random curiosity

[ratcreature]

I've been wondering about carnivorous habits, and which animals people eat and which they avoid, thus a poll. (Vegetarians like me, feel free to answer for a period of your life when you ate animals. Obviously if you have never eaten any the poll is kind of moot.) For each you can pick a number from 0 to 3, where 0 = "I have never eaten this animal" (or an animal from a that group, as I bundled some), 1 = "I've tried it only once or twice", 2 = "I have been/am eating this every now and then" (e.g. animals you eat repeatedly but only on rare occasions, or as a treat), 3 = "this animal was/is a regular part of my diet".

Poll #6432 carnivore poll

Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 66

View Respondents

cow

View Answers
Mean: 2.83 Median: 3 Std. Dev 0.41

0		0 (0.0%)
1		1 (1.5%)
2		9 (13.6%)
3		56 (84.8%)

zebu

View Answers
Mean: 0.00 Median: 0 Std. Dev 0.00

0		66 (100.0%)
1		0 (0.0%)
2		0 (0.0%)
3		0 (0.0%)

water buffalo

View Answers
Mean: 0.06 Median: 0 Std. Dev 0.24

0		62 (93.9%)
1		4 (6.1%)
2		0 (0.0%)
3		0 (0.0%)

yak

View Answers
Mean: 0.03 Median: 0 Std. Dev 0.17

0		64 (97.0%)
1		2 (3.0%)
2		0 (0.0%)
3		0 (0.0%)

bison or wisent

View Answers
Mean: 0.85 Median: 1 Std. Dev 0.84

0		26 (39.4%)
1		27 (40.9%)
2		10 (15.2%)
3		3 (4.5%)

other bovines

View Answers
Mean: 0.22 Median: 0 Std. Dev 0.51

0		54 (83.1%)
1		8 (12.3%)
2		3 (4.6%)
3		0 (0.0%)

domesticated pig

View Answers
Mean: 2.69 Median: 3 Std. Dev 0.65

0		2 (3.1%)
1		1 (1.5%)
2		12 (18.5%)
3		50 (76.9%)

wild pig

View Answers
Mean: 0.61 Median: 1 Std. Dev 0.67

0		32 (48.5%)
1		29 (43.9%)
2		4 (6.1%)
3		1 (1.5%)

reindeer

View Answers
Mean: 0.35 Median: 0 Std. Dev 0.64

0		47 (72.3%)
1		14 (21.5%)
2		3 (4.6%)
3		1 (1.5%)

roe deer

View Answers
Mean: 0.37 Median: 0 Std. Dev 0.70

0		48 (76.2%)
1		7 (11.1%)
2		8 (12.7%)
3		0 (0.0%)

red deer

View Answers
Mean: 0.53 Median: 0 Std. Dev 0.83

0		42 (65.6%)
1		12 (18.8%)
2		8 (12.5%)
3		2 (3.1%)

wapiti

View Answers
Mean: 0.11 Median: 0 Std. Dev 0.40

0		58 (92.1%)
1		3 (4.8%)
2		2 (3.2%)
3		0 (0.0%)

moose

View Answers
Mean: 0.39 Median: 0 Std. Dev 0.70

0		45 (70.3%)
1		15 (23.4%)
2		2 (3.1%)
3		2 (3.1%)

other deer

View Answers
Mean: 0.97 Median: 1 Std. Dev 0.96

0		25 (38.5%)
1		23 (35.4%)
2		11 (16.9%)
3		6 (9.2%)

sheep

View Answers
Mean: 1.94 Median: 2 Std. Dev 0.95

0		7 (10.6%)
1		11 (16.7%)
2		27 (40.9%)
3		21 (31.8%)

goat

View Answers
Mean: 0.80 Median: 1 Std. Dev 0.66

0		22 (33.3%)
1		35 (53.0%)
2		9 (13.6%)
3		0 (0.0%)

horse

View Answers
Mean: 0.23 Median: 0 Std. Dev 0.55

0		54 (83.1%)
1		7 (10.8%)
2		4 (6.2%)
3		0 (0.0%)

