# Is all meat good meat? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 24, 2003, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-all-meat-good-meat/157256 "2003-02-24T21:48:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![3trew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/3/13edae/32.png) [@3trew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/3trew)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2003, 5:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-all-meat-good-meat/157256/21 "2003-02-25T05:36:56Z")
My grandparents on both sides depended on creative interpretations of game laws to get through the winter. I made a list one time and found that I could remember eating well over 50 species of animals. Cows, chickens and pigs are very thoroughly domesticated and easy to raise in high volume. Racoons (I bet somebody did START a racoon farm…), aligators, rattlesnakes, kangaroo, deer, elk, moose, ptarmigan, bear, cougar, pheasant, sparrow, grasshopper, earthworm, rabbit, etc. are all viable options and they and many more may be available in your local weird store, but they simply haven’t become a domesticated monoculture, for some very complicated reasons. Well, okay, the bears are for an easy reason, the rattlesnakes too, but you see what I’m saying. Plains Indians hereabouts used to eat grasshoppers as a major food source. They’d make a big circle, and sweep them all in to the firepit they’d dug in the middle of the circle. I’ve never tried grasshopper, but Lord knows there’re still enough of those around that you could have a good feed. On the other hand, you could just go and spend a couple of bucks on a sirloin and call it good. Game ranching has had problems with disease, as has fish farming, and when you consider the path that corn has taken from a single kernel on the end of a stalk to the luscious (and sterile) eight inch heads you can find at any grocery store today, you start to see that the development of a staple food source is not in any way a fast process. Cows used to be viable mammals who defended themselves against wily predators. Now you can hunt them with a hammer. It took a while, but we made them that way. ---
**Author:** ![Ike\_Witt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ike_witt/32/283_2.png) [@Ike\_Witt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ike_Witt)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2003, 5:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-all-meat-good-meat/157256/22 "2003-02-25T05:53:32Z")
You can always check out your local pet store as well. Guinea pigs were domesticated in South America for food about 7000 years ago. Pretty decent tasting as well. ---
**Author:** ![betenoir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/258eb7/32.png) [@betenoir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/betenoir)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2003, 6:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-all-meat-good-meat/157256/23 "2003-02-25T06:05:42Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Smeghead \* > \*\*Then, of course, there’s the fact that only a few animals have ever been domesticated (first person to reference Guns, Germs, and Steel here gets a prize). No one’s managed to start a racoon farm. \*\* I opened the thread merely in the hopes of bringing up Guns Germs and Steel. Everyone, go read Guns Germs and Steel and all your questions will be answered!!! What do I win? Q.E.D, dogs, like pigs, are omnivores, not carnivores. And as far as I know, no culture has made a practice of eating cats (anybody know?). ---
**Author:** ![Q.E.D](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/51bf81/32.png) [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2003, 6:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-all-meat-good-meat/157256/24 "2003-02-25T06:16:07Z")
Sorry, but [dogs **are** carnivores.](http://www.pinnaclepetsupply.com/omnivor.htm) ---
**Author:** ![3trew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/3/13edae/32.png) [@3trew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/3trew)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2003, 6:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-all-meat-good-meat/157256/25 "2003-02-25T06:19:52Z")
My favourite Anthropology professor, actually my favourite professor, once described dogs as “Man’s best friend, guardian, war companion, field helper, pet, and an excellent source of protein in times of need.” ---
**Author:** ![Duckster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duckster/32/1244_2.png) [@Duckster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duckster)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2003, 7:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-all-meat-good-meat/157256/26 "2003-02-25T07:34:58Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by mister\_me \* > Why do humans just stick with stuff like beef, chicken and maybe a few other types of meat? Because everything else tastes just like chicken so why bother. 😃 ---
**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:** [February 25, 2003, 8:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-all-meat-good-meat/157256/27 "2003-02-25T08:36:00Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by 2trew \* > \*\*My favourite Anthropology professor, actually my favourite professor, once described dogs as “Man’s best friend, guardian, war companion, field helper, pet, and an excellent source of protein in times of need.” \*\* The _Chow Chow_ dog breed was originally raised for the table; I kid you not. ---
**Author:** ![Sock\_Munkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/aeb1de/32.png) [@Sock\_Munkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sock_Munkey)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2003, 9:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-all-meat-good-meat/157256/28 "2003-02-25T09:15:10Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Read\_Neck \* > \*\*If it’s got red blood it’s edible. Preferences are relative to how hungry you are. \*\* Octopi and many other invertebrates are not red blooded but are quite tasty and ntritious. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Dragon\_Phoenix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bcef8e/32.png) [@Dragon\_Phoenix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dragon_Phoenix)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2003, 9:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-all-meat-good-meat/157256/29 "2003-02-25T09:22:12Z")
Eaten and liked (excluding water animals): Readily available (sometimes in season): Cow Pig Sheep Horse Wild pig Goat Chicken Duck Ostrich Pigeon Pheasant Quail Rabbit Hare Frog Snail Not readily available: Donkey Emu Goose Antilope Kangaroo I have had the opportunity to eat dog and snake, but refused. ---
**Author:** ![Einmon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b9bd4f/32.png) [@Einmon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Einmon)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2003, 12:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-all-meat-good-meat/157256/30 "2003-02-25T12:14:35Z")
I guess it’s also a question of economy. If you raise a bunch of squirrels they probably are more trouble than they yield meat. Not like a big, juicy cow… Just for the record, ostrich has become increasingly popular here in Germany and you can even get it at the local supermarket. ---
**Author:** ![Q.E.D](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/51bf81/32.png) [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2003, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-all-meat-good-meat/157256/31 "2003-02-25T14:41:03Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Mangetout \* > \*\*The _Chow Chow_ dog breed was originally raised for the table; I kid you not. \*\* Cite? :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![Floater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/dc4da7/32.png) [@Floater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Floater)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2003, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-all-meat-good-meat/157256/32 "2003-02-25T15:54:16Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Dragon Phoenix \* > I have had the opportunity to eat dog and snake, but refused. According to a friend of mine dog is quite tasty. According to his Mandarin wife only Cantonese and other lowlife would eat a dog. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-all-meat-good-meat/157256.md?page=1)