# Do you eat the soft chicken bones? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 24, 2011, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-eat-the-soft-chicken-bones/575854 "2011-03-24T16:31:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![cuauhtemoc](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ecb155/32.png) [@cuauhtemoc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cuauhtemoc)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2011, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-eat-the-soft-chicken-bones/575854/1 "2011-03-24T16:31:27Z")
When I eat chicken on the bone, there’s almost nothing left when I’m done. After I eat every last morsel of meat, I eat the ribs, and any other bones that look like they might be chewable, like the breastbone. Then I take the leg and thigh bones and bite off both ends, and eat the gristle and sinew. Then, if the chicken was cooked just right, I slurp out the wet, dark-red marrow from the bone like a straw. I eat the wings the same way. I just pop the neck and any vertebrae into my mouth whole and eat them like popcorn. Crunchy goodness. People seem to think this is weird. Am I the only one who does this? ---
**Author:** ![Wheelz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wheelz/32/5718_2.png) [@Wheelz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wheelz)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2011, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-eat-the-soft-chicken-bones/575854/2 "2011-03-24T16:43:31Z")
Ewww. ---
**Author:** ![Labtrash](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/labtrash/32/528_2.png) [@Labtrash](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Labtrash)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2011, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-eat-the-soft-chicken-bones/575854/3 "2011-03-24T16:49:13Z")
> [@cuauhtemoc](#): > > When I eat chicken on the bone, there’s almost nothing left when I’m done. After I eat every last morsel of meat, I eat the ribs, and any other bones that look like they might be chewable, like the breastbone. Then I take the leg and thigh bones and bite off both ends, and eat the gristle and sinew. Then, if the chicken was cooked just right, I slurp out the wet, dark-red marrow from the bone like a straw. I eat the wings the same way. I just pop the neck and any vertebrae into my mouth whole and eat them like popcorn. Crunchy goodness. > > People seem to think this is weird. Am I the only one who does this? Yes. Just you (and a lot of dogs). ---
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2011, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-eat-the-soft-chicken-bones/575854/4 "2011-03-24T17:07:51Z")
My wife is a gristle-eater and some of that has rubbed off on me. Having said that, I don’t consider a chicken neck to be “soft bones”. ---
**Author:** ![cuauhtemoc](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ecb155/32.png) [@cuauhtemoc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cuauhtemoc)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2011, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-eat-the-soft-chicken-bones/575854/5 "2011-03-24T17:11:47Z")
> [@Wheelz](#): > > Ewww. What? It’s delicious! That’s like half the flavor of the chicken right there! > [@Labtrash](#): > > Yes. Just you (and a lot of dogs). Well, if you’ve ever seen a dog with a bone, you know how much he enjoys it. I think there’s something deep within our mammalian nature that craves meat right off the bone. It makes me feel close to my proto-hominid ancestors. Picture a caveman with a bone from a freshly killed mammoth. That’s me with a chicken. ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2011, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-eat-the-soft-chicken-bones/575854/6 "2011-03-24T17:11:49Z")
Does this poll apply to all of us including those Dopers who are non-zombies? ---
**Author:** ![Washoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/ecae2f/32.png) [@Washoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Washoe)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2011, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-eat-the-soft-chicken-bones/575854/7 "2011-03-24T17:25:43Z")
> [@Wheelz](#): > > Ewww. That was my audible reaction upon reading the thread title, even before I opened it. Right now there’s an exasperated John Cleese homunculus in my head screaming “well don’t you even _take the bones out,_” with a complacent and unflapped imaginary **cuauhtemoc** responding in a somewhat dismissive manner “if I took the bones out, they wouldn’t be _crunchy_, now would they?” ---
**Author:** ![John\_Bredin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/96bed5/32.png) [@John\_Bredin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Bredin)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2011, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-eat-the-soft-chicken-bones/575854/8 "2011-03-24T17:33:51Z")
Yes, I do that if eating chicken in private. And **Labtrash** , I’m not a dog. :rolleyes:😃 ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2011, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-eat-the-soft-chicken-bones/575854/9 "2011-03-24T17:41:50Z")
I’m feeling seriously queasy now, thanks. ---
**Author:** ![Jake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f475e1/32.png) [@Jake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jake)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2011, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-eat-the-soft-chicken-bones/575854/10 "2011-03-24T17:46:39Z")
I save the bones in the freezer until I have enough to make broth. Cook them in water for about three hours and THEN get the chickeny goodness of the bones. ---
**Author:** ![Wheelz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wheelz/32/5718_2.png) [@Wheelz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wheelz)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2011, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-eat-the-soft-chicken-bones/575854/11 "2011-03-24T17:48:40Z")
> [@cuauhtemoc](#): > > What? It’s delicious! That’s like half the flavor of the chicken right there! I’ve tried beef marrow before and it tasted like death. If I happen to get a chicken wing with a broken bone, it grosses me out to the point that I can’t eat it. I suppose that puts us on opposite ends of the spectrum – but still, I’m not turning in my carnivore card. ---
**Author:** ![Labrador\_Deceiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7c8e57/32.png) [@Labrador\_Deceiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Labrador_Deceiver)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2011, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-eat-the-soft-chicken-bones/575854/12 "2011-03-24T17:50:45Z")
Soft? Nothing about the bones you mentioned could be considered soft, I think you mean extra brittle. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2011, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-eat-the-soft-chicken-bones/575854/13 "2011-03-24T17:54:46Z")
I sometimes eat the breastbone, ribs & wingtips and chew off both ends of the leg bone but that’s about it. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2011, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-eat-the-soft-chicken-bones/575854/14 "2011-03-24T17:56:11Z")
I love marrow (a nice beef marrow bone, with the marrow spread on toast and a bit of salt–that’s a real treat), but chicken bones? You’re an odd duck. ---
**Author:** ![Rachellelogram](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rachellelogram/32/8689_2.png) [@Rachellelogram](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rachellelogram)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2011, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-eat-the-soft-chicken-bones/575854/15 "2011-03-24T18:52:52Z")
I threw up in my mouth. ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2011, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-eat-the-soft-chicken-bones/575854/16 "2011-03-24T19:01:35Z")
> [@rachelellogram](#): > > I threw up in my mouth. Larks vomit? ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2011, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-eat-the-soft-chicken-bones/575854/17 "2011-03-24T19:02:34Z")
That’s pretty gross, sorry. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![sitchensis](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sitchensis/32/4892_2.png) [@sitchensis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sitchensis)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2011, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-eat-the-soft-chicken-bones/575854/18 "2011-03-24T19:05:08Z")
I eat the wing tips and some of the ribs depending on softness. I’m not sure what you mean by biting off the leg and thigh bone ends. I love the crunchy cartilage caps on the ends of the bone but accessing the marrow would seem to take a lot more work. I do love me some beef bone marrow, maybe I’ll try it. Forgot, I eat the breast bone cartilage as well ---
**Author:** ![Doctor\_Who](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ed8c4c/32.png) [@Doctor\_Who](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doctor_Who)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2011, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-eat-the-soft-chicken-bones/575854/19 "2011-03-24T19:08:48Z")
> [@rachelellogram](#): > > I threw up in my mouth. I threw up in your mouth too. ---
**Author:** ![overlyverbose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/9dc877/32.png) [@overlyverbose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/overlyverbose)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2011, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-eat-the-soft-chicken-bones/575854/20 "2011-03-24T19:09:49Z")
Gak. My grandmother used to have special spoons for bone marrow for things like lamb or beef. It was awful watching her use one. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-eat-the-soft-chicken-bones/575854.md?page=2)