What would dinosaurs taste like?

[Brontozaurus]

When mankind eventually succeeds in resurrecting dinosaurs in the present day, we're going to have to decide what to do with them. Similarly, if time travel is invented, we'll have to know what prehistoric animals are safe to eat.

So what would dinosaurs taste like? Would Velociraptor thigh fillets work well marinated in lemon and herbs? Could KFC stand for Kentucky Fried Ceratosaur? And where would the best cuts be on a sauropod?

Personally I think the theropods would taste a lot like chicken. Everything else would be like crocodile.

[Blade-of-the-Moon]

lol..i would guess chicken for a lot as well..or maybe some wilder game fowl.

[Gwangi]

Given the wide range of flavors and textures in extant archosaurs, who knows? It is easy to say they would taste like chicken since chickens are dinosaurs and all that but even other birds don't actually taste much like chicken. Ducks, pheasant, ostrich, turkey all taste markedly different from chicken.

[Metallisuchus]

The "Aviasaurs" (as I call them) would probably taste a lot like modern-day poultry, but even then, duck is supposedly a lot different than chicken, very oily.

Suchimimus, Baryonyx, etc. would probably taste like gator, then again, that's probably a bias, based on their croc-like appearance.

I would imagine sauropods & ceratopsians to be very steak-meets-chicken-like.

Hypsiphilodonts probably tasted gamy.

Can you imagine pulling up at McDonalds, asking for McMimus?

[ZoPteryx]

What a fun topic!

I'd guess that most of the dinosaurs closest to birds tasted like turkey.  In my experience, most "exotic" birds tasted more like turkey than chicken to me.  Other therapods probably tasted like crocodile, while sauropods and ornithipods probably tasted like a cross between crocodile and pork, with the texture of steak.

Mmm, a spicy ornithomimid sandwhich, with a side coconut sea scorpion and some curly fries and a coke.
Now I'm hungry

[CityRaptor]

When mankind eventually succeeds in resurrecting dinosaurs in the present day, we're going to have to decide what to do with them. Similarly, if time travel is invented, we'll have to know what prehistoric animals are safe to eat.

I don't know, they are probabyl to expensive to be eaten.
Time Travel? Have you been reading Flesh? And then Future Men gets eaten by Theropods...

Personally I think the theropods would taste a lot like chicken. Everything else would be like crocodile.

Crocodiles actually taste like chicken, aswell. Yes, I've eaten Croc Meat.

Theropods generally would probably taste similar to the extant ones.

[Gryphoceratops]

I have eaten Alligator meat before.  Its like really tough chewy chicken.  It was at a buffet so what I did is I grabbed some gator meat and some chicken meat.  Back at the table I shoved a piece of each in my mouth at the same time hoping to experience what extinct dino meat may have tasted like. 

[Metallisuchus]

I have eaten Alligator meat before.  Its like really tough chewy chicken.  It was at a buffet so what I did is I grabbed some gator meat and some chicken meat.  Back at the table I shoved a piece of each in my mouth at the same time hoping to experience what extinct dino meat may have tasted like.

Hahaha! It doesn't get much geekier (compliment) than that! I couldn't bring myself to try it. I'm very particular with what I eat - nothing that swims (never had crab, shrimp, lobster etc.).

[Brontozaurus]

I had some crocodile once. It tasted nice.

Thinking about this at a deeper level than 'tastes like chicken' jokes, I think that the taste of dinosaur meat would depend more on the nutrients and other things in the meat, more than what they were related to. So maybe only the smaller theropods would have been like chickens. Bigger dinosaurs might have tasted more like elephants or other big mammals, with a slight tinge of crocodilian.

And what about marine reptiles? If icthyosaurs actually tasted like fish it would the funniest thing ever.

There probably wouldn't be enough meat on your average pterosaur to make it worthwhile, but a giant azdarchid could probably provide a few steaks.

[Weaver]

I suspect that any carnivores would taste like modern mammal carnivores. Like bear. I have eaten bear. Grizzly to be specific. This particular one seemed to have eaten lots of bear-foods like fish, berries, nuts and meat. Eating a meat-eater is... weird. I did not like it. It's stringy, coarse and greasy. It was a rump roast that was stewed to pieces (to kill any Trichinella it may have harbored) but it didn't taste... right. It tastes nothing like beef, pork, lamb, mutton, gator, or any type of poultry. Think of it as dried up stringy meat that is then cooked in greasy water. That's what a fish-eating bear tastes like. I would not eat the meat-eaters. Who knows what other things the herbivores could have passed onto them or what they may carry that would be dangerous to us.

I'll pass on the Velociraptor fillets and T. rex steaks. For some reason I can imagine sauropods tasting like bison. I don't know why. Hmm.

[DinoFan45]

Snarky answer= a dinosaur

Real answer= Probably depends on the dinosaur. Some would taste like modern animals, others probably would taste unlike anything we have ever tasted.

[HD-man]

Quoting Breithaupt ( http://www.bbc.co.uk/sn/tvradio/programmes/horizon/broadband/tx/petdinosaur/questions/#dinomeat ):

That is a very good question, Matthew. As modern birds are dinosaurs, I imagine that non-avian (not bird) dinosaur meat might taste a bit like the meat of some of the large ground birds like emus and ostriches. Their meat is very lean and has a bit of a gamey taste. Alligators are a cousin to the dinosaurs and their meat tastes gamey as well, and somewhat bird like. Having tasted emu, ostrich, and alligator meat (which are all delicious), I would imagine that is the closest I would get to knowing what non-avian dinosaur meat tastes like. None of these actually tastes very chicken like, as all have a bit more of a wild game taste. Diets definitely affect how animals taste. So yes, the carnivores and herbivores would taste very different, just as herbivores and carnivores taste different today.

[David Phantomhive]

I would imagine something like ostrich... I think this would be an excellent excuse to clone a dino! 

[Simon]

Having eaten both Emy and Ostrich "burgers" while living in San Antonio, Texas, where both birds are raised on some ranches (hence their meat is available in some restaurants), I have to agree with the earlier comment.

The Emu and Ostrich both tasted like wild game, no fat to speak of, and nothing like chicken.  The Ostrich in particular tasted like an out-of-this world wild Bison-ey taste and to this day I consider it to be the best tasting meat I have ever eaten....

[postsaurischian]

  ... probably the most useless thread we've ever had here.

BTW: Eating reptile meat is strictly against my personal religion .

[Libraraptor]

Great question.
Boring answer: Probably something between chicken and crocodile.

[Everything_Dinosaur]

Having eaten crocodile and alligator on our travels both of these tasted like chicken, never tried ostrich perhaps this might be more of a guide?

[Takama]

I just ate Alligator on a Stick for the first time in my life at the Watermelon festival, and I must say, it tasted good.   It did taste like chicken to me, but I think that the similarity's in taste might be down to the fact that they are both Archosaurs. With that in mind, I assume some non avian dinosaurs might taste similar. 

[fleshanthos]

The Dinosaurs might like a taste of YOU!

T-rex "hmmm. Remarkably filling for such a small McNugget. Must be all the extra fats."
Tric: "I can give up Veganism for one day."
Velociraptor: "Slow and weak - what more could you ask for?"
Vulture: "Looka that. ANOTHER weak pathetic thing that died of thirst."

[Everything_Dinosaur]

Having eaten crocodile and alligator (all in the name of science), as far as I can remember both tasted just like chicken.