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  • Would you like tortoise for dinner?

    From Ed P@3:633/10 to All on Sunday, July 26, 2026 20:32:48
    Fun fact: the giant tortoise was so delicious, it caused not only itself
    to be hunted to extinction, but also the dodo. Giant tortoise meat was supposedly better tasting than chicken. Its fat tasted better spread on
    bread than butter. Also, it was the perfect food for sailors at the
    time, as their bladders stored 1 litre of purified water, and they could survive without food in hibernation for almost a whole year in the hull
    of a ship.

    Not to mention, because they evolved without humans, they were easy to
    hunt. You could tie one to your back, and roll another to the ship and
    they would just let you. It was so delicious, they went unrecorded for a
    long time because expeditions to bring living samples of wildlife to
    Europe kept eating them on the way.

    Conversely, the dodo, while as easily captured by sailors, tasted awful.
    It was completely unpalatable. HOWEVER, one day, someone discovered if
    you cooked dodo meat in the more delicious tortoise fat, it tasted just
    like chicken. So now, sailors were hunting a few tortoises at a time for
    their fat and water, storing them, and then hunting dodos on the daily.

    Overhunting, plus the introduction of rats to the environment (because sailors) which would eat eggs, led go the population to decline at a
    rate they could not breed to keep up, leading to both animals going extinct.

    --- PyGate Linux v1.5.19
    * Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)
  • From jmcquown@3:633/10 to All on Saturday, August 01, 2026 11:12:54
    On 7/26/2026 8:32 PM, Ed P wrote:
    Fun fact: the giant tortoise was so delicious, it caused not only itself
    to be hunted to extinction, but also the dodo. Giant tortoise meat was supposedly better tasting than chicken. Its fat tasted better spread on bread than butter. Also, it was the perfect food for sailors at the
    time, as their bladders stored 1 litre of purified water, and they could survive without food in hibernation for almost a whole year in the hull
    of a ship.
    Well hey, not a tortoise but I have had turtle soup. At a restaurant
    called Owen Brennan's in Memphis. It was an offshoot of Owen Brennan's
    from New Orleans. I've no idea if it is still in business but turtle
    soup was the soup of the day and it was delicious! I remember
    mentioning it to my father when we were talking on the phone. He said
    oh yeah, they used to look for turtles by the creek near where they
    lived and brought them home so his mother could make soup. That would
    have been during the Depression in the 1930's.

    --
    Jill

    --- PyGate Linux v1.5.19
    * Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)
  • From Ed P@3:633/10 to All on Saturday, August 01, 2026 15:40:06
    On 8/1/2026 11:12 AM, jmcquown wrote:

    Well hey, not a tortoise but I have had turtle soup.ÿ At a restaurant
    called Owen Brennan's in Memphis.ÿ It was an offshoot of Owen Brennan's
    from New Orleans.ÿ I've no idea if it is still in business but turtle
    soup was the soup of the day and it was delicious!ÿ I remember
    mentioning it to my father when we were talking on the phone.ÿ He said
    oh yeah, they used to look for turtles by the creek near where they
    lived and brought them home so his mother could make soup.ÿ That would
    have been during the Depression in the 1930's.


    Last time I had it was in the early 1980's at Old Bookbinders in
    Philadelphia. They have since closed, but go back to 1893. It was a
    great place for seafood, classy, but not stuffy.

    I just checked to see if still around. They closed for major $4.6
    million renovations, re-opened and filed bankruptcy 16 months later.

    Wow, brought back a couple of memories of dining there, my first time
    was 1965 with my fiance.

    --- PyGate Linux v1.5.19
    * Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)