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Sharksbaja
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Turtles for food
Tonight a customer told me he recently had turtle meat for dinner at a restaurant in Mexico. He didn't say where but he talked about the East Cape.
Is this for real? Are there actually places serving turtle?
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David K
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At family events all over Baja... it is a delicacy (so I am told)!  
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longlegsinlapaz
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I know there's a well-known restaurant in La Paz that's served my friends turtle soup every time they've asked for it. But it's an under
the table thing, not on the menu. If I know of ONE place, then it's got to be happening at a lot of places.
Sadly, for many, cultural traditions are more important than endangered species...or the law!
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Sharksbaja
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Dumbasses!
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longlegsinlapaz
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I agree....please don't shoot the messenger....I don't eat it!
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dean miller
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In the 1950s the center of Ensenada was Gordos fishing charter service.
Diagnally across the street was the "Turtle soup factory," or thats what the the norte Americanos called it, it may have had another name by the
locals. It had two items; turtle soup and turtle steaks on the menu.
It was open air dining. The seats were made from old automobile seats, the flat ware and china was none descript pieces; often chipped or cracked.
It was a popular gathering spot for the locals as well as the very infrequent norte Americanos.
I cannot recall the price of the meals but it was very reasonable.
One trip I noticed the factory had been demolished- never to be seen again.
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David K
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Perhaps that was the destination of the turtle trucks that drove over the hundreds of rough dirt miles from Bahia de los Angeles, back in the old
days?
Was it Steve McQueen or James Garner who hitched a ride in the back of one of those trucks after his Baja racer broke down... had to sit with the
turtles?
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Ken Bondy
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It's been more than ten years since I've been there, but to the best of my recollection the last time I was at Bismark in La Paz turtle was right
there on the menu.
++Ken++
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Pescador
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| Quote: | Originally posted by Sharksbaja
Dumbasses! |
Perhaps so, but it easily available in the smaller villages and anywhere that fishermen ply their wares. Are you saying the fishermen are dumbasses
because they come across one and bring it in to sell, or are the scientists dumbasses because they have not made the population dwindling message loud
enough, or is PESCA the dumbass because there is not an enforcement officer, or a culture that says, "sure we know they are illegal but that just
means we are more careful" ?
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dean miller
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| Quote: | Originally posted by David K
Perhaps that was the destination of the turtle trucks that drove over the hundreds of rough dirt miles from Bahia de los Angeles, back in the old
days?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
You are so correct.
I was on the way to Punta Baja below El Rosario in 1960. From just north of San Q the road (?) trail (?) south was dirt and more dirt.. The only
humans I met were the drivers of the old trucks filled to the brim with turtles all on their backs heading for Ensenada.
At that time turtle was served in the eating establishments and many homes it was the staple protein of their diet. |
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baitcast
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Turtle have been taken on a regular basis since day one,don,t look for that to stop any time soon!
Its a part of the culture,pass all the laws you want just don,t except them to stop.
I spent a great deal of time with the finest turtle hunter in Baja Norte PaPa Fernandez,he was a hunter first and fisherman secound.
He and his family took turtles to be eaten and sold,when I first met the old man he had a couple of goats,a casa,boat nothing more,no
panga,s for hire,nothing but turtles and fish.
My family ate turtle tacos,steaks,stew, when visiting PaPa,s campo,great stuff,I,m doing a poor job trying to get the message out about
these things but people have been hunting all kinds of critters to eat since we showed up,deer,pig,elk,I hear nothing about,Save the pig,Save the deer
and so on.
When taken they are not mounted to be admired just to be eaten as many are,why are they so much more important.
I can just feel the heat building out there /Rob
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Sharksbaja
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| Quote: | Originally posted by Pescador
| Quote: | Originally posted by Sharksbaja
Dumbasses! |
Perhaps so, but it easily available in the smaller villages and anywhere that fishermen ply their wares. Are you saying the fishermen are dumbasses
because they come across one and bring it in to sell, or are the scientists dumbasses because they have not made the population dwindling message loud
enough, or is PESCA the dumbass because there is not an enforcement officer, or a culture that says, "sure we know they are illegal but that just
means we are more careful" ? |
Yes.
Rob, those days are long gone. I just hope you have the hindsight and intelligence to understand that pigs are not in jeopardy. I don't fault Papa or
others livelyhoods, same as the whalers. That was then.
Now if you could raise them as they do other turtle sp.
btw, I used to eat tutle in the 70s right up thge street at the Hunting Horn or the Velvet Turtle. It was absolutely delicious.
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Diver
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There was a restaurant in the Keys called the Green Turtle that used to serve turtle soup until the late 70's. In those days, we would see turtle
almost every time we went diving !
In Mazatlan in 1974, I bought a lotion for sunburn that was recommended by all the locals called "Juga de Tortuga". You can still find the product
with this name but no more turtle oil inside.
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ELINVESTIG8R
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I remember eating pieces of Bistek de Caguama which I would find in tourist restaurant garbage cans when I was roaming La Baja. It was mmmmm good.
When I finally landed a job at a tourist restaurant and camping area in San Felipe the owner would buy whole live turtles which were laid out on their
shells and as the cook needed one he would butcher it right in the kitchen to take out the Bistek and cut up all usable parts for sopa de caguama. I
think that was around 1968 or so. I remember the poor things were alive while being butchered and I had great sorrow watching the first one being
slaughtered alive. I could never, ever be present after seeing what happened to them the first time, and I never ate caguama steaks or soup after
that.
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Cypress
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Have eaten turtle many times. But, they're legal. Fact is there are plenty of
'em down in the bayou country. Meats sorta stringy. They'll eat you if aren't
careful.
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baitcast
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Pigs hummm......not a good choice Hunger and the ability to provide for ones
family remains the same today as it did in the 70,s.
I,m for saving what we can if it makes sence,turtles included,we are all caught up in saving everything reguardless,spotted owls,snail
darters and the like with no end in sight,which leads me to drilling but won,t go there
Rob
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baitcast
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Caguama been trying to spell that for a number of years.
Mid 60,s there were large numbers of caguama in Willard and Gonzaga bays,the old man used nets for daytime hunting and a special harpoon at
night.
He finally had to give up the nets,because of the sharks, the caguama is caught in the net and along comes a nastie and startes chewing
on the flippers tearing up the net in the process.
They had a ritual when butchering,cut the throat and then one of the kids would get down like a vampire and suck it dry,my girls took off
running and screaming the first time:lol they made it a point never to be around when the cleaning started. /rob
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baitcast
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My daughter Tess on her first ride at the caguama rodeo.
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Sharksbaja
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Cypress, many sp. of fresh-water turtles are also gone or rare these days. They are just too damned slow and their shell cannot protect them from
humans.
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vandenberg
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| Quote: | Originally posted by Cypress
Have eaten turtle many times. But, they're legal. Fact is there are plenty of
'em down in the bayou country. Meats sorta stringy. They'll eat you if aren't
careful. |
Ate turtle twice in La Paz many moons ago. Reason I tried it a second time, I thought the first time must have been a bad cook.
Tastes like an old rooster's breast that has been laying in fishguts for a few hours.
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