# Carnivores: What's the most exotic meat you've had? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [January 6, 2000, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/carnivores-whats-the-most-exotic-meat-youve-had/12589 "2000-01-06T17:21:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2000, 2:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/carnivores-whats-the-most-exotic-meat-youve-had/12589/41 "2000-01-07T02:51:00Z")
Kangaroo, dog (once, didn’t like it, 'twas legal in the country where ingested), caribou, grasshoppers. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2000, 3:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/carnivores-whats-the-most-exotic-meat-youve-had/12589/42 "2000-01-07T03:01:00Z")
I’m in California. We’re not allowed to eat dead things here. Someone posted uni. I’ve been tempted to try it, but I always go for the salt-water eel. Had aligator-on-a-stick in N’Awlins a few times. It’s not exotic (just deadpig, deadcow and deadcrustaceans), but the Vietnamese have some great dishes! Cool working near “Little Saigon”. But I STILL want to move to Seattle!!! ---
**Author:** ![Sylence](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b19c9b/32.png) [@Sylence](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sylence)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2000, 3:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/carnivores-whats-the-most-exotic-meat-youve-had/12589/43 "2000-01-07T03:20:00Z")
Deer, elk, bear, rattlesnake, frog, rabbit, lamb, goat, and quail. Deer can be good or bad depending on how it’s cooked and where the deer have been feeding. If there’s a lot of sagebrush in the area, bite off a limb and chew on it. That’s how the deer would taste. Same applies to elk. Bear was good. Very good. I recommend it. Rattlesnake is a rubbery kind of chicken. Good though. Frog legs are just mutated chicken legs. Rabbit kind of depends on what you fed it, along with quail. Don’t feed it sage. Mutton is _horrible_ unless you get it really young. It tastes awful and it cooks up like shoe leather. A six-month old lamb is about right, past that I would not touch it for a million dollars (Well, _maybe_ then). Same applies to goats. – Sylence * * * I don’t have an evil side. Just a really, really apathetic one. ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2000, 3:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/carnivores-whats-the-most-exotic-meat-youve-had/12589/44 "2000-01-07T03:56:00Z")
Not that I consider rabbit exotic, but everyone else is saying it, so… rabbit Also ostrich, tongue, frog legs, escargot, some odd soup made of octopus chunks floating in a sauce made of octopus ink. Not bad but it had a weird aftertaste. * * * “I guess one person can make a difference, although most of the time they probably shouldn’t.” ---
**Author:** ![JamesCarroll](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5daacb/32.png) [@JamesCarroll](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JamesCarroll)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2000, 4:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/carnivores-whats-the-most-exotic-meat-youve-had/12589/45 "2000-01-07T04:06:00Z")
Flying home from Russia on FinnAir once the stewardess asked “Chicken or reindeer?”. It was the best airline reindeer I’ve ever had. ---
**Author:** ![Whammo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8dc957/32.png) [@Whammo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whammo)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2000, 4:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/carnivores-whats-the-most-exotic-meat-youve-had/12589/46 "2000-01-07T04:08:00Z")
Nobodys mentioned Shark… Ive had blackened shark. It was one of the best tasting meats I have ever had… though it was YEARS ago :(. Also Squid, frog legs, buffalo burgers, deer, squirrels, rabbits, and ducks. The latter 3 I hunted myself. Liked em all. I dont consider most of those REAL exotic though… the NASTIEST thing I have EVER put in my mouth is Liver and Onions!!! gag. I will NEVER eat any organ other then muscle and skin if I can help it!! I mean… my God… do you people know the FUNCTION of the liver?? ---
**Author:** ![ChrisCTP](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e36b37/32.png) [@ChrisCTP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ChrisCTP)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2000, 4:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/carnivores-whats-the-most-exotic-meat-youve-had/12589/47 "2000-01-07T04:22:00Z")
I can’t say that I’ve ever tried anything “exotic”… but I’ve been served some very nicely garnished plates. * * * “Wednesday the 15th - Chris made one of her rare good points today.” _Guanolad_ ---
**Author:** ![AWB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/bb73d2/32.png) [@AWB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AWB)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2000, 5:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/carnivores-whats-the-most-exotic-meat-youve-had/12589/48 "2000-01-07T05:27:00Z")
_MaxTorque: Incidentally, I’m interested in something else, and probably should start a new thread, but: anyone else here ever eaten something you yourself have killed, or are ya all city folks?_ I’ve boiled lobsters and their tinier cousins crayfish. If you’re looking for _hunting_ and killing, I did hunt down the crayfish (aka crawdads) in the irrigation ditches of my hometown. * * * I looked in the mirror today/My eyes just didn’t seem so bright I’ve lost a few more hairs/I think I’m going bald - Rush ---