donkey

View Answers
Mean: 0.03 Median: 0 Std. Dev 0.17

0		64 (97.0%)
1		2 (3.0%)
2		0 (0.0%)
3		0 (0.0%)

camel

View Answers
Mean: 0.06 Median: 0 Std. Dev 0.24

0		60 (93.8%)
1		4 (6.2%)
2		0 (0.0%)
3		0 (0.0%)

llama

View Answers
Mean: 0.03 Median: 0 Std. Dev 0.17

0		64 (97.0%)
1		2 (3.0%)
2		0 (0.0%)
3		0 (0.0%)

antelopes

View Answers
Mean: 0.14 Median: 0 Std. Dev 0.39

0		57 (87.7%)
1		7 (10.8%)
2		1 (1.5%)
3		0 (0.0%)

rabbit

View Answers
Mean: 1.14 Median: 1 Std. Dev 0.79

0		14 (21.9%)
1		29 (45.3%)
2		19 (29.7%)
3		2 (3.1%)

hare

View Answers
Mean: 0.45 Median: 0 Std. Dev 0.76

0		45 (68.2%)
1		14 (21.2%)
2		5 (7.6%)
3		2 (3.0%)

guinea pig

View Answers
Mean: 0.02 Median: 0 Std. Dev 0.12

0		65 (98.5%)
1		1 (1.5%)
2		0 (0.0%)
3		0 (0.0%)

kangaroo

View Answers
Mean: 0.27 Median: 0 Std. Dev 0.51

0		50 (75.8%)
1		14 (21.2%)
2		2 (3.0%)
3		0 (0.0%)

whale

View Answers
Mean: 0.05 Median: 0 Std. Dev 0.21

0		63 (95.5%)
1		3 (4.5%)
2		0 (0.0%)
3		0 (0.0%)

other domesticated mammals, e.g. dogs

View Answers
Mean: 0.00 Median: 0 Std. Dev 0.00

0		65 (100.0%)
1		0 (0.0%)
2		0 (0.0%)
3		0 (0.0%)

other non-domesticated mammals

View Answers
Mean: 0.45 Median: 0 Std. Dev 0.58

0		39 (60.0%)
1		23 (35.4%)
2		3 (4.6%)
3		0 (0.0%)

chicken

View Answers
Mean: 2.94 Median: 3 Std. Dev 0.24

0		0 (0.0%)
1		0 (0.0%)
2		4 (6.2%)
3		61 (93.8%)

duck

View Answers
Mean: 1.51 Median: 2 Std. Dev 0.81

0		8 (12.3%)
1		21 (32.3%)
2		31 (47.7%)
3		5 (7.7%)

goose

View Answers
Mean: 0.92 Median: 1 Std. Dev 0.90

0		26 (40.0%)
1		21 (32.3%)
2		15 (23.1%)
3		3 (4.6%)

turkey

View Answers
Mean: 2.20 Median: 2 Std. Dev 0.73

0		2 (3.1%)
1		6 (9.2%)
2		34 (52.3%)
3		23 (35.4%)

pigeon

View Answers
Mean: 0.35 Median: 0 Std. Dev 0.54

0		45 (68.2%)
1		19 (28.8%)
2		2 (3.0%)
3		0 (0.0%)

quail

View Answers
Mean: 0.64 Median: 1 Std. Dev 0.67

0		31 (47.0%)
1		28 (42.4%)
2		7 (10.6%)
3		0 (0.0%)

pheasant

View Answers
Mean: 0.56 Median: 0 Std. Dev 0.65

0		35 (53.0%)
1		25 (37.9%)
2		6 (9.1%)
3		0 (0.0%)

grouse

View Answers
Mean: 0.23 Median: 0 Std. Dev 0.46

0		51 (78.5%)
1		13 (20.0%)
2		1 (1.5%)
3		0 (0.0%)

partridge

View Answers
Mean: 0.18 Median: 0 Std. Dev 0.46

0		56 (84.8%)
1		8 (12.1%)
2		2 (3.0%)
3		0 (0.0%)

ostrich

View Answers
Mean: 0.54 Median: 0 Std. Dev 0.66

0		36 (55.4%)
1		23 (35.4%)
2		6 (9.2%)
3		0 (0.0%)

other birds

View Answers
Mean: 0.29 Median: 0 Std. Dev 0.45

0		47 (71.2%)
1		19 (28.8%)
2		0 (0.0%)
3		0 (0.0%)

reptiles (e.g lizards, snakes, turtles etc.)

