Retired couple breed guinea pigs to EAT because it's more sustainable and insist the animals h
A RETIRED couple are farming guinea pigs in order to scoff them in stews — in what they argue is a sustainable way of eating meat.
Australians Rees and Col Campbell have been rearing between 10 and 25 guinea pigs at their one-acre block in Wynyard, northwest Tasmania, for about five years.
The couple say their guinea pigs live "happy" lives, and argue that eating them is more socially and ethically responsible than consuming many other types of meat.
Ms Campbell told the ABC: "It's certainly it's not everyone's cup of tea to grow and kill their own guinea pigs for meat.
"But if we're going to eat meat, guinea pig meat is a very sustainable meat to produce and all our animals here live a quiet and happy existence with us, so they have a really good, quiet life and then they have a good quiet, death.
"It is a kinder all-around way of eating meat."
It's certainly it's not everyone's cup of tea to grow and kill their own guinea pigs for meat
Rees CampbellThe concept of eating guinea pigs is not unique around the world, she said. with Latin America and Indonesia big consumers.
She added: "Australians seem to have some strange views of which animals are cute and which ones aren't and I think there's an aversion to eating what is seen as cute."
The Campbells, who also dine on wild-shot meats like wallaby and rabbit, usually scoff a home-grown guinea pig every two to three weeks.
She said: "It’s quite a dense meat, so… one guinea pig weighing perhaps 600 grams will certainly feed both Col and I a couple of meals in a stew."
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Describing the taste, she said it was "gamey" and more "meaty" than rabbit.
Guinea pig meat is great in tomato-based stews and goes down well at dinner parties.
She said: "Because it's quite meaty and solid, it goes well with those more acidy foods, so a tomato-based cacciatore type of dish is probably my favourite.
"Everybody that we've fed it to has been pleasantly surprised … everybody has enjoyed it.”
Producing guinea pig meat was more environmentally, ethically and socially responsible than producing other types of meat, she added.
And this way she said you can make sure the guinea pig had a good life and a "good, non-traumatised death".
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