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

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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

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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

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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

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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)

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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

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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)

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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

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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. :)

I <3 random polls

[jumpuphigh]

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

Also, clams? Are you categorizing them under mollusks.

[ilyena_sylph]

Are you counting crawdads in 'other crustaceans'?

[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.

[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.

[lilacsigil]

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

[omens]

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

[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. ":-/

[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.)

[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.

[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.

[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.

[basingstoke]

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

[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.

[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.

[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.

[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*