# Why don't we eat swans? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 21, 2000, 4:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-we-eat-swans/7763 "2000-02-21T04:28:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![techchick68](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ea5d25/32.png) [@techchick68](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/techchick68)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2000, 5:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-we-eat-swans/7763/21 "2000-02-27T05:44:00Z")
::::::warning stupid reply:::::::: Because, the necks are too big to fit in the average pan for gravy. ::::::told ya, but that was my first answer::::: Next one is, I have had duck, some good some bad, depends on the species. I would assume that swan isn’t a tasty meat and that people think of grace and couplehood when then think of swans even though they are mean and rude creatures… ---
**Author:** ![mega\_the\_roo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/3da27b/32.png) [@mega\_the\_roo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mega_the_roo)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2000, 9:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-we-eat-swans/7763/22 "2000-02-27T09:20:00Z")
because thy are mean bastards that yell at you until you cry and run away. * * * “If anybody wants a sheep, that is proof that he exists.” ---
**Author:** ![curwin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@curwin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/curwin)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2001, 9:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-we-eat-swans/7763/23 "2001-07-16T09:52:19Z")
There is a Jewish song from the 1600s that talks about the delicacies eaten on the Sabbath. It mentions as delicacies “swans, quail and fish”. The song is still sung today. However, the former chief rabbi of Israel, Rabbi Shlomo Goren, who was a vegetarian, would sing instead about “zucchini and eggplant”. ---
**Author:** ![Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tapioca_Dextrin)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2001, 10:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-we-eat-swans/7763/24 "2001-07-16T10:49:44Z")
From [this site](http://www.shef.ac.uk/~assem/2/2cooks.html) comes the following medieval recipe: The bird was presented upright on its nest, the head held erect by a rod or skewer thrust through the mouth, down the throat into the breast. The swan was presented garlanded and crowned, on a silver or gold stand, with its wings erect, neck arched backwards, head erect. The instructions are as follows: “Kutte a Swan in the rove of the mouthe toward the brayne enlonge, and lete him blede, and kepe the blode for chawdewyn; or elles knytte a knot on his nek, And so late his nekke breke; then skald him. Drawe him and rost him even as thou doest goce in all pyntes, and serue him forth with chawd-wyne.” Chawdron was a special sauce for swans. It was made of the bird’s own guts, cut small and boiled in broth with its blood and vinegar and strong spices. It looked blackish and was served hot. Swans may not be the most easily accessible food for the modern lifestyle (unless you happen to have a few in your local park pond, but then there’s the inconvenience of catching them under cover of darkness). The following recipes have ingredients more readily available at your average supermarket. ---
**Author:** ![ticker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d07c76/32.png) [@ticker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ticker)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2001, 11:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-we-eat-swans/7763/25 "2001-07-16T11:10:54Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Moonshine \* > \*\*I don’t know if this is the reason that nobody anywhere seems to eat them anymore, but swans were eaten all through the late middel ages in Great Britain, up to and beyond the reign of Henry VIII; then somebody or other (I don’t know which monarch exactly) passed a law saying that all swans in the kingdom belonged to the crown, as they were such tasty eating I presume. This would most probably lead to a loss of popularity for the animal as a meal, as being caught frying one up on the 'ole hearth would get you into big trouble. Sorry for the vague-ness of my post, but this is about all I remember from history class. \*\* Before Henry VIII it seems: [Swan Upping](http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/uk/newsid_1287000/1287818.stm) ---
**Author:** ![Una\_Persson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/una_persson/32/346_2.png) [@Una\_Persson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Una_Persson)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2001, 11:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-we-eat-swans/7763/26 "2001-07-16T11:46:16Z")
In one of the “Little House on the Prairie” books, Pa shot a swan on accident, and they had to eat it, even though nobody wanted to. The food was more important than asthetics, but it was still reported by Wilder as being objectionable - even back in the 1800’s. ---
