# Do animals prefer human food?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-animals-prefer-human-food/805476
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [December 28, 2017, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-animals-prefer-human-food/805476 "2017-12-28T18:36:21Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)
#### Post date: [December 28, 2017, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-animals-prefer-human-food/805476/1 "2017-12-28T18:36:21Z")
If I give an animal a choice between its natural diet, and similar food prepared for human consumption (as by butchering, cooking and/or the addition of spices), do animals generally prefer the latter?
Say for example you place a dead-but-unprocessed chicken on the floor, and a couple of feet away place a butchered, defeathered, roasted chicken that’s been sprinked with sage, rosemary, and thyme. Then you let a big cat into the room, and see which one he eats first. Repeat experiment N times. If the cat is big enough and/or hungry enough he’ll eat both chickens, but will he reliably choose one first before choosing the other?
---
### Author:  [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)
#### Post date: [December 28, 2017, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-animals-prefer-human-food/805476/2 "2017-12-28T18:48:22Z")
Probably not, but it would be interesting to experiment.
Now, sure, your dog prefers whatever you are eating but that is due to pack mentality.
While it is true that the meme of “Alpha Wolf” is somewhat discredited, you are likely the Alpha so of course whatever you eat must be the best. 😛
---
### Author:  [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)
#### Post date: [December 28, 2017, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-animals-prefer-human-food/805476/3 "2017-12-28T18:51:17Z")
Well, my cats _love_ cooked chicken, but utterly ignore the neighbor’s free-ranging flock.
---
### Author:  [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)
#### Post date: [December 28, 2017, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-animals-prefer-human-food/805476/4 "2017-12-28T18:54:37Z")
It’ll also depend on the animal. Chimps are quite closely related to us, and so it wouldn’t be any great surprise if they had similar tastes to us in food. So they might well like it because what’s human food is also chimp food. But cats don’t even have the same set of taste buds as us. They can’t taste sweet, and so (for instance) wouldn’t have any preference for sweetened foods.
---
### Author:  [@Sailboat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sailboat)
#### Post date: [December 28, 2017, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-animals-prefer-human-food/805476/5 "2017-12-28T19:01:54Z")
> [@Darren\_Garrison](#):
>
> Well, my cats _love_ cooked chicken, but utterly ignore the neighbor’s free-ranging flock.
A live chicken can kick a cat’s butt. I’ve seen it happen. Don’t forget they’re dinosaurs.
---
### Author:  [@bordelond](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bordelond)
#### Post date: [December 28, 2017, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-animals-prefer-human-food/805476/6 "2017-12-28T19:04:48Z")
Tangent:
> [@Sailboat](#):
>
> A live chicken can kick a cat’s butt. I’ve seen it happen. Don’t forget they’re dinosaurs.
Similarly, geese can fend off quite large dogs. Fowl aren’t easy pickings 😃
---
### Author:  [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)
#### Post date: [December 28, 2017, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-animals-prefer-human-food/805476/7 "2017-12-28T19:08:25Z")
> [@DrDeth](#):
>
> Now, sure, your dog prefers whatever you are eating but that is due to pack mentality.
And if it’s a Labrador, if prefers what _anything_ is eating.
---
### Author:  [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)
#### Post date: [December 28, 2017, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-animals-prefer-human-food/805476/8 "2017-12-28T19:12:37Z")
> [@bordelond](#):
>
> Similarly, geese can fend off quite large dogs.
Geese can fend off quite large humans.
---
### Author:  [@Mr.Bill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Bill)
#### Post date: [December 28, 2017, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-animals-prefer-human-food/805476/9 "2017-12-28T20:38:59Z")
Anecdotal evidence here.
I once drove down a suburban road in the early morning and found a spot where someone had dropped a McDonalds food bag out the window. The bag had then attracted a raccoon, which had been killed by a passing car. As I approached the spot, a raven was feasting, not on the freshly killed raccoon, but on the McDonalds bag. Something about the smell of the bag was obviously irresistable to these wild animals.
---
### Author:  [@buddha\_david](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/buddha_david)
#### Post date: [December 28, 2017, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-animals-prefer-human-food/805476/10 "2017-12-28T20:45:37Z")
> [@Mr.Bill](#):
>
> As I approached the spot, a raven was feasting, not on the freshly killed raccoon, but on the McDonalds bag. Something about the smell of the bag was obviously irresistable to these wild animals.