View Answers
Mean: 0.46 Median: 0 Std. Dev 0.53

0		36 (55.4%)
1		28 (43.1%)
2		1 (1.5%)
3		0 (0.0%)

amphibians (e.g. frogs)

View Answers
Mean: 0.41 Median: 0 Std. Dev 0.58

0		42 (63.6%)
1		21 (31.8%)
2		3 (4.5%)
3		0 (0.0%)

farmed fish species

View Answers
Mean: 2.36 Median: 3 Std. Dev 0.75

0		1 (1.5%)
1		8 (12.1%)
2		23 (34.8%)
3		34 (51.5%)

wild fish species

View Answers
Mean: 2.32 Median: 2 Std. Dev 0.76

0		1 (1.5%)
1		9 (13.6%)
2		24 (36.4%)
3		32 (48.5%)

crustaceans (lobsters, crabs, shrimp...)

View Answers
Mean: 2.08 Median: 2 Std. Dev 0.84

0		4 (6.1%)
1		9 (13.6%)
2		31 (47.0%)
3		22 (33.3%)

mussels

View Answers
Mean: 1.38 Median: 2 Std. Dev 1.03

0		18 (27.3%)
1		14 (21.2%)
2		25 (37.9%)
3		9 (13.6%)

octopus/squids

View Answers
Mean: 1.26 Median: 1 Std. Dev 0.85

0		13 (20.0%)
1		26 (40.0%)
2		22 (33.8%)
3		4 (6.2%)

snails (whether land, freshwater or sea)

View Answers
Mean: 0.45 Median: 0 Std. Dev 0.56

0		38 (57.6%)
1		26 (39.4%)
2		2 (3.0%)
3		0 (0.0%)

other molluscs

View Answers
Mean: 0.91 Median: 1 Std. Dev 1.00

0		30 (45.5%)
1		18 (27.3%)
2		12 (18.2%)
3		6 (9.1%)

locusts/grasshoppers

View Answers
Mean: 0.15 Median: 0 Std. Dev 0.36

0		56 (84.8%)
1		10 (15.2%)
2		0 (0.0%)
3		0 (0.0%)

other insects or arachnids

View Answers
Mean: 0.09 Median: 0 Std. Dev 0.29

0		60 (90.9%)
1		6 (9.1%)
2		0 (0.0%)
3		0 (0.0%)

Comments

[liviapenn]

In case anyone was curious, alligator tastes like fishy chicken, with a texture sort of like squid. :)

[ratcreature]

In that case I'm not sorry I missed out on it back in my meat eating days, unlike the way I still sometimes think wistfully of the holiday goose.

[minim_calibre]

See, I think of it as "rabbit, but chewier."

(Of course, rabbit is "gamey chicken.") ;)

[shadowvalkyrie]

Huh! I found the texture more like chicken as well!

I <3 random polls

[jumpuphigh]

I've eaten ants. They were covered in chocolate.

Also, clams? Are you categorizing them under mollusks.

Re: I <3 random polls

[ratcreature]

Glad you enjoy the random polls. I always thought clams were a type of mussels? Are they something else? Also I have to say that it would have never occurred to me to combine ants with chocolate, but then some people put bacon in their chocolate, which I find equally weird.

[ilyena_sylph]

Are you counting crawdads in 'other crustaceans'?

[ratcreature]

Yeah. I didn't divide crustaceans further in the poll, because I never ate any or paid attention to them as food. They've always looked entirely too much like wet insects to me...

[katarik]

Darn it, I'd forgotten I *had* eaten alligator...

If I lived in an area where hunting was easier, I would eat squirrel and rabbit rather more often, but.

[ratcreature]

Here most rabbits you buy are just domesticated ones. I mean, you can get wild rabbit, but then that is stressed as qualifier afaik. These days I don't pay attention to the meat selection, but when I was a kid we had rabbit fairly often, but my mother only sometimes got a whole fresh one, mostly just parts. I've never seen squirrel sold anywhere, but rabbit you get in the supermarket.

