# People EAT This Stuff? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [February 13, 2007, 10:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-eat-this-stuff/392001 "2007-02-13T10:04:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Mindfield](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mindfield/32/19759_2.png) [@Mindfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mindfield)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2007, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-eat-this-stuff/392001/21 "2007-02-13T21:37:15Z")
I’ve heard of eating squirrel. In fact, in high school there was a kit who frequently brought deep fried squirrel for lunch. Then again, his given name was “Boeing,” he wore the same jean jacket in perpetuity, and he was an outcast even among us outcasts, so make of that what you will. This all reminds me of that excellent series, [Steve, Don’t Eat It!](http://www.thesneeze.com/mt-archives/cat_steve_dont_eat_it.php), wherein several of those items featured in Kookyfood (among others) are consumed and described for the benefit of all mankind. ---
**Author:** ![picunurse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7bcc69/32.png) [@picunurse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/picunurse)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2007, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-eat-this-stuff/392001/22 "2007-02-14T01:34:23Z")
Are fish balls anything like [gefilte fish](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gefilte_fish)? I like gefilte fish. ---
**Author:** ![threnodyangelfire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecc23a/32.png) [@threnodyangelfire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/threnodyangelfire)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2007, 1:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-eat-this-stuff/392001/23 "2007-02-14T01:37:41Z")
I love fishballs in seafood laksas _drool_ ---
**Author:** ![Tripler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripler/32/21807_2.png) [@Tripler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tripler)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2007, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-eat-this-stuff/392001/24 "2007-02-14T02:02:53Z")
[QUOTE=Ludy] squirrel stew 😕 [/QUOTE] Hey, I’ve had rattlesnake before . . . and it was pretty good! Caught it, decapitated ‘n’ skinned it, coiled it on a stick, and roasted it over a campfire. A little salty, but otherwise good eatin’! That same trip, I was also offered and tried two different meats I can only speculate on. For matters of decorum (especially in front of housepets), I will politely defer on openly speculating. Tripler You can usually eat anything with six legs or less. ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2007, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-eat-this-stuff/392001/25 "2007-02-14T02:31:48Z")
[QUOTE=Tripler] Tripler You can usually eat anything with six legs or less. [/QUOTE] And _why_ are you discriminating against calamari??? 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Darryl\_Lict](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7cd45c/32.png) [@Darryl\_Lict](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darryl_Lict)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2007, 5:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-eat-this-stuff/392001/26 "2007-02-14T05:04:09Z")
[QUOTE=Qadgop the Mercotan] And _why_ are you discriminating against calamari??? 😉 [/QUOTE] Crabs and lobsters ain’t so bad either. Hell, I like octopus. ---
**Author:** ![ouryL](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ouryl/32/6067_2.png) [@ouryL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ouryL)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2007, 5:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-eat-this-stuff/392001/27 "2007-02-14T05:55:13Z")
[QUOTE=Terrorcotta] Offspring’s fav snack is dried squid. Nuthin’ wrong with that but we left him in the car with the heater running and a bag of them. We came out, got in the car and were overwhelmed by the eye watering stench. I thought a tuna had been left in the trunk for a week or so. The squid and kid have been quarentined to his room. [/QUOTE] My roommates cat hated me. Then I ate dried octopus. He then became my best friend. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2007, 6:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-eat-this-stuff/392001/28 "2007-02-14T06:49:36Z")
[QUOTE=Kotick] Fishballs /snerk/. Someone seriously tripped over in the translation department :rolleyes: Seriously, thats the fish equivalent to meatballs. About the size of large eggs, served with white sauce, curry-powder, potates and grated raw carrots. Looks something like [this](http://www.matoppskrift.no/sider/artikkel604.asp) . [/QUOTE] Am I the _only_ to have seen _Good Morning, Vietnam!_? ---
**Author:** ![chowder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/977dab/32.png) [@chowder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chowder)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2007, 8:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-eat-this-stuff/392001/29 "2007-02-14T08:19:11Z")
[QUOTE=Mouse\_Maven] Squirrel brains. My paternal grandfather loved them. I’d be eating squirrel stew, find a skull, and Pop would snatch it from me and crack it open. ::Bleh:: [/QUOTE] Holy shit!! :eek: You eat squirrels? ---
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2007, 8:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-eat-this-stuff/392001/30 "2007-02-14T08:32:29Z")
[QUOTE=chowder] Holy shit!! :eek: You eat squirrels? [/QUOTE] You _don’t?_ :eek: ---
**Author:** ![MadTheSwine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9fc29f/32.png) [@MadTheSwine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MadTheSwine)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2007, 9:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-eat-this-stuff/392001/31 "2007-02-14T09:17:34Z")
We ate squirrel a lot growing up on the farm, brains and all. ---
**Author:** ![chowder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/977dab/32.png) [@chowder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chowder)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2007, 10:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-eat-this-stuff/392001/32 "2007-02-14T10:06:42Z")
[QUOTE=Tuckerfan] You _don’t?_ :eek: [/QUOTE] No we most certainly do not. Ye gods, the thought of scranning down on Mr Fluffy Tail makes me feel quite ill ---
