Bear Meat: An Unusual Delicacy

Bear meat seems an unusual delicacy, considering the ferocity of the animal. That unbridled fury is one of the reasons why North American hunters would often pray to the animal spirit before taking a bear’s life. The bear was such an esteemed creature that it was common for people to carry out detailed rituals like this one before consuming bear meat. Was it out of necessity, for taste of the meat, or was something else at play?

Ancient hunters considered the bear as something of a hybrid human. Some tribes even revered the animal as godlike, straddling the line between animal and human. The ancient Greeks ate both bear and lion, although they claim that bear tasted worse than lion and required different preparations to make the meat palatable.

Bear claws are considered a delicacy in China. China’s other delicacies include birds nest and shark’s fin, all of which are considered foods that strengthen the body. The Chinese serve bear claws at expensive feasts, a tradition that stemmed from an observation. Bears once roamed China in great numbers, but restrictions on the serving of bear’s paw has forced the meat into relative obscurity, served only in historically significant situations.

There is evidence that bear was hunted throughout Anglo-Saxon England, but little evidence that bear meat was consumed by anyone other than the Norse and Icelandic peoples. The Polish had a similar practice, except they ate bear paws and bacon from bears. The fur was also highly valued, but the rest of the animal was left in the forest where it was killed.