[petra]

My non-domesticated animals were squirrel and opossum, IIRC. I don't know that I've had wild rabbit, but I have occasionally glared at the ones eating my garden and thought about it hard.

[isagel]

I will add that I checked all the different kinds of deer because I don't know the difference between them in English and was too lazy to look it up. The answer is probably the same for several of them anyway.

Also, while it was fairly common here (Sweden) to buy horse meat in slices to put on your sandwich when I was a kid, and I ate it then when it was given to me, I haven't seen it around at all for the last decade or so. My answer reflects childhood rather than present.

[ratcreature]

Deer names are confusing, what with the Americans calling wapiti also elk, when in Europe elk means moose and such. And I had always thought that wapiti and red deer were really the same species only like the European vs the North American variant, but wikipedia told me they weren't the same...

I've only had horse in sausages, also as a kid (but then I've become vegetarian as a teenager and hadn't had any meat since). But I think those have become rarer here too, recently my father wanted some and I couldn't find them in the regular supermarket. But around the corner from my apartment is a butcher specialized on horse meat, selling all kinds of horse meat, so clearly some must buy it still, if only at specialized stores.

[lilacsigil]

I put eel under "farmed fish species" and I have also eaten jellyfish.

[ratcreature]

Jellyfish? Aren't they toxic with their stingers? And do they even have any substance left once they are cooked? I'd have thought they'd be very watery. But then I suppose with the present the rate of overfishing soon there won't be much left in the oceans but jellyfish, so it's just as well that those are edible too.

[omens]

my "other mammals" were cougar & bear, btw.

[ratcreature]

Cougar? That is eaten? I always thought pure carnivores didn't taste good. I know people have eaten their domestic cats, but only as a sort of last resort thing during food shortages...

[shadowvalkyrie]

My stepdad's a hunter, so we always had a lot of venison. Nowadays I get it much more rarely, sadly. He also keeps a herd of fallow deer (Damwild), of which I still occasionally get some in return for helping with the skinning and disembowelling.

As to the horse meat, I never would have eaten it voluntarily, but our parents used to trick us into it. ":-/

[ratcreature]

I've only eaten horse in sausages. But there I liked it well enough (though it's not like you can tell much of its taste once meat is processed like that), and didn't have anything against eating them like other animals. But then I haven't been one of those girls with a horse infatuation.

[thefourthvine]

But this is going to skew the results somewhat: I stopped eating meat when I was 10. So everything I've eaten, I ate before, which means mostly we're talking about meats my parents chose to eat. (And, also, we were mostly kosher.)

[ratcreature]

Even before I became vegetarian as teenager (with 16 iirc) I did not eat all animals my parents ate, not even the "you have to try it once" routine they tried to insist on. So while my parents both liked various crustaceans such as shrimp and crab I have never eaten any. I always thought they looked entirely too much like insects with their shells and legs, and those are thought of as gross here (not that that is rational, but I always thought you ought to put both either in the food or the non-food category for consistency). I suppose they didn't insist early enough so that I became used to the look, like I did with other food with a high grossness-factor to the unaccustomed.

With fish species I mostly only ate the trial bite and then refused to eat them from then on. The only fish I liked was plaice, but then that is most commonly prepared here in much fried bacon, so it really mostly tastes of bacon, and to a lesser degree trout. Whereas I found the carp which my father likes a lot icky (also I was always grossed out at the table because my father insists on slurping the eye, saying it tastes good).

[maire]

I should note that the animals I don't choose to eat are: primates (too much possible chance of weird disease transmission), endangered animals, unethically farmed animals (battery hens, indoor-kept cattle, battery pigs, and so on), and stuff that isn't on available or costs more than I can afford.

So I've never really eaten many bugs, but that's because they're not really around, in sizes that are convenient. Things like llama and crocodiles simply aren't sold round here.

[ratcreature]

I suppose you'd need a lot of bugs to make them worthwhile, like the tiny shrimps from the North Sea that are eaten here. Each is maybe two to three centimeters long or so (I think they can get larger and used to be in the past, but the ones I've seen seem always tiny, probably because they are overfished as most seafood and they can only get the immature ones) and two thirds of the weight is the inedible shells with only one third meat. And yet it seems convenient enough for people who like them.

