





Do you enjoy dressing small, furry rodents in various costumes, often involving miniature hats that require the use of various staples to stay put? Do you then like to eat the animal you’ve just mortified and tortured? Huacho, Peru has got just the festival for you, you terrible, terrible person. Welcome to the third annual Festival of the Guinea Pig:
The celebration of the ‘cuy’, as guinea pigs are known in the Andes, also included contests for the biggest, fastest, best-dressed and, finally, tastiest animal of all.
While the lucky guinea pigs at the festival escaped with only the indignity of being turned into kings, miners and Peruvian peasants for the day, the less fortunate ended up on a plate.
God, we really don’t know which is worse: Having to put tiny fingerless lace gloves on those creepy, pink, little person hands, or eating something with creepy, pink, little person hands. Fortunately (?), some Andean chefs are attempting to present cuy in a way that’s more palatable to potential international consumers:
Some cooks chopped off the head and paws - cuy is traditionally served whole in the Andes - in the hope that it would sell better among foreigners for whom the fluffy rodents were once childhood pets.
“Here we are trying to show all the work implied, their breeding, their diet, how we can get a better product, we are trying to present it to the world so that people don’t have any prejudices,” said chef Pilar Fox.
Yes, because every single time we see a picture of a baby chick wearing a bonnet, the first thing we want to do is take a big bite out of its face. No.
However, if you really must dress these disgusting mutant-baby things in clothing, might we suggest this site, which caters to all your sartorial guinea pig needs? How very precious. Those little gingham dresses really bring out the insane in your pet’s beady, demonic eyes.
Guinea Pigs Dress Up For Dinner [Sky News]

Oh. My. God. Too cute that guinea pig clothing site.
Posted by Edward J. Olmos | July 21, 2008
shudder
Posted by piruli | July 21, 2008
I ate guinea pig once in Cuzco—I thought I was ordering a stuffed pepper. Leave it to the gringo to see “relleno” and think of a big chile, deep fried and stuffed with cheese! It was stuffed alright but it was not a pepper. Spanish didn’t even help me out of this one—-I needed to brush up on Quechua!
Posted by Patrick | July 22, 2008
hey just because that’s someone’s way of living doesn’t mean that it’s this big horrible thing. in fact, guinea pigs were never once considered pets… until some brilliant (NOT!!) person decided they should cage the little rodents and make them live a horrible life caged up in a tiny living space!! how would u like to live in a tiny cramped space eating the same thing every day and never doing anything else and having no freedom?
eating guinea pigs was a way to survive in those high regions where you can’t find anything else to eat. this was so since their ancestors!! just because their way of life is different from the americans who invented the guinea pig pet thing doesn’t mean you have to go around making them look like bad horrible people!!
in fact the person who wrote this article has absolutely no idea about those people’s way of life and has no respect for their history.
it’s just not right to make a person’s history and past look bad simply because they’re different!! as if the americans were perfect!!
Posted by sarah | July 24, 2008
I admire her for the mission she is on and I want to post some more helpful links on my blog to guide people in their research. I will be gathering helpful information for my readers soon.
Posted by yolanda spearman | July 28, 2008
SORRY SARAH…
but if they are truly STAPLING adornments to the animals flesh, they deserve nothing but scorn and condemnation and are, in fact, “bad horrible people!!” no matter what cock-eyed, primitive culture they belong to.
go fuck yourself.
Posted by Ian | August 07, 2008