These were once common fare, and they might still be common foods for some people, particularly those in rural areas or who spend a lot of time in the woods. Although squirrels and raccoons are certainly common enough in the city, I don't expect that many city people hunt them for food. Rattlesnakes were not nearly as commonly eaten as squirrels and raccoons, but they tell me that it tastes like chicken. Have you ever eaten a squirrel? Have you dined on raccoon? Have you ever eaten a snake? What other odd or disgusting things might you have eaten? Although I did indeed grow up in the country and I have spent a fair amount of time in the woods, I have never eaten either a squirrel or a raccoon. I did try rattlesnake once but, to be honest, I didn't eat enough to know or remember what it tasted like. Chicken didn't come to mind, however.
I have eaten squirrel as a kid; I've also tried rattlesnake and fried alligator. The alligator was at a Cajun restaurant when we lived in Baton Rouge in the 1990s. I don't recall much about any of it. As a farm kid, I've eaten lots of disgusting things. One of my favorites used to be fried tripe.
I've had squirrel. I had to be careful to not bite down on the buckshot. It was pretty tasty but not worth the trouble. Rattlesnake? Yeah, I've had a bite. Nasty. Raccoon? No way.
My grandpa used to go squirrel hunting; he liked squirrel stew in gravy with biscuits. Like Mary said, use caution when biting down.
I still remember eating squirrel as a kid at my grandmother's. Fried. It was good. Better than chicken. No rattlesnake or raccoon. I don't remember anyone even talking about eating raccoon. But my father and grandfather went raccoon hunting in the middle of the night. So somebody must have. Don't remember anyone ever talking about eating opossum either.
I've eaten rabbit, although I don't recall anything other than biting down on a piece of shot, as @Mary Robi and @Beth Gallagher said. If anyone offered it to me as an adult, I'd run my metal detector over it. I've also had pheasant and dove, although I don't recall those, either. I've had escargot (snail) at a restaurant...they were garlicky pencil erasers I would never pay my own money for, but since work was paying I tried them. Also eaten tongue, at home as a kid and at a Bolivian buffet as an adult. It's pretty good...makes a great cold sandwich. Also had frog legs at an all-you-can-eat seafood house (dunno know why they had frog legs.) Battered & fried, it does "taste like chicken" because it's so mild flavored. I remember watching one of those hillbilly reality shows, and the good ol' boys caught the possum that had been eating their chickens. It was the first time I had heard of anyone eating possum. They do not look as though they would taste very good.
No, no, Nanette to all. UGH, UGH, UGH. Why does everything wild and weird donned with tasting like chicken?
@Von Jones The answer is it doesn't. Not even grouse taste like chicken. Chicken is just a polite way of saying it taste like shit. Haven't you watched Crocodile Dundee? Rattlesnake --- Yes and it has little flavor and the consistency is icky. Squirrel ---- Yes, as a kid and it was not a pleasant taste. Muskrat ---- Yes, and it taste muddy and disgusting even cooked over a wood wilderness fire. Rabbit --- Yes, and it was not to my liking. I thought wild cottontail taste better than domestic rabbit. Raccoon ---- No, but I did have a cap once. Opossum --- No! Not to my knowledge anyway. My East Texas backwoods great aunt may have put it in one of her famous stews, but I was unaware if so. Bullhead catfish --- Yes, once and it was worst than rattlesnake. Bullfrog --- Yes, and the legs were great! It taste better than chicken. Horny Toad --- Yes, but I was very young and don't have a taste memory, just a visual of it on the spit. Grasshopper or Locust --- Yes and not half bad fried in pig fat. Great survival crunchy snack.
Squirrel, frog legs, alligator tail, all tasted fine to me at the time. I found I too often bit into birdshot (what my grandad used) when eating squirrel but otherwise I liked it. I seem to remember having a horse steak in Norway, don’t really remember much about it other than I was surprised to see it on the menu.
I've heard people say that squirrel tastes good. It seems like a lot of work for very little meat, however.
I love the taste of crab and feel the same way about it. Good thing someone thought of crab cakes, though only a few places prepare them without a lot of filler.
I've never had crab, although, when I worked for Duro Bag Company, at the Port of Brownsville, several dozens of them at a time would regularly take a shortcut through the plant floor, and drop back into the water at the other end. It was like a migration. Although I have lived in Maine since 2000, I have had lobster only once, and it was way more work (and cost) than it was worth. I'm not a fan. I like clam chowder but hate clam in any other form, as well.
The French eat (or anyway they used to eat) horse. "Cheville" I guess Americans have the same aversion to horse that Hindus have to beef.
I was gonna mention crab. We vacationed at Ocean City MD when I was a kid. My dad parked our small trailer there for the season (as he used to at Muskegon State Park), and the kids would spend weeks there with our mother. I would be at water's edge with my chicken necks, string, sinkers and net every time the tide came in. I have no idea how many tens of dozens of crab I've eaten, both personally caught and personally bought. We also clammed. Like snail, they are not an elusive quarry. You drag a garden rake through the sand in shallow water, feeling for the scrape across the shell. Like you, I love clam chowder and fried clams, but not steamed clams (excepting the small Cherrystone ones, which are sweet enough to eat from the shell.) Mussels are stronger tasting than clams...I dislike them more than I dislike clams.
I’ve had lobster numerous times and though not bad, I prefer shrimp. Lobster has a very slightly bitter taste to me. I think it must just be my taste buds, little else is so subjective, literally a matter of taste. In general though, I love seafood of all types, my favorite type food.