People absolutely do still eat raccoon (and possum, and squirrel) in parts of the US; and they may be hunted for vermin control, fur, and sport as well.
I've never eaten raccoon myself, but I did once boil clean the skull of a rather luckless juvenile 'coon that wandered into my yard and into the way of my dogs some years back and I have to say...it smelled rather appealingly similar to chicken when it was simmering! Folks I've seen talking about raccoon on cooking forums say that the age of the critter, its diet and the way it's cleaned and prepared can all make a big difference in palatability, which sounds reasonable enough. I suspect some of the absolutist horror on sites claiming that ~nobody~ would ever willingly eat that may be coming from a mix of bad experiences with older/inexpertly butchered/poorly-prepared raccoon, and possibly more than a bit of regional/classist disdain -- eating smaller and less-desirable game like raccoon or possum is often stereotyped as a sort of...backwoods, hickish, poor/uneducated sort of thing, so of course it MUST be terrible because otherwise sophisticated, smart city people would be buying it in restaurants for $50 a plate.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
timeasmymeasure
no subject
Date: 2011-11-23 10:31 am (UTC)I've never eaten raccoon myself, but I did once boil clean the skull of a rather luckless juvenile 'coon that wandered into my yard and into the way of my dogs some years back and I have to say...it smelled rather appealingly similar to chicken when it was simmering! Folks I've seen talking about raccoon on cooking forums say that the age of the critter, its diet and the way it's cleaned and prepared can all make a big difference in palatability, which sounds reasonable enough. I suspect some of the absolutist horror on sites claiming that ~nobody~ would ever willingly eat that may be coming from a mix of bad experiences with older/inexpertly butchered/poorly-prepared raccoon, and possibly more than a bit of regional/classist disdain -- eating smaller and less-desirable game like raccoon or possum is often stereotyped as a sort of...backwoods, hickish, poor/uneducated sort of thing, so of course it MUST be terrible because otherwise sophisticated, smart city people would be buying it in restaurants for $50 a plate.