Having been a steady viewer of Zimmerman and Bourdain lately I am finding myself intrigued by the idea of rat and or guinea pig raising for food.
A variety of internet sources point out recipies, preparation instructions, and as we know from the show, such things are commonly consumed as food animals in some areas of the world.
Here in the US squirrel is not unheard of for human consumption, not much of a leap to other rodents.
Assuming you could do so under appropriate clean conditions, is there a possibility that such things could be seen becoming more common as food animals?
I wasnt sure what would be the best forum for this, hints of GQ and IMHO but it is definitely a food and cooking issue as well, so since I am drawing from food related TV viewing thought I would go here.
I just remember one of Michael Moore’s films showing people in Flint Michigan selling rabbits, with the sign ‘Pets or Meat’ for the advertising.
I don’t recall what I was looking up, something about rabbits, but on google it was the same thing. Having nothing to do with the movie, and in recent times, bunnies were being sold as either pets or meat, good for both.
I’m curious what would disqualify one for being a pet, but ok for meat?
Folks eat frog’s legs with gusto, and squirrel is good. So there may be a market along side the rabbits. My local markets often have frozen rabbit in the meat case.
I would imagine (based solely on my neighbors rabbit-raising) that pet rabbits and meat rabbits differ primarily as a result of whose house they end up in. However, there are two other things that may relegate them into one or the other category- a meat rabbit may be unsuitable as a pet due to a birth defect or other issue (such as the rabbits have been raised in outdoor hutches with minimal human contact and thus aren’t sociable), and a pet rabbit may be unsuitable as a meat rabbit due to medications giving when they’re young (ie, dewormers).
When I was in Texas filming with Unsolved Mysteries, the folks we were interviewing were defrosting a raccoon on their back porch for later consumption; the first morning we were there they offered us scrambled eggs and squirrel brains for breakfast (we politely declined and beat feet to the catering folks). Mr K’s grandmother ate squirrel brains fairly frequently growing up (in rural GA); not sure what they did with the rest of the squirrel, but I’m assuming they ate that as well. Goat is available at most supermarkets here with a little advance request, as is rabbit. Frog legs are regularly available in the meat cases. I think it wouldn’t be outside the area of acceptability in most southern areas to consume ‘alternative’ meat, especially if they were raised in conditions other than ‘load up the .22 and step out in the back yard.’
What about those huge ratlike critters in Louisiana? Anyone know if they eat those?
We eat rabbit (technically not rodents) regularly at my house. We just bought two from a farm on Friday.
The companion recipe book from the master and commander books has a recipe for Millers (aka rat) in Flour. The author purchased lab rats for their recipe. They say it was good. I haven’t tried it yet.
Back when my brother was on the Atkins Diet and getting bored with most ordinary meat, I ordered him some kangaroo meat over the internet for his birthday. I think he liked it, but he hasn’t made it a habit.
Grampap used to hunt squirrels as vermin, and would give them to my mom for use in cat food. When she cooked them, you could smell the stench a block away; I can’t even imagine eating them.
I’ve eaten squirrel a few times. It was tough and had a flavor something like dark chicken. Rabbit’s good too. Frog legs are delicious. Rattlesnakes have very little flesh on them, but what is there tastes like white chicken breast but much better. Could be that it tasted better because I was very hungry at the time. You can buy crawfish in the local grocery stores here.
I should also mention that I had bear once when I was little (one of Grampap’s friends killed one in self-defense, and shared the meat), and thought it was absolutely wonderful, but that was probably at least partly the psychological angle of knowing that I was eating a big, mean, strong bear. If I hadn’t known, I would have probably guessed that it was a particularly fatty cut of beef or pork.
I thought I remembered hearing something about this. After a quick look, Wikipedia says that efforts have been made to commercially raise nutria, or coypu, for eatin’ purposes, but unsuccessfully (although their meat is lean and low in cholesterol). NPR says that the state of Louisiana did encourage their consumption.
Up here, rabbit is not uncommon among those who didn’t grow up in the city, but it is more of a occasional treat than anything else.
Ditto such things as beaver (the kind that cuts down trees, not the other), which tastes like a good pork roast, squirrel, porcupine.
And of course, such things as deer, and moose are fairly common as well. I’ve had bear; you have to eat it hot because it gets greasy as it cools, kind of like mutton.
Rabbit is very good, with a lot of traditional recipes.
One of my favorite rodents is cui, or Guinea Pig, which I’ve had several times at high-end restaurants in Cuzco, Peru. It’s very much like pork, and delicious.
In Panama I’ve eaten Paca, a large forest rodent. It is also porklike, and just about as good as Guinea Pig.
I’ve had fricasseed Polynesian rats in New Zealand. I would not particularly recommend them. They taste very much like rat. Very dark and gamy.
I’ve also eaten squirrel and muskrat. I can’t say I would go out of my way to order them in a restaurant - they are also dark and gamy.
However, there are two other things that may relegate them into one or the other category- a meat rabbit may be unsuitable as a pet due to a birth defect or other issue (such as the rabbits have been raised in outdoor hutches with minimal human contact and thus aren’t sociable), and a pet rabbit may be unsuitable as a meat rabbit due to medications giving when they’re young (ie, dewormers).