**Author:** ![Nekosoft](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/c2a13f/32.png) [@Nekosoft](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nekosoft)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2000, 6:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/carnivores-whats-the-most-exotic-meat-youve-had/12589/49 "2000-01-07T06:07:00Z")
## My dad used to have real fresh Rocky Mountain Oysters when we had the hog farm and we’d be out separating the boy pigs from their testicles. He’d cut 'em out and put 'em in a bowl and fry 'em up and gobble 'em down. Rancid smell. Anyway, aligator, venison, bison, uhh ants, soylent green (How is it? It varies from person to person.) This marks the fourth post I’ve begun with _My dad used to_… ---
**Author:** ![Omniscient](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omniscient/32/3290_2.png) [@Omniscient](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omniscient)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2000, 9:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/carnivores-whats-the-most-exotic-meat-youve-had/12589/50 "2000-01-07T09:58:00Z")
Well, I haven’t had too many exotic things by these standards, but growing up a picky eater it was a step for me. Buffalo burgers, Ostrich burgers (I’d like to try them in steak form) both were OK, beef is better, but they were a nice change. Rattlesnake soup, pretty non-descript. Venison, really good, but kinda left a greasy mouth feel after. When I started this I thought I had a couple of extra, but I can’t think of it now. cher said: > [@](#): > > You must be really happy these days. In the past couple of years, every chicken I’vebought has at least two or three hearts. Isn’t modern science wonderful? Actually, its not science, its just that lots of chickens are made into breasts, buffalo wings, and KFC parts, none of which use the giblets and therefore they are basically valueless, the packagers likely just dump some extra giblets into the bag to give the consumer a sense of “value”. ---
**Author:** ![Gumby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bb73d2/32.png) [@Gumby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gumby)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2000, 10:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/carnivores-whats-the-most-exotic-meat-youve-had/12589/51 "2000-01-07T10:12:00Z")
My dad shot a crocodile once and ate it, he said it was nice. He likes a lot of the strange things like bulls testicles etc which are not too bad. (I am Vegetarian now, but this had nothing to do with it.) My past favourite ‘exotic’ meats were snails, brains mmmmm, rabbit, emu. Hate tongue, just hate it, it is one of the country dishes in Boliva where I lived for a bit - they serve it still with the bumps on arrgh. I feel ill just thinking about it ---
**Author:** ![The\_Peyote\_Coyote](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/5f8ce5/32.png) [@The\_Peyote\_Coyote](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Peyote_Coyote)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2000, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/carnivores-whats-the-most-exotic-meat-youve-had/12589/52 "2000-01-07T19:10:00Z")
Eel, venison, rattlesnake chile, buffalo burgers, squid. ---
**Author:** ![cher3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/da6949/32.png) [@cher3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cher3)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2000, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/carnivores-whats-the-most-exotic-meat-youve-had/12589/53 "2000-01-07T19:31:00Z")
Omniscient– Yes, I know about the chicken hearts. I was just kidding. This past Thanksgiving my mom took out the giblets package in the small turkey we were going to cook and, well if the neck we got really came from that bird, then what we had was a swan, not a turkey. ---
**Author:** ![APB9999](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8e8cbc/32.png) [@APB9999](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/APB9999)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2000, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/carnivores-whats-the-most-exotic-meat-youve-had/12589/54 "2000-01-08T01:16:00Z")
The local Star Market here in Boston has both alligator and ostrich in the meat section. The Alligator is great if marinated. The ostrich is too damn expensive, and I haven’t tried it. I’ve tried venison, buffalo, escargot, and rattlesnake. I’ve had haggis. It tastes good, provided you don’t look too closely at it while you’re eating. I’ve had rabbit, and Padeye, I even had it at the Memphis (Millington) Naval Air Station mess hall. A bit greasy, but it _was_ a Navy mess hall, so that may not be a general characteristic of rabbits. I’ve had conch and turtle. I’ve had monkey. I felt a little funny about eating it at first because, well, you know…it’s a _ **monkey** _. But this was down in Grenada and I felt I should at least try it, this being my intrepid traveler phase; it turned out to be the most savory, tender, delicious meat I’ve ever had. Like melanietarrant I ended up picking lead shot out of it once, too. Apparently it was hunted in the jungle. I haven’t seen primates on the menu anywhere since, but I keep taking plane flights over the Andes and hoping for a crash. No luck yet. I’ve had copepods. These are a kind of plankton, like very tiny shrimp that spend the day in the upper regions of the water column. I was on an oceanographic vessel and we sailed into a bloom of them; a quick net tow and we had a bucketful of copepods - enough to eat like cereal. They taste like shrimp, too. In Thailand there were street vendors serving **humungous** cockroaches, each on their own little toothpick with all their legs tied together like a calf at branding time. They were covered with some glaze or other. I couldn’t bring myself to try them - I’ve never been _that_ intrepid an explorer; however some of the other farang indulged and said they were mostly just crunchy, with a little sweet taste from the glaze. FYI ---
