# Tastes like... **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 19, 2000, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tastes-like/29972 "2000-08-19T16:37:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![omni-not](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8dc957/32.png) [@omni-not](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/omni-not)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2000, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tastes-like/29972/1 "2000-08-19T16:37:53Z")
Does chicken really have such a universal flavour to it? How did this come about? ---
**Author:** ![fredicus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/779978/32.png) [@fredicus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fredicus)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2000, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tastes-like/29972/2 "2000-08-19T17:37:05Z")
There’s a big difference between supermarket bought chicken and corn fed free range chicken. And I don’t just mean the price 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Sofa\_King](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/58956e/32.png) [@Sofa\_King](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sofa_King)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2000, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tastes-like/29972/3 "2000-08-19T18:01:12Z")
I’ve eaten a lot of strange critters, and many of them do bear a superficial resemblance to chicken. Alligator, which in Northern Virginia has become an underground Vietnamese delicacy, is similar, but tougher. I’m pretty certain it really was alligator tail I was eating–I’m friends with the chef. Conversely, when I was in New Zealand I tried muttonbird, which as the name suggests tastes remarkably like sheep. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2000, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tastes-like/29972/4 "2000-08-19T18:22:10Z")
I’ve heard that it’s because it has such a mild flavor, that what you’re tasting is basically just bland protein. It’s not even restricted to the animal kingdom; sauteed shelf-fungus (you have to sautee it or it’s too tough, but it’s not poisonous) tastes remarkably like chicken, too. ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2000, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tastes-like/29972/5 "2000-08-19T20:52:22Z")
Didn’t you ever see _The Matrix_? “Maybe they screwed up, and couldn’t figure out exactly what chicken tastes like, and that’s why chicken tastes like everything.” ---
**Author:** ![tbea925](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/dc4da7/32.png) [@tbea925](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tbea925)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2000, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tastes-like/29972/6 "2000-08-20T02:31:23Z")
Much of the flavor in Beef and Pork that makes it taste unique comes from fat. Chicken has so little fat that its taste is not influenced by fat, or as chronos said, plain bland protein. ---
**Author:** ![bibliophage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bibliophage/32/7615_2.png) [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2000, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tastes-like/29972/7 "2000-08-20T14:04:26Z")
I heard it the way **Chronos** and **tbea925** did. Remember that most wild animals are very lean, as are chickens. Most domesticated meat animals have been bred over the millennia to be genetically prone to be fatter and hence tastier. Also, their diets are designed to make them fatter. Not **all** wild animals taste like chicken, however. Bear is said to taste like pork; wolf and lynx are said to taste like mutton. ---
**Author:** ![PaulGGa2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/e19adc/32.png) [@PaulGGa2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PaulGGa2)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2000, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tastes-like/29972/8 "2000-08-20T14:16:35Z")
I don’t like eat chicken that is without the right amount of seasoning. ---
**Author:** ![Falula\_Guinea\_Pig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e95f7d/32.png) [@Falula\_Guinea\_Pig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Falula_Guinea_Pig)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2000, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tastes-like/29972/9 "2000-08-20T16:14:35Z")
Crocodile tastes pretty much like chicken too - you can even get crocodile nuggets! ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2000, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tastes-like/29972/10 "2000-08-20T18:25:30Z")
Don’t be fooled! Squirrel tastes nothing like chicken and neither does rattlesnake.