The story about the pope in the 1600s classifying capybara a fish so European missionaries in Venezuela and Colombia would have something to eat on Friday is oft-quoted but I still haven’t seen a good Catholic pope source for this. It does sound like a myth. I read one place that the Latin name “carnii” (or something like that) means “land-dwelling, warm-blooded animal.” Maybe they let the capybara slide as Friday food because it’s mostly water-dwelling? Beyond that, I wonder if they actually classified animals the way we do today?
Catholic Venezuelan checking in. I have hunted and eaten capybaras (chiguires) and was a seminarian there (what are the odds, huh?)
Capybaras are, in effect, large rodents, about the size of a small pig or a medium-large dog. They live most of their lives in flooded plains (esteros).
They are, most definitely, not fish nor does the Church think or established that they are fish, but there was a Papal dispensation allowing their consumption in days of abstinence.
I seem to remember this dispensation was some sort of trade for some favor or another but I can’t really remember. I will make a phone call tomorrow to the priest at my home parish and try to find out.
Most people think capybara tastes like fish because the meat is often salt packed with fish flour (way to compound a confusion, guys, well done). If you eat it fresh, which is quite a rare delicacy, its taste is more gamey (as you would expect). The reality, though, is that most people eat it so heavily condimented that it could just as easily be iguana or chicken or rabbit.
Cooking it whole over a fire is very, very rare. Most people just get the dry strips.
There are other large rodenty animals we eat there. *Lapas * (a dog sized short-eared rabbit) are more common than capybaras and only available fresh and normally grilled whole, which keeps the taste much better. There is also a miniature elephant-cousin called the *danta * or tapir.
None of these shares the friday-kosher status.
They say uneviscerated, so I assume they are cooked whole. Presumably being less than fully developed the bones aren’t a big issue.
So far a quick search hasn’t turned up any recipes, but I’m almost certain I’ve seen one before. I’ll keep looking ;).
- Tamerlane
Of course, the reason for the distinction in the first place is that, at the time the rule originated, meat (meaning the flesh of most mammals and birds, i.e., what was forbidden) was a luxury, while fish was “peasant food”. So the idea was to deny oneself luxury. But I gather that, in the appropriate climate, capybaras are abundant and cheap, and are eaten by the peasants, so in an economic sense, it’d be reasonable to allow them on days of abstinence.