h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

It is quite a cliche but it doesn't seem to be wrong that many creatures' meat tastes similar to chicken meat. Even animals that have diets vastly different from that of chickens. Is it because chicken meat is some kind of default, before other things are added in? What are your thoughts?

I think most people like to compare an exotic meat meat with something most listeners can relate to.

It is common around here to hear someone say 'Alligator meat tastes like chicken', I usually reply that 'no, it is chickens that taste a bit like alligator'.

It may be more texture than taste imho.

On the other hand turtle has a very distinctive flavour. Hope to have some in the next few months

F S

I'm not so sure.... the only meat that really tastes like chicken, to me, is chicken.... Its the only one that really smells like chicken too... err.... actually, I can't think of another meat that actually tastes like chicken, which I've had...

a differnt question might be... why do all measts not taste exactly the same, given they'r eall the same muscle proteins basically actually. yeh... its kinda odd that all meat doesn't taste thesame.. though I assume a lot of that is to do with ..... the ..... err.... doobry thinggies in lipds ... lipids.... err... fat in the meat.... which gives the differnt scent, hence taste I seem to recall
Mind. it does all taste identicle if you put enough chili sauce on it

Someone discovered flesh from the leg of a Tyrannosaurus Rex with well-preserved meat that could be compared with living species. The tissues matched those of chickens most closely. From an evolutionary standpoint, I take this to mean that descendants of T Rex have been unusually robust. Of course, there are probably other explanations worth hearing.

all meat is meat... I mean... the proteins are basically all the same... err... actin an ... mycine.... nah, I cna't quite remember.... but... anyhow... like all meat is murder man.

Chicken - especially chicken breast - is a rather bland meat, and not particularly full of flavour. It is also mass produced, which means it's a good common reference point, because a lot of your audience will have eaten it.

I could tell the difference between bird flesh and mammal flesh - largely because of texture. But how many of us could tell the difference between beef and horse meat? Not so many, as it turns out.

A lot of the flavour in meat comes from the way it is prepared. So when people say they have tasted an exotic animal, and it tastes a bit "meh", mass-produced chicken is a way of describing it which your audience will probably be able to relate to because they have probably tasted it.

I could definitely tell the difference between, say, pork liver and lamb liver - but the lean, prime, expensive cuts on just about every mammal are much the same. Perhaps we should really say they taste like tofu.

I've never understood this phrase. They all taste different to me.

Duck soup prepared with the same ingredients used to make roast beef looks and tastes like roast beef.

This may be because both ducks and cattle are grass eaters.

Chicken prepared the same way can use a little gumbo and some pimento.

"how many of us could tell the difference between beef and horse meat?" [KB]

That may depend on where you ask the question. There are parts of France where many people have eaten beef and horse meat. I expect that some of them could distinguish between the two.

"Perhaps we should really say they taste like tofu."

I humbly suggest that you compare foods made with tofu or meat. Hot dogs, for instance. Tofu pups [a tofu hot dog] taste very different from hot dogs made with meat or poultry. I'm not against tofu, but it should *never* be made into hot dogs

I'm not sure there's a lot of what folk would recognise as "meat" in a hotdog

The reason I mentioned tofu is that, like chicken breast, it's a kind of 'sponge'. It absorbs the flavour of whatever it is in, but has a very bland favour on its own.

As for the horsemeat, there was a lot of fuss here when it was discovered that a lot of people who bought beef products were actually buying (illegal, possibly contaminated) horsemeat. But nobody was able to tell the difference when they tasted it - it was only discovered by testing the meat in a lab.

What does everybody always have against hotdogs?

Their ingredients.

"What does everybody always have against hotdogs? " [Mr. X]

Sodium nitrate, fat, and meat by-products mostly. But that's not why I used the comparison between meat hot dogs and tofu hot dogs. Even those of us who like hot dogs might not like the tofu ones.

Evidently, nothing tastes like chicken, because chicken doesn't taste like chicken.

http://nypost.com/2015/04/26/why-nothing-especially-chicken-tastes-like-it-used-to/

Despite the caption, there is not a single barred rock (or any other breed of a barred pattern) in that photo.

I'm glad that tofus don't get fed the way chickens do nowadays.

http://www.google.com/search?q=Al+Capp%27s+%22Shmoo%22,+images&client=tablet-android-verizon&espv=1&tbm=isch&tbo=u&sboxchip=Images&source=univ&sa=X&ei=R_NiVeK0KsyegwT8r4HoDg&ved=0CEYQ7Ak&biw=962&bih=601#imgrc=IA-f-oZJPsAGfM%253A%3BxYscUIX4sCHtAM%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fwww.staceykitchen.com%252Febaystore%252Fabner.vol.14.hc.jpg%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fwww.ebay.com%252Fitm%252FLil-Abner-Meets-SHMOO-1948-KSP-Vol-14-Al-Capp-MINT-HC-%252F120377072781%3B600%3B458

I haven't tried alligator, but I thought frog and snake both reminded of chicken in texture and colour. Maybe because they're close to their dinosaur ancestors? The grass eaters are different, and the pork is different from all those. So, maybe it's genetic?

" I thought frog and snake both reminded of chicken in texture and colour. Maybe because they're close to their dinosaur ancestors?" [Milla]

Amphibians probably predated reptiles, which predated dinosaurs. Dinosaurs would not be their ancestors. However, all three classes of vertebrates likely had common ancestors. I hope this helps.

For what it's worth, I once ate frogs' legs in a ritzy French restaurant long ago. As I remember, they tasted a lot like chicken, so I decided to just eat chicken from then on. Frogs don't invade my territory with the intention of eating me, so why should I invade theirs? Chickens are a bit more complicated. I was scared half to death by a rogue chicken wandering through my back yard when I was a kid. Despite this, I have no wish to prevent chickens from roaming. The eggs I eat are from cage-free chickens.