**Author:** ![brdrcolle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ebca7d/32.png) [@brdrcolle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brdrcolle)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2000, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/carnivores-whats-the-most-exotic-meat-youve-had/12589/55 "2000-01-08T01:52:00Z")
Venison, Elk & squid. Nothing too fancy for me! * * * “My, my. Such a lot of guns around here and so few brains.” ~Humphrey Bogart in “The Maltese Falcon” ---
**Author:** ![beerman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/85e7bf/32.png) [@beerman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beerman)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2000, 2:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/carnivores-whats-the-most-exotic-meat-youve-had/12589/56 "2000-01-08T02:48:00Z")
I think Conch should take the prize. If they look anything like the shell they come out of… Oh…I can’t believe I am the only one who has eaten…Armidillo * * * Viva La Dos Equis! ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2000, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/carnivores-whats-the-most-exotic-meat-youve-had/12589/57 "2000-01-08T02:57:00Z")
What’s the most exotic meat I’ve ever eaten? BABY! [http://pw1.netcom.com/~heliboy/nephew.htm](http://pw1.netcom.com/~heliboy/nephew.htm) _LMFHO_ ---
**Author:** ![AuntiePam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@AuntiePam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntiePam)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2000, 3:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/carnivores-whats-the-most-exotic-meat-youve-had/12589/58 "2000-01-08T03:05:00Z")
My birthday usually coincides with the annual Wild Game Feed put on by the Woolstock, Iowa Volunteer Fire Department. Yay, a night out! It’s served buffet style. For $7.50, you get to stand in line outside the building(there’s ALWAYS a long line), sharing beer carried in Igloo coolers. Then inside, you pass by tables of guys in flannel shirts selling raffle tickets. Prizes are quarts of oil, shotguns, and nicely framed paintings of pheasants and ducks. We usually get tidbits of fried fish while we’re waiting to get to the real food – and the food is fabulous. All kinds of wild stuff cooked every way imaginable. The Rocky Mountain Oysters are everyone’s favorite. I think we’ve had everything mentioned in this thread, except maybe the snails. (A bit too uptown.) It’s always good, but you really need to get home as soon as you finish eating, if you get my drift. DON’T stop for more beer. Ya’ll are invited – it’s in March. Let me know how many tickets you need. ---
**Author:** ![fuzzy-wuzzy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/b38774/32.png) [@fuzzy-wuzzy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fuzzy-wuzzy)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2000, 3:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/carnivores-whats-the-most-exotic-meat-youve-had/12589/59 "2000-01-08T03:15:00Z")
well guys…all of us from the country know that: rabbit, squirrel, duck, vension, coons, crayfish, chicken hearts, chicken livers, chicken gizzards, etc. are all part of a normal diet … anything that the man can hunt actually. I guess probably allegator would do it for me… And mountain oysters here are considered to be pig testicles…not bull testicles… but then that’s not Rocky Mountain either…lol * * * “Do or do not, there is no try” - Yoda ---
**Author:** ![Sentinel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/fbc32d/32.png) [@Sentinel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sentinel)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2000, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/carnivores-whats-the-most-exotic-meat-youve-had/12589/60 "2000-01-08T19:27:00Z")
Well, where would you like to start? Japan: Blowfish, snake, seaweed, birds nest soup (BLEECH! That stuff, made from bird spit, is crappy and FAR too expensive. The bastards have such a demand for it, because – as usual with orientals – its supposed to make you more potent and sexual, that the bird producing the saliva is rapidly becoming extinct.) Africa: Zebra, Lion, Monkey. Australia: Kangaroo, alligator, snake. Korea: Rat, Monkey brains (not recommended). In general: Horse, wild pig, python, some nasty beetles, grubs, coconut grubs, assorted wild birds, moose (sucks), venison (also sucks), snails (sucks big), whale blubber (sucks even bigger), Emu (tough as nails and gamy as hell). Also had blood bread, blood sausage, blood pudding and tried blood and milk. The first two aint bad, but the last two require downing a pint of cheap booze first. In the GREAT SOUTH, I ate Opossum, Armadillo, 'Coon, and tripe. (Tripe needs to be outlawed.) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/carnivores-whats-the-most-exotic-meat-youve-had/12589.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/carnivores-whats-the-most-exotic-meat-youve-had/12589.md?page=4)