[instantramen]

I feel obligated to clarify that I'm classifying crickets with locusts and grasshoppers, that it was a dare when I was fourteen, and that eating charred cricket is about the same as eating burnt popcorn.

[ratcreature]

I suppose charring is a great leveler in the taste experience, lol.

[weaver]

I did not have a place to put witchetty grubs, but I have eaten one of them once! It tasted pretty nondescript but was great with sauce.

I put crocodile under reptiles. It isn't thrilling.

I suspect my meat-eating habits are very ordinary Australian-with-sheep-farmers-in-my-family.

[ratcreature]

I guess since, as wikipedia tells me, they develop into moths these grubs would fall under "other insects". And from the comments here, nobody seems to be thrilled with crocodile.

[basingstoke]

I have whitetail deer whenever my hunting friends give me some, and I have bear stew in the freezer right now. Very gamy.

[ratcreature]

I don't think I've ever known anyone personally who has hunted anything, so my experiences with game were no more primal than the supermarket.

[laurajv]

Most of what I eat these days is locally farmed, which limits my selection a bit; I try to avoid animals from CAFOs (concentrated animal feeding operations) and those subjected to other inhumane conditions, and I like to support local businesses, so buying local meat from small producers is part of how I do that.

I mostly avoid farmed fish, and I carry a Seafood Watch List Pocket Guide in my wallet, so that I can avoid overfished fish. I do still eat some of the farmed "Best Choices" on that guide, and I have relatives who occasionally serve farmed salmon (which I *never* purchase), so sometimes I eat a little of that.

[ratcreature]

I would be too lazy for this much effort, so I guess it's a good thing I just avoid dead animals altogether. (Though admittedly I only avoid the need to consult a pocket guide for that because I don't buy much processed food, where it can be hard to tell with the cryptic food additives whether they are made from animals as base or possibly made from animal. And food is not even as bad as hygiene products for containing surprise animal parts labeled with unrecognizable chemical names.)

[madripoor-rose.livejournal.com]

You might also get some cultural skew here...at least, I'm under the impression that in Europe they sell game meats at butchers/grocery stores, while around here you really only get venison deer-moose-or-elk meats if you know a hunter.

[ratcreature]

Yeah, the bias is really unavoidable, not least because different animals are domesticated in different regions too. I mean, I've never seen guinea pig meat sold here, while rabbit is common. We had rabbit very regularly. My mother also bought hare and deer and such at the regular grocery store, those most often frozen. There are also special stores if you are particular about quality and such or want fresh not frozen game. Horse I've only had as sausage on some occasions as those are a specialty here, but some people here must eat it unprocessed too, though that's not sold at regular butchers. But around the corner from my apartment is a butcher specialized on horse meat, so clearly some must buy it.

[hsavinien.livejournal.com]

Answered. Note that I have never eaten octopus or squid willingly, but it was part of a seafood casserole and I didn't realize until I found something that was purple and tentacley and hyperventilated a little, then removed all the tentacled bits and banished them to the far side of my plate.

[ratcreature]

Inadvertent squid ingredients suck. I once almost ate fried calamari because I didn't realize those were squid in the batter. I thought it was a vegetable, not mollusks.

[tassosss.livejournal.com]

Sorry that was me with the deleted post - I can't edit them anymore.

I'm a carnivore/omnivore but in the last five or six years I've pretty much cut seafood out of my diet. I eat it on very very rare occasions now.

*soap box*
Seafood is one of the hardest things to know where it came from - whether it caught in a sustainable manner or if it's even the fish it is advertised as. Even if you think you're eating wild whatever caught in a specific sustainable fishery, or farmed whatever (and farmed does not always mean it's good for the environment) there are good chances that you're really not. */soap box*

[ratcreature]

Yeah, I can understand that. Aside from the environmental impact, much fish farming is also cruel to the animals, with them having too little space and such iirc various horrible news stories. I haven't eaten any fish or other seafood (aside from algae products every now and then) since I became vegetarian over 18 years ago.