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Can You Eat Hippopotamus
You can eat a hippopotamus, it is very delicious and can be cooked in different ways. Hippopotamus meat is full of nutrients like iron, calcium, copper, potassium, vitamins, and zinc. It helps in weight loss and is also beneficial for digestion. It can be grilled, roasted, or stip-roasted on top of coals.
During the early part of the 20th century, a group of eclectic men decided to solve Americas beef crisis by introducing the hippopotamus into the American diet. At the beginning of the 20th century, there was even a plan to import hippos into Louisiana swampland in order to address a large meat shortage. Nowadays, it is difficult to imagine humans eating hippos, since they are not farmed commercially for meat. There are reports of carnivory and cannibalism amongst these hippos, meaning they do feed on meat under rare circumstances.
Hippos are known to attack and eat other animals, even taking the meat of predators; wildebeest, zebra, and kudus appear to be some of the most frequent hippo kills. There have been several observed hippos eating buffalo, wildebeest, and impala, as well as one other hippos eating a carcass of their own species. On very rare occasions, ordinary hippos were observed eating dead animals, but there is some dispute as to how frequently this actually happens in the wild.
Hippos, among all other herbivores, are the most omnivorous, with the highest number being caught eating meat. Although humans are killed more often by hippos than by any other animal in Africa, it is unlikely that a hippos will eat a human, as they are omnivores. For centuries, Native African tribes have traditionally eaten hippopotamuses, but very few animals were ever willing to accept a hippopotamus as dinner. Hippopotamus meat is a delicacy in many African countries, and is not generally consumed by the locals.
Luckily for us, plenty of people have tried Hippopotamus on the African continent, so first-hand accounts are plentiful. Of course, it is not a common food choice for many people around the world, but there are some who hunt for and eat hippo meat. Hippos obviously seem pretty delicious on a meat-passing diet — but that does not mean that they have to eat the flesh of a dead hippopotamus.
Compared to beef, the hippo meat has a much more gamey flavor, and although it will have similar tastes as beef, many who try it say that it has a much better finish and bite. It has superior marbling and better overall texture than other animal meats, and it can also be cooked many ways. Once marinated, the meat is said to have quite good flavours, not as though you are eating exotic animals.
Even though the meat of a colossus contains perhaps more protein fiber, it is cooked just like beef or lamb. When cooked with no flavorings, the hippopotamus meat gives off a stronger porky flavor, since pigs are also omnivores that eat plants as well as animals in order to survive.
The flavor of hippopotamus meat also changes depending on the way it is cooked; If the meat of a hippo is cooked with spices such as caraway seeds, its flavor will resemble that of venison. When it comes to meat flavor, the taste of the hippopotamus meat easily overshadows that of the one that we are normally used to eating in our homes.
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Fry-frying is not a common practice when it comes to hippo meat, given its dense texture, but meat can still be sliced into fine slices and fried, either with or without a batter. Hippo meat can take considerable time to render, and has a generous mix of muscles and a fair amount of fat on just about every part of the animal. Hippo meat is high in iron, calcium, phosphorus, zinc, vitamin B12, riboflavin, niacin, pantothenic acid, folate, biotin, copper, magnesium, manganese, potassium, sodium, selenium, thiamine, and vitamin A. Hippo meat is also known for being beneficial to digestion and helps with weight loss.
| Advantages | |
| Nutrients | Hippo meat is high in iron, calcium, phosphorus, zinc, vitamin B12, riboflavin, niacin, pantothenic acid, folate, biotin, copper, magnesium, manganese, potassium, sodium, selenium, thiamine, and vitamin A |
| Weight Loss | It helps in weight loss |
| Digestion | Hippo meat is also known for being beneficial to digestion |
Hippopotamus meat also has less cholesterol than other animals, including cows, because the hippopotamus does not make much low-density lipoprotein, unlike cows, which are fed cornmeal to fatten them up. The hippopotamus meat has approximately 3 times the unsaturated fat than that of the beef, meaning the meat from a hippopotamus can be cooked without the addition of oil or butter, and it will still have that juicy flavor, even when following traditional methods.
When hippopotamus meat goes on sale, it sells extremely quickly, and a lot of people absolutely love and prefer the taste of hippopotamus meat compared to other animals. Nowadays, people still eat hippos, but it is frowned upon and selling the flesh of hippos is illegal. As drastic as this decision is, eating them is vanishingly close to becoming reality, having failed by a single vote in the US Senate.
Traditionally, the argument was made that the hippos would scavenge meat only in extraordinary times of food shortage, as their stomachs were unadapted to eating meat. A scientific study in 2015 suggests that hippopotamuses are not limited only to carcass-scavenging; such meat-eating behaviour is in fact part of a far larger pattern of meat-eating. One scientific study from 2015 argues that a hippos digestive system is not the obstacle for eating meat, as has been traditionally assumed, and cases of carnivorous behaviour are not reported enough, as observing the hippo at night is hard.
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Although it has long been thought that the hippos are solely herbivorous, 2015 research published in the Mammal Review found that the hippo sometimes ate carcasses from animals, including other hippos. Usually thought of as grazers, hippos had previously shown other predatory behaviors: In 1998, a paper by Joseph Dudley reported two killing and eating an impala. As I mentioned above, hunters-gatherers throughout Africa have been eating the meat of hippos for hundreds of years. Although the hippo meat is rare, due to several factors we discuss below in more depth, it is still considered to be one of the best exotic game meats in the world.
Burnham is an advocate for eating hippopotamus meat, because animals like cows, sheep, poultry, and pigs are not indigenous to the United States, and yet animals like cows are an important part of the American diet. African animals like ostriches and camels had readily adapted to some areas of Americas land, and Burnham believed that hippos might as well. Neither man followed through with his orders, and a few years later, Louisiana congressman Robert Broussard borrowed from Duquesnes knowledge of African animals to help him and Burnham push for a permit to import hippos into the United States in an effort to increase meat supplies.
What do hippos taste like?
The taste of hippo meat is mild with hints of game. Though better and tastier than typical cow flesh, it can best be likened to beef. Although hippo meat may be prepared in the same ways as lamb or beef, it is challenging to find, especially in grocery stores.
How to cook hippo meat?
Hippopotamus meat is extremely thick to cook and thus, can take a long time to tenderize over a slow-flame open fire. It is recommended that you use slow cooking for hippo meat as it can allow for the inner meat to be thoroughly cooked, all the while softening and tenderizing the outside.
Is hippo meat better than beef?
Eating hippo meat will be a healthier and more flavorful alternative for you than beef. Not only does it have visible marbling, but it also caramelizes better. Moreover, its flavor is mild and subtle but also distinctly strong and can be compared to the taste of ground beef.