# French Dish **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 2, 2001, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/french-dish/85005 "2001-10-02T17:39:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![bacobit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4491bb/32.png) [@bacobit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bacobit)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2001, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/french-dish/85005/1 "2001-10-02T17:39:51Z")
Is there some ritual meal in France involving the very wealthy poking their head through a curtain and devouring a raw bird? A friend of mine swears that there is. DEVOUR, RAW, BIRD and CURTAIN is not getting me anywhere with the search engines. I’m ankle deep in teenage angst poetry. If only I knew what the dish was called! Does anyone have an inkling? My question really has two parts: 1. What is this dish called? 2. What the hell? John ---
**Author:** ![daffodil](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@daffodil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/daffodil)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2001, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/french-dish/85005/2 "2001-10-02T19:28:53Z")
Can’t help you with the answer. Just to say I wouldn’t be a bit surprised if the French do that. Imagine sawing frogs in half and eating the bums and legs. Have you tried “French eating habits”? ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2001, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/french-dish/85005/3 "2001-10-02T19:31:01Z")
Yes, I’ve seen this, but I can’t remember what it was called. It was a hunting issue; they were wantonly shooting some kind of (smallish) migratory songbird and eating them, the species was in danger of extinction, so the French government outlawed the killing of the birds, a group of hunters then set up a fake ‘tradition’ where they claimed that eating them under a sheet was part of some ritual that their secret society practiced, and they were thus exempt from the hunting ban ---
**Author:** ![Zazie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Zazie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zazie)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2001, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/french-dish/85005/4 "2001-10-02T19:38:38Z")
Hey! Hunters are weirdos… 😉 And frog legs are goooooooood! well actually the sauce they came in is good, they don’t really taste like anything! ---
**Author:** ![seawitch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a587f6/32.png) [@seawitch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/seawitch)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2001, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/french-dish/85005/5 "2001-10-02T20:14:55Z")
I first heard about this in an essay on the last meal of Mitterand. Yep, it’s little tiny songbirds - called “orlotons”. The essay was written by Michael Paterniti, and was published in Esquire - I can’t find the issue right now, but it’s being republished in a book called _Love and Murder_. Here’s a restaurant that will serve them as part of a special meal. Be warned - the cost is $32,000 for a party of four, although it includes some pretty impressive wines. [La Folie](http://lafolie.citysearch.com/10.html) Admittedly, cites for this are sparse, and I certainly can’t pony up the cash for it, but there you go. ---
**Author:** ![everton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ecb155/32.png) [@everton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/everton)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2001, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/french-dish/85005/6 "2001-10-02T23:44:52Z")
They certainly are eaten whole. If you’re planning to find out more the correct spelling is _ortolan_. Google threw up a few references ;). ---
**Author:** ![seawitch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a587f6/32.png) [@seawitch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/seawitch)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2001, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/french-dish/85005/7 "2001-10-03T00:06:07Z")
Thanks for the correction, **everton**. I got my spelling from the menu I referenced - you’d think for that kind of cash, they’d get the spelling right. [sub]The other possibility, of course, is that I made a mistake. I refuse to entertain that possibility. In case any of you are about to point it out, I have my fingers in my ears. La la la la la…[/sub] ---
**Author:** ![everton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ecb155/32.png) [@everton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/everton)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2001, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/french-dish/85005/8 "2001-10-03T00:12:31Z")
You’re welcome. Of course the real mistake would be spending 32 thousand bucks on a dinner for four – no wonder it’s called La Folie!