They were originally domesticated for meat. They eat grass (which humans cannot) and turn the indigestable fibers of tough mountain grasses into protein, they also grow quickly and reproduce quickly. Makes sense the Andean cultures would domesticate them.
I’m not vegan and probably never will be, but your comment made me think: if we invented a machine that could create food out of inedible substances, we’d consider it an incredible scientific breakthrough.
This is essentially how we use many livestock animals: as biological machines that convert grass and otherwise unusable plant matter into food. I don’t know that I feel great about that. I’d never thought of it in those terms before reading your comment. I know that’s not what you were getting at, but this shit lowkey fucked me up.
We’re so removed from knowing what it’s like to harvest animals for food. I don’t mean to be graphic but for example it breaks my heart every time I put a knife through a lobster’s head to make a lobster roll. I grew up with chickens too and when we would kill them to eat was always awful. If you eat meat I think that’s something you should experience just to know what happens if you choose to consume animal products.
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u/grungegoth Aug 07 '26
I unknowingly ate guinea pig at a hotel buffet in Quito
tastes like ... small birds, or chicken