# What creatures are eaten while they are still alive? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 13, 2010, 10:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-creatures-are-eaten-while-they-are-still-alive/542996 "2010-06-13T10:06:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![misterW](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f1d935/32.png) [@misterW](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/misterW)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2010, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-creatures-are-eaten-while-they-are-still-alive/542996/41 "2010-06-16T18:48:12Z")
Various cattle herding nomadic tribes will bleed an animal – not enough to kill it – and consume the blood in various dishes. That seems rather friendly and caring compared to some of the practices described above. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2010, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-creatures-are-eaten-while-they-are-still-alive/542996/42 "2010-06-16T19:57:02Z")
The Masai do that, IIRC. ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2010, 6:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-creatures-are-eaten-while-they-are-still-alive/542996/43 "2010-06-17T06:50:44Z")
“When you have a pig this good you don’t eat it all at once” ---
**Author:** ![even\_sven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dfb087/32.png) [@even\_sven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/even_sven)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2010, 8:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-creatures-are-eaten-while-they-are-still-alive/542996/44 "2010-06-17T08:03:45Z")
> [@DCnDC](#): > > Mangrove worms. I’ve eaten that! It’s pretty gross. ---
**Author:** ![kidneyfailure](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9f8e36/32.png) [@kidneyfailure](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kidneyfailure)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2010, 9:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-creatures-are-eaten-while-they-are-still-alive/542996/45 "2010-06-17T09:11:20Z")
> [@jjimm](#): > > None of this compares to my friend’s story about the monkey in an illegal Beijing restaurant, but a) I don’t want to write what he told me, and b) I’m not sure I wholly believe him; or at least I don’t want to. Ever seen _Faces of Death_? ---
**Author:** ![T.Slothrop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3e96dc/32.png) [@T.Slothrop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/T.Slothrop)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2010, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-creatures-are-eaten-while-they-are-still-alive/542996/46 "2010-06-18T03:52:23Z")
Approximately eight people a year die in Korea while eating small live octopi. The thing gloms onto them in the gullet and they suffocate. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2010, 5:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-creatures-are-eaten-while-they-are-still-alive/542996/47 "2010-06-18T05:49:09Z")
I’ve heard that chopping the top of a live monkey’s head off and eating its brains is just something the locals made up to impress film crews and tourists. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2010, 5:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-creatures-are-eaten-while-they-are-still-alive/542996/48 "2010-06-18T05:57:41Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > I’ve heard that chopping the top of a live monkey’s head off and eating its brains is just something the locals made up to impress film crews and tourists. [Cecil wrote about this awhile back.](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/2293/in-asia-do-people-scoop-the-brains-out-of-a-monkeys-skull-and-eat-them) I haven’t quite found a definitive account substantiating the claim, though. The “Faces of Death” scene is pretty clearly a, um, dramatic recreation of the story. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2010, 11:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-creatures-are-eaten-while-they-are-still-alive/542996/49 "2010-06-18T11:20:55Z")
I forget where I heard this analysis, but years ago, I heard a sociologist who’d studied cuisine in many cultures, and he summed it up thus: “Historically, humans don’t mind eating animals that are still alive. We just refuse to eat animals that make a noise while we’re eating them.” ---
**Author:** ![FluffyBob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ecb155/32.png) [@FluffyBob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FluffyBob)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2010, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-creatures-are-eaten-while-they-are-still-alive/542996/50 "2010-06-18T17:53:36Z")
Mangrove worms! Are those the “tree mollusks” I saw eaten on ‘Bush Tucker Man’ years ago? Two feet of snotty slime. Cant possibly be for the texture or presentation, must taste like ambrosia I guess. ---
**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:** [June 18, 2010, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-creatures-are-eaten-while-they-are-still-alive/542996/51 "2010-06-18T18:47:46Z")
There was a thread here a while back about a video wherein a fish was prepared in such a way that the body was fully cooked, but the head was still raw and gaping - appearing alive (but perhaps not) ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2010, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-creatures-are-eaten-while-they-are-still-alive/542996/52 "2010-06-18T19:29:08Z")
Spider wasps lay their eggs in spiders. Their young then, just like the chestbursters in the _Alien_ movies, eat their way out, killing the host. Don’t try this at home, folks: [Spider wasp - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spider_wasp) ---
**Author:** ![NineToTheSky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b5a626/32.png) [@NineToTheSky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NineToTheSky)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2010, 9:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-creatures-are-eaten-while-they-are-still-alive/542996/53 "2010-06-19T09:54:11Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > There was a thread here a while back about a video wherein a fish was prepared in such a way that the body was fully cooked, but the head was still raw and gaping - appearing alive (but perhaps not) And a post not so a while back: see post #9 above. Truly disturbing. ---
**Author:** ![Autolycus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/22d042/32.png) [@Autolycus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Autolycus)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2010, 10:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-creatures-are-eaten-while-they-are-still-alive/542996/54 "2010-06-19T10:03:39Z")
Well, there was that German guy who successfully requested to be eaten alive. ---
**Author:** ![NineToTheSky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b5a626/32.png) [@NineToTheSky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NineToTheSky)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2010, 10:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-creatures-are-eaten-while-they-are-still-alive/542996/55 "2010-06-19T10:12:57Z")
> [@Autolycus](#): > > Well, there was that German guy who successfully requested to be eaten alive. Either whoosh? Or (very dubious about this), cite? ---
**Author:** ![Autolycus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/22d042/32.png) [@Autolycus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Autolycus)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2010, 10:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-creatures-are-eaten-while-they-are-still-alive/542996/56 "2010-06-19T10:24:17Z")
'Ere ya go: [http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/05/09/world/main1603510.shtml](http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/05/09/world/main1603510.shtml) ---
**Author:** ![Tibby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tibby/32/17030_2.png) [@Tibby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tibby)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2010, 1:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-creatures-are-eaten-while-they-are-still-alive/542996/57 "2010-06-20T13:10:08Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > The [Florida stone crab](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Florida_stone_crab). The crabs are caught, the claws are removed, and the crab is returned to the water. If done correctly, the crab will survive and regrow the claws in about a year. Ordering the signature dish at a place like [Joe’s Stone Crab](http://www.joesstonecrab.com/today/crabfacts.html) is indeed a win-win situation: 1) with a spritz of lemon and a dunking in their proprietary mustard sauce, there’s quite simply nothing tastier on the planet 2) you get to ride your sanctimonious high horse at full gallop: scan fellow diner’s plates with a haughty air of repugnancy and berate their barbaric menu choices (e.g. _“oh, I see you’ve ordered something that had to be murdered to satisfy your loathsome appetite…on the other hand the remainder of my entrée is frolicking about in the ocean this very moment, happily growing a new appendage for me to feast upon another day.”_\* Now, If we can convince the Birkenstock-and-granola crowd that crippling animals is less offensive than killing them, perhaps we’ll see this farming model extended to less regenerative types of meat (e.g. _Convalescent Cattle Ranch; Gimpy Chicken Ranch; Porky’s Don’t Eat Me All At Once Pig Farm_). Time to invest in livestock wound care and prostheses. \*man or woman, say this in the voice and manner of Bette Davis. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2010, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-creatures-are-eaten-while-they-are-still-alive/542996/58 "2010-06-20T16:44:11Z")
> [@](#): > > Either whoosh? Or (very dubious about this), cite? > [@](#): > > 'Ere ya go: [http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/...n1603510.shtml](http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/...n1603510.shtml) And going beyond that cite, somebody on this board actually knew Bernd Brandes and confirmed this story was true. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-creatures-are-eaten-while-they-are-still-alive/542996.md?page=2)