I can totally see “Better Than A Dead Raccoon!” becoming McDonalds’ new slogan…
Here’s something to think about – humans cook nearly all of our food, and most would agree that a cooked steak is far more tasty than a raw steak. But does cooking naturally make meat more flavorful, or are our tastebuds shaped to prefer cooked meat thanks to thousands of years of evolution? (This subject occasionally shows up in fantasy novels, where a sentient talking wolf will complain about humans “burning” perfectly good raw food.)
---
### Author:  [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)
#### Post date: [December 28, 2017, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-animals-prefer-human-food/805476/11 "2017-12-28T20:49:41Z")
> [@Mr.Bill](#):
>
> Anecdotal evidence here.
>
> I once drove down a suburban road in the early morning and found a spot where someone had dropped a McDonalds food bag out the window. The bag had then attracted a raccoon, which had been killed by a passing car. As I approached the spot, a raven was feasting, not on the freshly killed raccoon, but on the McDonalds bag. Something about the smell of the bag was obviously irresistable to these wild animals.
IMHO, this is one reason why ravens, at least here in CA, are becoming more common, and it seems like every neighborhood are here has a pair: they are very good at eating road kill and NOT becoming road kill themselves.
---
### Author:  [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)
#### Post date: [December 28, 2017, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-animals-prefer-human-food/805476/12 "2017-12-28T20:53:01Z")
> [@buddha\_david](#):
>
> I can totally see “Better Than A Dead Raccoon!” becoming McDonalds’ new slogan…
>
> Here’s something to think about – humans cook nearly all of our food, and most would agree that a cooked steak is far more tasty than a raw steak. But does cooking naturally make meat more flavorful, or are our tastebuds shaped to prefer cooked meat thanks to thousands of years of evolution? (This subject occasionally shows up in fantasy novels, where a sentient talking wolf will complain about humans “burning” perfectly good raw food.)
Humans are omnivores, not carnivores and cooked meat is easier and safer for us to digest.
> **[Why Cooked Meat Is Easier For Humans to Digest Than Raw Meat](https://www.forbes.com/sites/quora/2017/03/20/why-cooked-meat-is-easier-for-humans-to-digest-than-raw-meat/)**
>
> Are human stomachs better able to digest cooked meat than raw meat? This question was originally answered on Quora by Adriana Heguy.
In other words, we evolved to eat only small amounts of meat- eggs, slow lizards, and what not but are now able to eat large amounts of meat as it is cooked.
---
### Author:  [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)
#### Post date: [December 28, 2017, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-animals-prefer-human-food/805476/13 "2017-12-28T21:02:19Z")
> [@buddha\_david](#):
>
> I can totally see “Better Than A Dead Raccoon!” becoming McDonalds’ new slogan…
There’s a [local burger joint](http://www.blimpyburger.com/menu.htm) whose motto, for 60+ years, has been “[it’s] cheaper than food.” 😃
> [@buddha\_david](#):
>
> Here’s something to think about – humans cook nearly all of our food, and most would agree that a cooked steak is far more tasty than a raw steak. But does cooking naturally make meat more flavorful, or are our tastebuds shaped to prefer cooked meat thanks to thousands of years of evolution? (This subject occasionally shows up in fantasy novels, where a sentient talking wolf will complain about humans “burning” perfectly good raw food.)
[I asked a similar question several years back.](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=556807) Someone linked to an article titled [Apes like cooked food.](https://www.nextnature.net/2011/12/apes-like-cooked-food-and-what-that-means-for-human-evolution/) The article says that many animals prefer cooked food over raw (which I guess answers my OP question), with the theory that cooking food allows us humans to eat things that otherwise couldn’t be eaten or wouldn’t provide as many usable calories:
> [@NextNature](#):
>
> The key to cooking lies in the energy demands of our giant minds. The human brain uses up a quarter of the body’s daily energy requirements. Cooked food provides significantly more available calories than raw food. From a chemical perspective, a raw and baked potato might have the same amount of total calories, but from a dietary perspective, the starches in a raw potato are largely useless to the average human gut. Add to this the fact that many poisonous plants become edible after cooking, and the first chefs were looking at a sudden increase of calories, not to mention free time. This influx of tasty nutrients allowed Homo erectus to redirect spare energy to evolving oversize brains.
