Charles Darwin is widely known for his extensive study of the natural world, but his scientific curiosity did not stop at observation.
Throughout his lifetime, the famous researcher routinely cooked and ate the rare, unclassified species he discovered. From dining on puma and giant tortoises to drinking fluid from a reptile’s bladder, Darwin’s research extended directly to his dinner table. He sampled the meat of dozens of different animals to see what they brought to the human palate.
The Cambridge Glutton Club
Darwin’s appetite for unusual wildlife began during his days at Cambridge University. He joined a student organization known as the Glutton Club. Where most university clubs met on a weekly basis to discuss standard duties, this group gathered with a single objective: to consume birds and beasts that were previously unknown to the human palate.
During their time together, the members sampled mostly birds. They consumed a hawk and a heron-like bird known as a bittern. The club eventually disbanded after serving a brown owl. The members lost their gusto upon finding the owl’s flesh to be indescribable in a highly unpleasant way, bringing an abrupt end to their weekly culinary meetings.
Dining Aboard the HMS Beagle
The brown owl deterred his classmates, but Darwin graduated with a strong penchant for unusual food choices. When he boarded the HMS Beagle for his global tour, he maintained his unusual dietary habits. As he devoted himself to cataloging new animals, he also ate them in the name of science.
He consumed iguanas, armadillos, and his famous giant Galapagos tortoises. He even sampled a cup of the tortoises’ bladder contents, noting in his records that the liquid was limpid and slightly bitter. When he ate a puma during his travels, he recorded that the meat tasted remarkably like veal.
The Accidental Rhea Feast
In Argentina, Darwin spent several months attempting to catch a lesser rhea, a South American bird similar to an ostrich. One evening, his expedition team prepared a bird for dinner without informing him what it was. Mid-meal, Darwin realized he was eating the exact unclassified lesser rhea he had been trying to study.
He panicked and immediately ordered everyone to stop eating. He scrambled to salvage the remaining bones, feathers, skin, and gizzards. He gathered all these parts and sent them straight back to England for safe keeping.
A Massive Rodent Dinner
Despite the vast array of exotic animals he consumed across multiple continents, Darwin’s top culinary choice was a mammal he found in South America. According to his own records, his absolute favorite meal of the entire journey was an agouti. This was a large rodent weighing 20 pounds (9.07 kilograms).
The biologist explicitly described this heavy rodent as the very best meat he had ever tasted. Scientists eating the animals they study is a practice recorded throughout history, and Darwin eagerly participated.