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AIBU?

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Original poster

Why don't we eat pigeon?

142 replies

booksandnooks · 20/04/2021 14:35

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?

OP posts:
CirclesWithinCircles · 21/04/2021 10:48

@TrickyD

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.
I live rurally, and my cats catch pigeons all the time. There's a reason that I worm and de-flea my cats very regularly. It's not just your normal tapeworms and roundworms, it's lungworms as well. And if you've ever seen the contents of a wild pigeon's stomach, you would realise the reason for this.
MrsMoastyToasty · 21/04/2021 11:03

Even Hugh Farnley Whittingstall refused to eat pigeons in his first tv series A Cook On The Wild Side.
What I want to know is why we don't eat fox?

(I have eaten ostrich).

bunburyscucumbersandwich · 21/04/2021 11:05

How on earth did he pass it off as chicken? It's such a dark meat, whereas chicken is white!

1WayOrAnother2 · 21/04/2021 12:45

One of my parents' neighbours is a pigeon lover and feeds hords of them daily.

My parents - whose love of pigeon is quite different- are probably eating orgainic-corn-fed wood-pigeon.

ittakes2 · 21/04/2021 12:48

There are Italian cities/villages whose national dish is pigeon. These villages/cities were usually perched high on rocky outcrops to stay protected from enemies and since they could not farm animals they would capture and eat pigeons.

EBearhug · 21/04/2021 13:21

What I want to know is why we don't eat fox?

Carnivore. Most animals/birds we eat are vegetarian. (Yes, I have seen chickens eat mice.) You shouldn't eat things which are closer up the food chain (I'm quoting my mother here.) Mind you, crocodile was quite nice...

Mypathtriedtokillme · 21/04/2021 13:22

@SchrodingersImmigrant

I wonder if seagulls in a city centre have a sloght chippy flavour to them😂
Come pre-salted.
sweeneytoddsrazor · 21/04/2021 13:38

Wasn't there a thread on here a few years ago about someone's ex feeding the kids badger?

1WayOrAnother2 · 21/04/2021 17:41

Seagulls probably taste ok at the moment - they have been forced to go back to fishing over the last 18 months and have probably much improved their heart health :). (No more rubbish on the sea-front or on school-fields after lunch-break.)

SchrodingersImmigrant · 21/04/2021 18:41

@1WayOrAnother2

Seagulls probably taste ok at the moment - they have been forced to go back to fishing over the last 18 months and have probably much improved their heart health :). (No more rubbish on the sea-front or on school-fields after lunch-break.)
Ours were killing and eating local pigeons😳
1WayOrAnother2 · 22/04/2021 14:29

They really have forgotten how to fish!

1WayOrAnother2 · 22/04/2021 14:30

(So long as they don't decide to go to the source of all that much missed junk-food and start ganging up and eating people!)

Devlesko · 22/04/2021 14:34

I eat pigeon, and rabbit.
Have done all my life it's one of our staples.
Breed them and eat them.
Used to catch and eat but so much pollution out there now, and far fewer opportunities to catch them.
My pappy used to bring one home every friday, if us kids were lucky we'd find a bit of meat in there Grin

Devlesko · 22/04/2021 14:36

Hedgehog is tasty and full of vitamins, haven't had it recently, but there's an art to cooking them.

1WayOrAnother2 · 22/04/2021 14:44

Wild foods are good but I hope that you are joking or not in the UK Devlesko (Don't eat UK hedgehogs - they are endangered! )

We have been feeding the hogs this year - on the advice of wild-life organisations that usually don't encourage this sort of intervention.

Devlesko · 22/04/2021 14:48

@1WayOrAnother2

Wild foods are good but I hope that you are joking or not in the UK Devlesko (Don't eat UK hedgehogs - they are endangered! )

We have been feeding the hogs this year - on the advice of wild-life organisations that usually don't encourage this sort of intervention.

My family have bred them for years, some still do. It's very good for you, and tastes lovely. I've not had any for a while but no doubt will be in August. Yes, I'm in the U.K
PattyPan · 22/04/2021 15:26

Who on Earth looks at a hedgehog and thinks ah yes I want to eat that?! ShockConfused

CirclesWithinCircles · 22/04/2021 15:37

People used to eat all sorts when food was more scarce than it is today. On several Scottish islands, people only survived by scaling cliff faces and collecting gannet eggs and gannets and fulmar themselves. Apparently they were particularly pungent and tough to eat, but better than starving to death I suppose.

Personally, I'm really fussy where the meat I eat comes from and I have a bit of a fear of worms too.

GerundTheBehemoth · 22/04/2021 15:40

@EBearhug

What I want to know is why we don't eat fox?

Carnivore. Most animals/birds we eat are vegetarian. (Yes, I have seen chickens eat mice.) You shouldn't eat things which are closer up the food chain (I'm quoting my mother here.) Mind you, crocodile was quite nice...

I wonder why we have no problem eating carnivorous fish.
CirclesWithinCircles · 22/04/2021 16:11

Gerund I wonder why we have no problem eating carnivorous fish.

I don't know which fish you're referring to here, but I certainly wouldn't eat cod for similar reasons I wouldn't eat feral pigeon!

Devlesko · 22/04/2021 16:22

@PattyPan

Who on Earth looks at a hedgehog and thinks ah yes I want to eat that?! ShockConfused
Who looks at a cow, chicken, lamb and says they want to eat that, but they do. It's quite a delicacy and better than starving. Roll it in clay bake in an oven, crack the clay and prickles off together, then you get to the lovely meat. Nice minced and made into burgers or meat balls, the kids love it.
MammaSchwifty · 22/04/2021 16:25

Nice minced and made into burgers or meat balls, the kids love it.

do you catch them yourself, or get them from someone who traps them? Isn't the meat on them quite sparse, as in, don't you need quite a few to make enough meatballs for everyone?

FindingMeno · 22/04/2021 16:26

I used to. And prep them myself.

withlotsoflove · 22/04/2021 16:32

After reading ( today)that humans consume hedgehog - pigeon looks quite normal now! 😉

PattyPan · 22/04/2021 17:27

@devlesko your kids willingly eat hedgehog? Most kids I know would refuse on the basis of them being cute! My sister actually refused to eat lamb for that reason when we were children (both of us are veggie now). The thought of a poor hedgehog being turned into a burger actually makes me want to cry a bit Blush