# "Recipes" requiring live animals? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 11, 2006, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recipes-requiring-live-animals/363957 "2006-07-11T01:40:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Operation\_Ripper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/34f0e0/32.png) [@Operation\_Ripper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Operation_Ripper)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2006, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recipes-requiring-live-animals/363957/1 "2006-07-11T01:40:24Z")
Inspired by [this](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=379029) thread about cooking live lobsters, I was wondering what other recipes you know of that require live animals, or serve live animals, ala oysters on the halfshell, some octopus stuff, etc.? Is only seafood cooked/served alive? Maybe some insect dishes? Can’t imagine going after an alive mammal. Aren’t some cobras sorta served alive, or at least their blood drained while alive for some kind of beverage? 😕 ---
**Author:** ![DonutSprinkle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/0ea827/32.png) [@DonutSprinkle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DonutSprinkle)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2006, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recipes-requiring-live-animals/363957/2 "2006-07-11T01:43:26Z")
Well, cows are milked… _while they are alive!!_ Not very exciting, is it? The only thing that comes to mind was the monkey who came to dinner at the end of “Faces of Death,” although that was possibly fake. It’s been a long time since I’ve seen it. (If you don’t know what I’m talking about, ask or Google it or search at [Wikipedia.org](http://Wikipedia.org).) ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2006, 1:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recipes-requiring-live-animals/363957/3 "2006-07-11T01:48:05Z")
I have heard of some spiders being eaten alive. What about snails? I’ve eaten them, and I know that one was dead, but I’m sure someone just decided to crunch 'em up. Dunno what els.e ---
**Author:** ![Cunctator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/43a26b/32.png) [@Cunctator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cunctator)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2006, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recipes-requiring-live-animals/363957/4 "2006-07-11T01:56:15Z")
[Witchetty grubs](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Witchetty_grub) are said to be eaten alive by Aborigines. I’m not sure whether this is still practised. ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2006, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recipes-requiring-live-animals/363957/5 "2006-07-11T02:01:36Z")
Gahk. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2006, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recipes-requiring-live-animals/363957/6 "2006-07-11T02:09:36Z")
Sometimes the Japanese eat fish which is served [live. Sliced, but live.](http://www.zanthan.com/japan/archives/001014.html) There’s a kind of Sardinian cheese, _casu marzu,_ served riddled with [live maggots.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Casu_marzu) And let’s not forget [gagh!](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Klingon_culture#Klingon_cuisine) ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2006, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recipes-requiring-live-animals/363957/7 "2006-07-11T02:16:03Z")
Remember the [medieval goose recipe](http://www.godecookery.com/incrd/incrd.htm#009)? ---
**Author:** ![Operation\_Ripper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/34f0e0/32.png) [@Operation\_Ripper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Operation_Ripper)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2006, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recipes-requiring-live-animals/363957/8 "2006-07-11T02:46:38Z")
[QUOTE=Guinastasia] Remember the [medieval goose recipe](http://www.godecookery.com/incrd/incrd.htm#009)? [/QUOTE] Wow, that would count as an alive mammal, heh. :eek: ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2006, 3:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recipes-requiring-live-animals/363957/9 "2006-07-11T03:00:10Z")
[QUOTE=Guinastasia] Remember the [medieval goose recipe](http://www.godecookery.com/incrd/incrd.htm#009)? [/QUOTE] . . . Somehow I doubt even a wolf would start chowing down on a deer before the creature were entirely still . . . ---
**Author:** ![wheelie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/b4bc9f/32.png) [@wheelie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wheelie)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2006, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recipes-requiring-live-animals/363957/10 "2006-07-11T03:18:39Z")
Well, every time I’ve had crawfish, they were cooked alive. You can tell which ones were dead before they were boiled, because their tails aren’t curled up. I’ve been told not to eat those, because you don’t know how long they’ve been dead. Ate one by mistake once. Bleech! ---
**Author:** ![Stark\_Raven\_Mad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Stark\_Raven\_Mad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stark_Raven_Mad)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2006, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recipes-requiring-live-animals/363957/11 "2006-07-11T03:27:38Z")
Live octopata in Korea! They tend to try to hang on to the inside of your mouth, but that’s half the fun of the dish, really. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2006, 3:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recipes-requiring-live-animals/363957/12 "2006-07-11T03:36:43Z")
[QUOTE=Stark Raven Mad] Live octopata in Korea! They tend to try to hang on to the inside of your mouth, but that’s half the fun of the dish, really. [/QUOTE] [Bud Lite commercial] WAITRESS: It lay eggs now! Enjoy! ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2006, 3:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recipes-requiring-live-animals/363957/13 "2006-07-11T03:39:55Z")
[QUOTE=Operation Ripper] Wow, that would count as an alive mammal, heh. :eek: [/QUOTE] At the risk of being whooshed, geese are not mammals. ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2006, 4:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recipes-requiring-live-animals/363957/14 "2006-07-11T04:56:44Z")
Not a recipe per se, but I think of various forms of extracting blood to drink from live cows, snakes, etc. enjoyed by our various neighbors across various seas. ---
**Author:** ![blondebear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blondebear/32/1022_2.png) [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2006, 6:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recipes-requiring-live-animals/363957/15 "2006-07-11T06:39:00Z")
There is at least one sushi-type dish that is served with the animal’s heart still beating. I’ve seen it delivered to tables nearby. I know there must be someone here that can fill in the details. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2006, 12:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recipes-requiring-live-animals/363957/16 "2006-07-11T12:30:47Z")
I’m to first to bring up that scene in “Hannibal”? ---
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2006, 12:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recipes-requiring-live-animals/363957/17 "2006-07-11T12:37:40Z")
On that ‘Ripley’s Believe It Or Not’ show in the 80s hosted by Jack Palance they once showed a dish that was a whole fish pan-seared on each side, yet still flopping around on the plate. (IIRC) ---
**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:** [July 11, 2006, 12:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recipes-requiring-live-animals/363957/18 "2006-07-11T12:38:04Z")
Right-to-lifers-notwithstanding , although unfertilized wouldn’t your average egg be “alive” when cooked. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2006, 1:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recipes-requiring-live-animals/363957/19 "2006-07-11T13:07:15Z")
In his book **Good to Eat** , marvin Harris describes how chimps eat live termites (you take that stick you’ve inserted into the mound, withdraw it covered with termites, scrape them off between thumb and forefinger so you get a big gob of them in your hand, then throw them into your mouth and chew vigorously. If you don’t, they bite your tongue. Harris’ description makes me suspect he’s tried this himself. CVertainly people eat insects, as both this bookm and others attest. Normally they’re dead and cooked, though. I was under the perhaps mistaken impression that asome folks ate grunion and other sea catches raw: [Grunion - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grunion) ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2006, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recipes-requiring-live-animals/363957/20 "2006-07-11T13:57:07Z")
I enjoyed the Japanese “Iron Chef” Octopus Battle episode - Sakai was whacking on his with a mallet to tenderize it while it was still wiggling. Then there was Michael Palin’s visit to a snake restaurant in Shanghai - the skins came off before they were fried to death. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recipes-requiring-live-animals/363957.md?page=2)