to wonder why we don't eat dogs and cats?

[GetOrfMoiLand]

Why do we eat pigs cows and sheep and various birds, but not domesticated animals like dogs and cats? Who made the conscious decision in history NOT to eat the abundance of animals we keep as pets.

Plus why do we only eat herbivores and not carnivores.

Doesn't the flesh of meat-eaters taste worse? I'm sure I remember reading that about bears - the honey-eating bears taste ok but the carnivorous bears taste worse. Don't know why.

I do know that crocodile meat tastes of what it's fed on - so wild croc tastes more of fish, whereas farmed croc tastes of chicken cos that's what they feed them.

I wouldn't want to eat carnivores on a general basis, crocodile was a one-off.

What the bloody hell is civet?

i would be too scared to try durian.

I also saw that sustromming putrid fish on QI - apparently they have to open that can under water as it smells so vile.

If you eat a carnivorous animal, the meat is reportedly less pleasant.

It's also inefficient in terms of the food chain and energy, thusly:

Solar energy> plant-> herbivore->primary predator-->secondary predator

At every stage, energy (can't remember the proper word here) gets used by the organism (moving around, digesting, etc), and so isn't available to the thing that eats it.

It's much better for humans to come in as primary predators, than as secondary predators.

I'm told that pigs are an exception, because you can feed them school dinner slops, and convert the slops into meat, thus eliminating food waste.

Lots of carnivores eat their own kind - polar bears, other bears, I think lions too - they all eat cubs of their own species if they are not their own cubs. Kill them because of genetics and eat them because it's silly to waste food.

I watched a horrifying episode of Meerkat Manor once where the alpha female killed and ate the babies of another challenging female - it was horrible.

My ex was from the Czech Republic and reckoned his neighbours ate his dog.

I must be in a funny mood because I do find the thought of baby komodo dragons hoiking themselves up trees to stop mum eating them very funny.

I remember watching a TV show (kind of) about this on the discovery channel. They said that in the West, people only eat about 1% of the available protein sources, whereas in countries like China, where there have been mass famines in (relatively) recent years, people are more willing to eat whatevers going. Apparently every year the National Geographic or somesuch society has a giant dinner where people eat all sorts of weirdy stuff (like bear claws - not the pastry and ants in chocolate).

we should eaT MORe rabbit

Probably because we don't need to. We can get enough meat from cows, pigs, sheep, hens etc. Cats, dogs, horses, rabbit etc are lean and athletic so I imagine they don't taste very good. I've only eaten rabbit from that lot and found it a bit tasteless. If I was starving, however, the pooch gets it (though I'd try cat first if I could find a fat one).

i watched a programmes where people eat live octopus (on sticks), you have to eat it quickly or the suckers can attach to your throat and suffocate you

I love Rabbit and would happily eat Pigeon, Squirrel, hare and pretty much anything presented to me. Goat definitely a delicious option, deer..... Oh well, maybe I would eat a dog or a cat.

Didn't a mumsnetter eat a hamster in a casserole once?..........

The most popular meat in the world is goat

I have had guinea pig.
Forgot about that until you mentioned Hamster.

Had it barbecued and in soup.

It was bloody nice actually!

AS carnivores, they are higher up the food chain, so less efficient in terms of energy, more likely to have parasites or accumulated nasties (like the big carnivorous fishes are the ones likely to have v high amounts of heavy metals in the meat - swordfish, marlin, etc, because they eat smaller fish which have some metals..), and maybe because they are carnivores they are less pleasant to eat.

I'd be interested to know why they are popular in some cultures and not others.

Also perhaps because we have found them to be more useful for catching mice, guarding, shepherding, etc, than eating?

(do any species eat their own kind?)

Last winter I spotted a group of baby rats all gathered round feeding. When I took a closer look they were eating an adult, possibly their mum.

Grim.

Have not read the whole thread, but always assumed its cos we eat herbivores, not carnivores. Having said that, we eat fish, which have eaten smaller fish. And I once had a Korean flatmate who rued the fact that cooking dog had been banned, but said you always could tell if someone was cooking one illicitly 'cos of the yummy cooking smell that emananted from their house...

Blimey Goml! You're so bored doing the dukan diet that you're looking for more variety :o

It looks as if some of you are the only people on earth NOT to have seen this of real life cat herding.....

MrE had a durian smoothie in A Melbourne Vietnamese restaurant a while back. It's not vile, though I didn't like it; but it keeps, er, repeating later on, and that IS vile.

chickens eat absolutely anything too, and we don't have a problem eating them.
I suppose the thing is, their flocking behaviour makes them easy to domesticate.

My mother ate monkey in the West Indies. She didn't enjoy the experience because when they're skinned they look like babies....

If supermarkets sold them I am sure people would try them.

We have rabbit here quite often, yummy. We visited an aunt and uncle fairly recently and were given rabbit stew for lunch - road kill she told us happily. I keep telling dh to stop when I see something dead in the road but he won't

I've had Mountain Chicken...I was 5 at the time