Ortolan - The Weirdest Meal Ever

I was watching a cooking show on TV and they started talking about the Turducken, a chicken stuffed inside of a duck stuffed inside of a turkey. WTF! Who thought of this? Most of the food we eat you can imagine a primitive man starving so much that he is willing to try anything. Mushrooms, crabs, even artichokes, but you know the turducken was not an invention of necessity. It was some sadistic bird hater. And then there is the Ortolan, by far the weirdest poultry dish ever:


"The eating of the ortolan has ethical eating groups baying for blood. First, it is caught with a net in the forest. Taken alive, its eyes are poked out and the bird is put in a small cage. It's then force-fed oats, millet and figs until it has swollen to four times its normal size. Then the bird is drowned alive in fine cognac. Then, it's roasted whole, in an oven at high heat, for six to eight minutes. Once it reaches the table, a napkin is placed over the eater's head. (To preserve the aromas and, some believe, to hide from God.) The technique of eating the ortolan is to put the whole bird into the mouth, with only the beak protruding. Here sadism mingles with masochism. The first taste as you crunch on the bird is the brandied flesh and fat. Then, the bitterness of the guts follow and finally, as the tiny, delicate bones are being chewed on, they will lacerate the diner's gums, with the salty taste of the bleeding gums mingling with the richness of the fat and the bitterness of the organs. Chewing the ortolan takes approximately 15 minutes.– The Connoisseur's Series, The Global Gourmet"

Ortolan Bunting - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

If you're still not too put off by this, listen to this great podcast about Francois Mitterrand's (a former French president) last meal of Ortolan. NPR Podcast