Roasted Hedgehog: a classic taste of the Middle Ages
When most people in the West think of what meats humans eat a few common answers will crop up. Chicken, beef, pork, lamb and fish are the main ones, with turkey, goose, ducks, veal and rabbits making an appearance from time to time as well. Your average person is unlike to offer up hedgehog, but their ancestors might’ve though, especially if they were English.
The UK is famous for its rather drab taste in food (though we may have invented some classic dishes), but once upon a time our tastes were a great deal more exotic. The adorably cute European Hedgehog was once a staple of the Medieval English diet and while the practice has almost entirely died out now, it remains a strange piece of culinary history.
History of eating hedgehogs
First off, while the historical record of eating hedgehogs is present, accounts of it are few are far between. This is likely because it was primarily a rural, peasant dish. The literacy of Medieval Europe was concentrated in the upper classes and the clergy, so accounts of everyday people and their lives are rare.
