Why don't we eat pigeon?

[booksandnooks]

I just read a thread on a different forum about q guy who caught a restaurant catching pigeons and serving them as chicken.

Apparently he used to eat there all the time and didn't even realise the difference (very aware that this could be a lie) but it got me thinking, we have an abundance of pigeons everywhere.
Why don't we eat them?

It reminded me of the whole horse meat fiasco, nobody could tell the difference. Is it really down to the ICK factor?

Pigeon is delicious and there's no way you can pass it off as chicken - it's not the same colour and tastes very different, gamey.

I've cooked and eaten pigeon, I wasn't impressed but it's likely I didn't cook it to it's best potential. It was very lean, dry, tough and had a gamey flavour. Also, not a lot of meat on it.

No way could it be mistaken for chicken, which is so cheap these days that trying to substitute pigeon to make up enough weight of meat would be totally pointless.

People saying 'a lot of restaurants'. I'm curious because I've never seen it. Posh restaurants? It's not a mainstream option is it?
I have heard of people eating pigeons in times of extreme hunger/war etc.

Ummm we do

My parents have always eaten local woodpigeon (breasts wrapped in bacon and roasted or in a pie) and usually have some in their freezer.

I'm not keen as the birds are a bit 'gamey' (and not at all like chicken).

They seem like a much better meat than many we eat as they are not farmed and not in short supply. Despite my parents' efforts over the years, just as many pigeons sit on the roof now as in my childhood.

Growing up, My friend’s would have us chase street pigeons with a heavy stockpot and lid. I know for a fact that while wood pigeon is gamey, fat street pigeons (she said always go for fat ones with nice feathers as they won’t be disease ridden) do taste of chicken. So he probably is telling the truth.

I have a rural background and eat woodpigeon. They are a different species from the town pigeon whose ancestor is the rock dove, a cliff-dwelling species found in the north and west of Scotland. Racing pigeons are also descendants of rock doves. I wouldn't eat town pigeons, but woodpigeon is delicious, dark and gamey. Nothing like chicken and truly free-range.

@Gwenhwyfar

The pub around the corner often had it, just a normal £10/head type place not gastro. This it's a countryside thing

@Gwenhwyfar

People saying 'a lot of restaurants'. I'm curious because I've never seen it. Posh restaurants? It's not a mainstream option is it? I have heard of people eating pigeons in times of extreme hunger/war etc.

Wood pigeon is on the menu everywhere, not just in rural places. But like deer it’s often on special order menus as it requires planning

Growing up, My friend’s would have us chase street pigeons with a heavy stockpot and lid.

Sounds like he was trying to keep the kids busy!

You would no more eat a Trafalgar Square pidg than you would eat a rat out of a sewer!
Wood pigeon makes a good pie.

I've had wood pigeon quite a bit and I really can't believe that anyone would think it was chicken unless if was very heavily disguised as both the colour and texture are very different.

Lots of higher end restaurants serve pigeon. No way could you pretend it's chicken it's very different taste and coloured flesh

There’s no way you could confuse chicken and pigeon if you have working taste buds. That story is bollocks.

We eat wood pigeon. A lot are shot locally over crops (they make short work of all sorts of plants) and the local butcher breasts them out and sells packs.

It's a strongly-flavoured, dense meat. Good in pasties.

But city pigeon? Nope.

Everything tastes like chicken.

Except pigeon.

We also eat wood pigeon and it’s delicious! You could never ever mistake it for chicken...

Pics or it didn't happen.

Pigeon is delicious, and looks absolutely nothing like chicken 😂

I've eaten grey squirrel. That was interesting, but not awful. I got it delivered in fur so had to skin it myself. Looked like an ordinary park squirrel!

It's nice but nothing like chicken. I did once serve up rabbit and told people it was chicken.

Once knew a lad who's family had a pigeon each for their Christmas dinner. I'd forgotten about it until this thread, it seemed odd at the time but the logic was with 9(?) children it was easier than getting one massive bird.

Game bird meat, like wood pigeon, is lovely. Not feral, town pigeon though.

There's no way it tastes like chicken. You can tell just from looking at it.

www.wildmeat.co.uk/collections/wood-pigeon/products/wood-pigeon-breast-fillets

@booksandnooks

I just read a thread on a different forum about q guy who caught a restaurant catching pigeons and serving them as chicken. Apparently he used to eat there all the time and didn't even realise the difference (very aware that this could be a lie) but it got me thinking, we have an abundance of pigeons everywhere. Why don't we eat them?

It reminded me of the whole horse meat fiasco, nobody could tell the difference. Is it really down to the ICK factor?

Cos many living in cities are disease ridden and not fit for human consumption.

Pigeon is nice, but there's no way you could mistake it for chicken.