Scottish man crowned champion of eating picked baby gannet

upi. ^ | Dec. 30, 2013

[JoeProBono]

PORT OF NESS, Scotland, A Scottish oil rig worker set a record by eating half a pickled baby gannet and 14.1 ounces of potatoes in just 3 minutes and 44 seconds.

Peter Macritchie, 33, ate half of a guga, the Gaelic name for a gannet, and his required serving of potatoes in 3 minutes and 44 seconds Saturday at the World Guga Eating Championships at the Ness FC Social Club in Port of Ness, Scotland, the Scotsman reported Monday.

Macritchie finished just a second ahead of second-place finisher Willie Macritchie, who is not a relative.

Donald Macsween, organizer of the event, said Peter Macritchie was crowned world champion and set what organizers consider to be a world record for guga eating.

"We applied to the Guinness Book of Records to enter and ratify the attempt but they never replied," he said.

He said the real prize of the event was "the honor and the glory of being world champion."

Ness is the only remaining place in Britain where young gannets, large black and white birds, are hunted for their meat. The region received an exception from British and European laws against the hunting of seabirds due to the traditional yearly hunt.

"The guga is an important part of our heritage and history and very much a part of who we are in Ness. We are very proud of the guga," Macsween said.

[JoeProBono]

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The Guga Hunters of Ness is a film directed by Mike Day. It follows the ten men of Ness, in Lewis, who travel to the tiny, desolate island of Sula Sgeir for two weeks each August. There they catch, kill and salt 2,000 young gannets before returning home with the precious guga meat.

These are the last people in Europe who allowed to hunt the birds, and this is the first time the hunters have allowed themselves to be filmed for 50 years.

[cripplecreek]

[bigbob]

Did his wife pick it for him (DD reference)?

[a fool in paradise]

Get in mah belly PING!

[Eric in the Ozarks]

Must be an acquired taste...

[ken5050]

Being totally soused, the gannet didn’t feel a thing..

[Albion Wilde]

This beautiful photo of adult gannets ran in the DailyMailOnline a couple of years ago, for Valentine's Day. Birds mate for life. The male brought a flowering sprig to his mate.

[JoeProBono]

[headstamp 2]

“These are the last people in Europe who allowed to hunt the birds, and this is the first time the hunters have allowed themselves to be filmed for 50 years.”

Mistake number 1

[JimSEA]

From another source: Tastes like a cross between mackerel and duck. I think I’ll pass on this one.

[JoeProBono]

[afraidfortherepublic]

Is that Chik-fil-A?

[Eric in the Ozarks]

Looks like a coot.
I had coot once, disguised as duck.

Yuck !

[Gay State Conservative]

ALBATROSS!

[Gay State Conservative]

Tastes like Spotted Owl

[null and void]

Stormy petrel on a stick!

[null and void]

Tastes like blue footed booby...

[JimSEA]

I quite like duck and I can tolerate mackerel but not mixed. Coot isn’t hunted much for a reason. My condolences on your meal.

[mikrofon]

Out of respect, certain media outlets declined to report on this story ....

[JoeProBono]