---
### Author:  [@Merneith](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merneith)
#### Post date: [December 28, 2017, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-animals-prefer-human-food/805476/14 "2017-12-28T23:58:54Z")
Also anecdotal, but … ime animals prefer the food they were raised to eat when they were little. Animals who have never encountered actual meat will prefer to stick to their usual pet chow. Animals that are used to eating processed food won’t necessarily understand that the deli turkey came from the gobbler … unless their mamas taught them to kill and eat the gobbler.
So wild animals that don’t encounter humans much will not necessarily recognize human food as being edible. Domestic animals that weren’t taught hunting as youngsters will not necessarily associate other animals with food. Since humans are socialized to share food, we tend to share our food with our pets, because it’s a way that humans (and the more social of our pets) express affection. Pets who are accustomed to sharing food with their humans will understand that human food is food and will consume it in part because of the social factor, as well as the flavor.
The more omnivorous and social the animal, the more likely they are to embrace human food. Unless it’s a bear, in which case all food is food, and “human food” has a different connotation.
---
### Author:  [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)
#### Post date: [December 29, 2017, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-animals-prefer-human-food/805476/15 "2017-12-29T00:33:16Z")
> [@buddha\_david](#):
>
> …
> Here’s something to think about – humans cook nearly all of our food, and most would agree that a cooked steak is far more tasty than a raw steak…
Huh? Have you tried raw beef? It’s delicious. I cook my meat for safety, not for flavor.
---
### Author:  [@Missy2U](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Missy2U)
#### Post date: [December 29, 2017, 4:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-animals-prefer-human-food/805476/16 "2017-12-29T04:44:59Z")
More anecdotal evidence. On my deck at various times of the day, we have: birds, squirrels, chipmunks, geese, ducks, rabbits, racoons, opposums, skunks, and deer. Husband feeds them people food - and they show up when they are hungry. The ducks bang the sliding door when they see my husband, the squirrels and chipmunks run up and down the screen, the birds dive bomb the house (the morons), etc. They COULD eat their own food - we live across the street from a huge freaking Forest Preserve, but they eat ours. I’m surprised they don’t have lists of stuff they want from Jewel. -smh-
---
### Author:  [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)
#### Post date: [December 29, 2017, 4:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-animals-prefer-human-food/805476/17 "2017-12-29T04:55:30Z")
If you’ve eaten wild-gathered foods (plants, not just meat) and compared them to domestic human food you might notice that human foods tend to have less bitter/sour component (we’ve bred a lot of toxins and discouraging chemicals out of them) and tend to be less chewy/fibrous (again, selective breeding). Basically, human food is, in some ways tastier and easier to eat than wild foods which might contribute to animals liking it. Add in added salt (many animals crave it) and fat/oil (a lot of omnivores/carnivores seek that out) and it’s again, better than wild foods.
---
### Author:  [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)
#### Post date: [December 29, 2017, 6:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-animals-prefer-human-food/805476/18 "2017-12-29T06:17:20Z")
My dogs will eat anything, even onion and bananas. My cats not so much, they love their chow and treats.
I planted some garlic a while back, and whitetail deer pawed it up and ate it. Maybe they were italian!
---
### Author:  [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)
#### Post date: [December 29, 2017, 1:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-animals-prefer-human-food/805476/19 "2017-12-29T13:11:29Z")
**Missy2U** , that sounds like more a matter of convenience than of the foods themselves. Everyone, of any species, prefers just walking up to a full plate over scrounging and hunting and otherwise working their tails off. If your husband researched what foods those creatures ate in the wild and assembled big piles of that stuff on your back patio, he’d still get plenty of customers.
---
### Author:  [@Rutherford\_B](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rutherford_B)
#### Post date: [December 29, 2017, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-animals-prefer-human-food/805476/20 "2017-12-29T15:57:01Z")
> [@Chronos](#):
>
> **Missy2U** , that sounds like more a matter of convenience than of the foods themselves. Everyone, of any species, prefers just walking up to a full plate over scrounging and hunting and otherwise working their tails off. If your husband researched what foods those creatures ate in the wild and assembled big piles of that stuff on your back patio, he’d still get plenty of customers.
I agree !
Convenience vs hunting for food.
[Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-animals-prefer-human-food/805476.md?page=2)