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?

Another sing it's quite a common meat in butchers, pubs and restaurants here, NotLondon, rural. We used to shoot our own, as in wild ones for the pot, rabbit too!

You could mistake rabbit for stringy chicken but pigeon would never be mistook.

Woodpigeons and feral (street) pigeons are different species. Feral pigeons descend from domesticated rock doves, which were originally kept as a source of meat. They were encouraged to nest in dovecotes and other 'pigeon houses', and the baby pigeons were eaten, just before they were big enough to fly.

Pigeon pie?

Wood pigeon is nice, but it looks bugger all like chicken.

This sort of stuff re restaurants pops up all the time, it's usually cats in the stories though.

Do they realise that the time taken to catch, kill and extract the meat from pigeons or cats would completely outweigh the cost of just buying chicken. Your bog standard takeaway isn't buying free range organic chicken.

Add to that that the texture and taste are completely different.

Pigeon is yummy, it’s my 8 year old’s favourite meal. If we see one he always asks if dh can shoot it for his supper and he happily prepares it for cooking himself. Anyone claiming restaurants are serving it pretending it’s chicken obviously have never eaten pigeon before! Nobody could be fooled by pigeon thinking it’s chicken.

I went vegetarian at university after being served pigeon as a starter at my matriculation dinner!

Woodpigeon fine, feral pigeon not.

Obviously food should always be labelled correctly. If it is horse, say it.

We do regularly, one each. And rabbit. Caught and cooked by DH. 😋

@CuriousaboutSamphire

Another sing it's quite a common meat in butchers, pubs and restaurants here, NotLondon, rural. We used to shoot our own, as in wild ones for the pot, rabbit too!

You could mistake rabbit for stringy chicken but pigeon would never be mistook.

I was about to say exactly this.

When I was growing up we ate a lot of rabbit and pigeon, that we killed ourselves.

Wood pigeon is delicious, but nothing like chicken, whereas rabbit is weirdly like stringy muscly chicken.

There are a couple in my garden who when they get bolshy around my plants I threaten with being eaten (wood pigeons btw, please don't eat town pigeons, completely different things!) and they are so fat at the moment I really am tempted.

I reckon the story is complete bollocks though, it makes no sense to catch pigeons/cats!!

If you think about it eating Wood pigeon that someone has shot is probably one of the most ethical meats you can eat.

It may also be something to do with not wanting people with lethal weapons firing them randomly in city streets. You can only do these things with access to space.

@inmyslippers

I thought street pigeons were diseased riddled

That's to stop people from getting free "Chicken".

My cat eats them all the time, hes like a killing machine.

Its slightly disconcerting the number of wild animals he catches but could be useful come the zombie apocalypse.

Our cat killed one and brought it in. DH cooked it. He said it was excellent. I am a veggie so did not try it.

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

I have a recipe for a pigeon curry that I occasionally threaten my garden residents with when they fight too much.

I love pigeon at good restaurants. Very filling though I don't see how it would pass as chicken.
Years ago, I read an article suggesting that if we all took to eating two squirrels (aka Tree Chickens) for our Sunday roast each week we could solve the grey squirrel issue and give red squirrels a chance to re-colonise the UK.

Too much work. I like pigeon and I like rabbit, but so much faff

This has reminded me of a walk out by the cleaners in my halls of residence when I was a student - they came in one Monday morning to be met with lots of left over (cooked) mouse on plates in one of the kitchens and refused to clean any more (i couldn't quite understand the concern - eating the mice was reducing the live mouse population that was running riot!).

@ineedaholidaynow

What's the difference between pigeon and wood pigeon. I thought pigeon was very gamey so tastes nothing like chicken

Perhaps if you use a 'secret recipe with 11 herbs and spices' and serve it in buckets it tastes like chicken?

I do eat pigeon. There's a difference between a nice wood pigeon and a diseased, flea-ridden, two toed city pigeon.

[quote minniemomo]@Gwenhwyfar

The pub around the corner often had it, just a normal £10/head type place not gastro. This it's a countryside thing[/quote]
Interesting. I grew up semi-rural and never saw it. I didn't eat out much though.

I have at least 10 a year out of my garden with the air rifle. They taste nothing like chicken.

Wood pigeon is often served in U.K. restaurants which serve game, I’ve eaten it, it’s strong but very tasty.

In Egypt they’re eaten frequently; I ate it in Cairo.

@Thunderpunt

Because it's not coo-l