I've eaten fish I caught and cleaned. I've also eaten a lot of fish I cleaned, because my dad Tom Sawyered me into believing it was fun. They're better than less fresh fish, but they're still fish. I've eaten plenty of venison shot by people I knew, but I never pulled the trigger myself. Having had a garden in deer country, I doubt I'd hesitate.

Seared abalone at a sushi restaurant - excellent.

Pretty much deer and fish caught by people. duck and goose, too.

When I was 7 or 8, we were served rabbit. My dad waited until I tasted it to reveal what I was chewing. He didn't say it was rabbit, though. He said it was Midnight - which was the name of the bunny I had raised from a teeny baby bunny. I spit it out.

Then there was the time my mom boiled deer meat the whole day that I was home sick with an upset stomach. I've never been that sick in my life. The gamey smell was disgusting.

Needless to say, I mostly stick to beef and chicken. Or sushi.

ION - I'm sorry I won't get to see you in Feb, Sail. Originally, DH was going to fly in and we were going to make a mini vacation out of it. Which is why we've been calling the cat Chicago ever since we brought him home from the vet.

Growing up in the midwest, I've had only had fresh seafood at the LAF2F (I shared with Trudy, and it was NOM.)

But I've had raccoon chili, freshly gigged frogs legs, LOTS of venison, chicken I saw, er, freshly locally sourced and plucked myself (once), cows we raised, lots of eggs (chickens are dumb, stinky and mean), fresh goose (geese are meaner and their poops is gross), rattlesnake, bunny BBQ, and lots and lots of farm fresh piggie.

I would get hungry in an aquarium, but NSM in a zoo.

And I just don't think carnivore is SUPPOSED to taste all that good. But I have not eaten a carnivore.

Growing up in the midwest, I've had only had fresh seafood at the LAF2F (I shared with Trudy, and it was NOM.)

Never had sashimi like that before or since. Cooked fishies, yes. I still remember that plate of nom. Vividly.

Which is why we've been calling the cat Chicago ever since we brought him home from the vet.

Hee. Poor Ashton, feeling so rotten and now he doesn't even know when he's being fed because no one is calling HIS name.

We lived on a farm for a number of years and my brothers were all about the small game hunting. They brought home pheasant and rabbit that I remember. There may have been squirrel, can't recall for sure. I just remember that a number of times, my mother didn't find all the shot and biting into metal really sucks.

I love a good fish. Escoveitched fish, freshly caught? Of the yum. But I don't cook it at home because it smells up the whole apartment.

Is there a term for shellfish that excludes the mobile ones? That's what I don't really like.

Forty minutes. That`s how long it took me to do the hated laundry folding, including this and last week`s Dreaded Matching of the Socks. I don`t know why I let myself get so fussed over small tasks.
 
Freshest sushi I ever had we caught on my great uncle`s deep sea boat in Hawaii. Cleaned it on the boat.

I completely disappointed a childhood friend's parents and grandparents by not freaking out at the news that the dinner we'd just had was raccoon. But I'm generally put off of food by texture or flavor issues, not the idea of what it came from, so as far as I was concerned it was no different from the slightly stringy roast beef I previously thought I was eating. Learning later in life that raccoons are 99 44/100 percent pure Evil only makes the memory sweeter.

I've eaten fish that I've caught. I didn't clean it though. Or maybe I was sort of part of the cleaning process but it wasn't my responsibility or skill. I have vague memories of gutting the fish while my Dad stood over me guiding my knife hand.

Anyway: perch.

Also, all the smelt we caught ice fishing. You don't clean those, though. You just roll 'em in corn meal and fry 'em up.