**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 16, 2001, 12:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-we-eat-swans/7763/27 "2001-07-16T12:32:34Z")
> [@](#): > > if they had the face of a vulture, then Hellooooooooo frying pan! And we all know how everyone goes for the taste of fresh-killed Vulture! ---
**Author:** ![Grok](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/96bed5/32.png) [@Grok](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grok)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2001, 1:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-we-eat-swans/7763/28 "2001-07-16T13:14:18Z")
Mmmmmmm, swan… Sorry, just had to say that. Now what about these Canadian Geese that poop all over the place? Can I eat those? ---
**Author:** ![slortar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6bbea6/32.png) [@slortar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/slortar)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2001, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-we-eat-swans/7763/29 "2001-07-16T14:45:47Z")
You can’t possibly imagine how tempted I am. We have thousands of the things where I live. In fact, several years ago, a guy turned his dog loose on a flock of 'em on campus and got in trouble when it killed one. More power to him… Honestly, there are a great deal of animals out there that are edible that we don’t eat, and mostly for the reason that our parents didn’t eat them either. ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2001, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-we-eat-swans/7763/30 "2001-07-16T15:27:25Z")
Geese can be rather greasy. I myself have never cooked a goose, though I feel tempted every time Christmas rolls around again. Do other people eat Canadian Geese? What’s the Canadian Goose Hunting Season, or are they protected by law? Swans can be nasty, vicious creatures…there was an excellent P.G. Wodehouse short story which had Bertie Wooster trapped on a small island in an ornamental lake by a marauding swan. Nasty vicious creatures tend to have powerful muscles to back up their tempraments, and creatures with powerful muscles don’t tend to cook up very tender. I recommend preparing your swan in a very slow braise with red wine and onion…a _cygne au vin,_ as it were. Or just buy a chicken. ---
**Author:** ![plnnr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7ea924/32.png) [@plnnr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/plnnr)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2001, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-we-eat-swans/7763/31 "2001-07-16T15:55:13Z")
Someone earlier mentioned the difference in taste between certain waterfowl species - the “grain eaters” and the “fish eaters.” Following is my father-in-law’s recipe for cooking merganser (also called a “fish duck” on the Chesapeake Bay): Take a merganser and clean and pluck him Boil him for 15 hours in a large pan of horse shit Throw the whole mess away I’ve never had any variety of “fish ducks” that were very good to eat. I’m not too fond of wild duck in general, either (you’re right, Ike, it can be very greasy from all of the fat waterfowl accumulate as insulation against the cold). Goose breasts (most people just cook the breast and ditch the rest of the carcass) is good, if a little greasy and strong flavored. To me it isn’t worth the trouble of getting up at 4:00 a.m., loading the skiff up with gear, riding to the blind in freezing weather, sitting beside a black Lab with terrible breath, and getting the hell beaten out of your shoulder by a 10 gauge shotgun. As to swans, I imagine they are similar in flavor to goose and worth even less of the effort. Canada geese have become a terrible nusiance here in VA. They’ve pretty much aclimated themselves to the ponds and lakes at many golf courses and goose shit is some potently nasty stuff. There is a season for “resident” Canada geese (I’ve never figured out how you tell the difference - ask them for their green cards) and it depends on where in the state you live. It generally runs from December (west of I-95) to early February (east of I-95). ---
**Author:** ![ENugent](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/4af34b/32.png) [@ENugent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ENugent)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2001, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-we-eat-swans/7763/32 "2001-07-16T19:36:36Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Ukulele Ike \* > Geese can be rather greasy. I myself have never cooked a goose, though I feel tempted every time Christmas rolls around again. Do other people eat Canadian Geese? What’s the Canadian Goose Hunting Season, or are they protected by law? My family used to eat Canada goose every Christmas. In Massachusetts, they may be hunted during certain periods of September-January (check [Fish & Game regulations](http://www.state.ma.us/dfwele/dfw/dfwrec.htm) for details). I think it was about the same in California when I was growing up - I don’t know what the season is now. If cooked properly, they’re not nearly as greasy as domestic goose. The breast is dark meat, because the goose actually uses those muscles (unlike chickens). My family has a “goose sauce” recipe that is really good, although it sounds revolting - it includes brown sugar, ketchup, and I think red wine. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-we-eat-swans/7763.md?page=1)