I’ve long been disappointed with the seemingly low variety in meats available to consumers. We basically only have a choice between 3 or 4 different animals: Cows, Pigs, Chickens, and sometimes Turkeys.
With the discovery of mad cow disease in the United States, we should look at the viability of alternative meats. Why not eat cats and dogs? Animals shelters are overcrowded, and euthanizing these animals and throwing their corpses away is wastefull. Think of all the homeless people we could feed.
Are there actually any laws in the U.S against eating cats and dogs and horses, or is it just the cultural “ick” factor that keeps us from eating animals that are commonly thought of as pets?
I confess to have eaten rabbit, squirrel, and deer meat. Some people are totally disgusted by this, and even I am not thrilled about it. My dad was a hunter and I guess we needed the groceries. I do not remember how it tasted… so I guess it tasted like chicken.
I would be so very opposed to the commercial production of cat and dog meat. Strike it up to cultural reasons. I think the FDA regulates what can be offered for sale as well as how the products are processed etc. Ugh.
Interesting; do US supermarkets not carry any ‘speciality’ meats?
In the UK, the big supermarkets primarily offer pork, beef, chicken, lamb and turkey. Rabbit is quite common (usually cubed in the freezer), as are pheasant, partridge, pigeon, quail and duck.
‘Exotics’ suc as ostrich, kangaroo and alligator are usually also present, but in very small quantities.
I’ve never seen horse offered in the UK - is this a market thing or is it illegal?
I found a web site once which promised to sell me whole and half aligators for cooking. I’ve ordered chickens through the mail from a place which said it could also send quail, ducks, pheasant, and several kinds of eatible fowl. We don’t have large industries supplying these meats because of the demand.
I’ve always said if we really wanted to save the spotted owl all we have to do is come up with a really good recipe.
Horse meat is readily available here in Scandinavia and it’s delicious. A substantial portion of various sausages all over Europe contain horse meat although it’s not advertised, possibly because people think that that large herbivore that provided the bulk of meat for the early Europeans for countless Stone age generations is somehow not good to eat.
I had horse sashimi the other day here in Japan. It was pretty darn good.
I agree that the dogs and cats in shelters should be processed into some type of food. Or they could be ground up and re-fed to the other pooches/kits in the shelter, kind-of as they did in the Matrix.
Horse meat is pretty common here in Sicily too. There are at least 4 butcher shops that specialize in this area of the city. MrChatty says it’s a lot sweeter and more tender than cow. Haven’t tried it myself.
In my country, guinea pigs are a delicacy (although they aren’t my cup of tea). In the 70s you could find (sperm) whale in supermarkets (it was good). In certain areas you can have cat stew.
And of course one of the tastiest of Peruvian foods is “Anticuchos” which are kebabs made from a bull’s heart.
I was in Louisiana last weekend, and there are nutrias running around everywhere. They are a foreign species – originally from Argentina – and they are tearing up the swamp ecosystem. They are trying to get rid of them. There are some groups trying to sell their meat. Apparently it is being relabeled “water hare” or “water rabbit” which is not a very accurate description of the world’s second largest rodent.
Here in Texas, we can get alligator pretty readily. I have seen rattlesnake, rabbit, and goat as well. Cabrito is pretty popular down here. I have always bemoaned the lack of good lamb in this country, though.
Anyway Blaron, the problem of mad cow disease isn’t restricted to cows. It is one of many risks that increase with large scale animal farming and processing techniques. If cats were raised for food then the same large scale techniques would be applied to supply all those who want to eat pu … nevermind.
My grocery has ready availability of bison, occassional ostrich. Leaner, tastes good. Price point is a problem. Large scale techniques means cow and chicken cost a lot less.
Had snake as a kid. Remembered it as fish-like. Had sea-cucumbers (invertebrate living at bottom of ocean, spews out its own guts as a form of defense) plenty of times; texture similar to jell-0.
Cats, gerbils, goldfishs, long pig, dogs, and more, I do agree that people should try to eat a larger variety of animals. That fact that so many people haven’t tried kitten stew (:drools:) disappoints me greatly - it is tasty and cheap to make, all you need are some vegatables and some stray kittens.
I believe that it is just easier/cheaper to raise common livestock en masse than other animals. Also, the market for common livestock is already established, try going to a bank in America and get a loan to raise guinea pigs to sell as a food source.
I’ve eaten a veritable Noah’s Ark of different animals. I’ve had squirrel, rabbit, deer, groundhog (which I don’t suggest-- too greasy) snake, 'possum, horse, turtle, frog. snail, and wild fowl, such as quail and pheasant. I’m sure I’m forgetting some.
Some of them were eaten out of curiosity in resturants, others because my father loved to hunt and felt you must eat your kill. (The 'possum was a joke he played on the family. Funny guy, my dad.)
I don’t really have a problem with it. Meat is meat. The only animal I feel is too “gross” for consumption is the pig, and that’s only because of the filthy conditions in which they’re kept.
Top level carnivores should probably be abstained from as a routine source of meat (though I had the opportunity to eat bobcat once, and alligator several times).
I’m in favor of building up a market for destructive exotics: wild pig (in Texas, anyway), nutria (though the ribs are too tiny to make good bbq) and pigeon, er, squab.
Might as well do the native bird populations a favor and throw in housecat as well.
