Some people go to the supermarket and buy chicken nuggets for dinner; others hunt for their food. You will find many traditional American “folk” recipes for wild game such as deer (venison), pigeon (squab), squirrel, and rabbit. Since these animals are not found on the average American table, quite a few people are shocked when you mention them.
When I was at Yaddo, one of the male household staff spoke—when he spoke at all—of hunting and cooking squirrel. He was a Saratoga local.
A friend of mine lived with an Egyptian banker in North Bergen. Judith told me of a dinner at a neighbor’s house. The lady of the house was an Egyptian import. She served a wonderful dish of fowl cooked en croûte (inside a crisp shell). Let us call the hostess “Ayesha.” Judith asked Ayesha where she got the protein. Judith expected her to say, “Rock Cornish game hen.” Ayesha, who spoke little English, said, “I show!” She opened the back door and pointed down. The backyard was filled with—yes, kiddies—common garden-variety pigeons, innocently strutting around the way they do. Ayesha said, “I catch, I wring neck, I pull out feathers…” Judith fled straight into the bathroom and lost the entire meal.
Lots of people fish. Nobody objects to that. The French eat snails. The Italians eat octopi. Nobody makes a peep. But all you have to do is try to eat a pigeon, and all hell breaks loose.
I tend to avoid four-legged game animals due to the virtually undetectable presence of BSE (bovine spongiform encephalopathy, or “mad cow disease”). I once had bigos (pron. bee-GOASH), or “hunter’s stew,” at a Czech restaurant called Ruc, and nothing happened to me. I guess I was just lucky. My mother told me the Poles have an almost identical recipe.
Go into your local park with a club and catch your dinner!