**Author:** ![Silence\_of\_the\_clams](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Silence\_of\_the\_clams](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Silence_of_the_clams)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2007, 10:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-eat-this-stuff/392001/33 "2007-02-14T10:12:36Z")
Squirrel schmirrel, its just a rodent 😉 Apart from fishballs, we do also eat someting else which in my eyes is much more gross, and that is [smalahove](http://www.digit.no/wip4/photo/detail.epl?id=734) , which simply put is roasted sheeps head, cut in half and served. Yum? :dubious: **Picunurse** , fishballs as shown in my link probably does not taste like your gefilte fish, bt we have other ways of making fishballs, by just grounding fish meat and mixing it with potatoe flour, putting a piece of pork fat in the middle, which might have a similar consistency. ---
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2007, 10:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-eat-this-stuff/392001/34 "2007-02-14T10:27:08Z")
[QUOTE=chowder] No we most certainly do not. Ye gods, the thought of scranning down on Mr Fluffy Tail makes me feel quite ill [/QUOTE] IIRC, our grey squirrels which have been imported to your fair isle are presently kicking the shit out of your timid little red squirrels (WTF is up with that, anyway? You Brits are damned tough blokes, so I’d think that your squirrels would be too.). Perhaps you guys could even the odds by eating the greys? No joke, squirrels are tasty buggers. I’ve only eaten them once, but I can assure you that they don’t taste like shoe leather or anything. (Oh wait, you’re British, you’d probably _like_ it if they tasted like shoe leather. ;)) ---
**Author:** ![LouisB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/dfb087/32.png) [@LouisB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LouisB)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2007, 10:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-eat-this-stuff/392001/35 "2007-02-14T10:47:26Z")
I don’t remember all the details, but there was a flap in Kentucky a few years back concerning eating squirrel brains. Supposedly they might carry a variant of the mad cow disease. Other than that, squirrels are good eating with the caveat that the squirrels come from the wild and are not the garbage chewing city slicker type. ---
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2007, 11:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-eat-this-stuff/392001/36 "2007-02-14T11:02:08Z")
[QUOTE=LouisB] I don’t remember all the details, but there was a flap in Kentucky a few years back concerning eating squirrel brains. Supposedly they might carry a variant of the mad cow disease. [/QUOTE] Ah yes, [“mad squirrel disease.”](http://www.greysquirrel.net/brain.html) > [@](#): > > Two Kentucky doctors last month reported a possible link between eating squirrel brains and the rare and deadly human variety of mad-cow disease, Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease. > Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, thought to strike one person in 1 million, produces holes in the brain. Symptoms include loss of muscle control and dementia. It may take years, even decades, for symptoms to appear. > Dr. Eric Weisman, a behavioral neurologist who practices in rural western Kentucky, reported in the distinguished British medical journal The Lancet that he has treated 11 people for Creutzfeldt-Jakob in four years, and all had eaten squirrel brains at some time. Six of the victims, ranging in age from 56 to 78, have died. > The normal incidence of the disease in the area should be one case in about 10 years, he said. > Weisman and co-author Dr. Joseph Berger, chairman of the neurology department at the University of Kentucky, cautioned that the number of cases is small, and no squirrel brains have actually been examined for the disease. They said many questions remain, including how the squirrels would contract the disease, since they do not eat meat. > `However, it is perhaps best to avoid squirrel brains and probably the brains of any other animal,'' Berger said. Philip Lyvers, a farmer and hunter in central Kentucky whose wife simmers squirrels, head and all, with sauteed onions and peppers and serves them over rice, said `two guys’ opinions’’ in a medical journal won’t make him change his ways. > `I know more old hunters than I know of old doctors,'' Lyvers said. Mrs. Gates said that given all the other environmental hazards around, she is not frightened by the doctors' findings. `There’s no way I can undo what I’ve done. But I certainly enjoyed eating them,‘’ she said. Cooked squirrel brain is about the size of a pingpong ball and is said to taste something like liver, only kind of mushy. ---
**Author:** ![Mouse\_Maven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ac91a4/32.png) [@Mouse\_Maven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mouse_Maven)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2007, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-eat-this-stuff/392001/37 "2007-02-14T14:29:22Z")
[QUOTE=chowder] Holy shit!! :eek: You eat squirrels? [/QUOTE] Not anymore. There’s a great 12-step program for quiting. 😉 I grew up in rural Louisiana, outside of Baton Rouge. (Its not so rural anymore.) Keep in mind, this is a part of the country that takes a fierce pride in its unusual food. Common things I ate: Boiled peanuts, crawfish, cornbread - once the grubs were removed from the corn meal ::bleh::, [guinea fowl](http://www.feathersite.com/Poultry/Guineas/BRKGuineas.html), wild turkey (the animal, not the beverage), head cheese (more brains - usually pig), and [potted meat](http://www.pk.org/pottedmeat.html). We were frying turkeys looong before everyone else. I was eight when we did it for the first time - I’m 30 now. (Completely useless fact: the turkey frying kits sold around the country now are dead common in Louisiana. They can be used for frying, and for boiling water to cook crawfish or to remove feathers/pig stubble.) [QUOTE=Tuckerfan] Ah yes, “mad squirrel disease.” [/QUOTE] My grandfather was a cantankerous old coot. Maybe this explains it. ---
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2007, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-eat-this-stuff/392001/38 "2007-02-14T14:47:37Z")
A few years ago, there was a big craze for eating deep fried tarantula spiders! God knows why anybody wants to eat a spider! but anyway-do large scorpions taste like lobster? And, most insects are rather small-is eating them worth the bother? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-eat-this-stuff/392001.md?page=1)