We weren’t in New York or London. We weren’t even having lunch at a restaurant down on 3rd Street in Naples. J and I were explore our southern dot on the map, Everglades City and Chokolockee, which are about as far south as you can go on the west side of Florida unless you are in a boat. It is in the Thousand Islands area of the Everglades National Park.
I took my camera because some sun had been promised. We only saw a few seconds of sun so I’m not pleased with the photos, but this sign caught my eye.
I think I am aiming to become a burger connoisseur. I tried to get a moose burger in Newfoundland, but it was past season. I had a bison burger in St. Mary in Glacier National Park in Montana, and I had a great beef burger at the Prairie Dog Cafe in South Dakota. I had to have a gator burger in the Everglades.
Alligator sunning on the edge of a pond.
We went in, looked at the menu, and wooh, the most expensive thing (at least under sandwiches) was the gator burger. I’ve paid $13 for lunch before; I just wasn’t expecting it in a small-town diner. But I was intrigued so we decided to do what we frequently do, split a meal with a couple of extra sides.
J said he expected it to taste like chicken and when it came it was a very light meat – like chicken. It didn’t taste like chicken, though, and we couldn’t decide what it tastes like – I guess like alligator. I detected a bit of a taste of fish. I enjoyed it and would order it again. We have decided we need another trip to the Everglades National Park when the sun is shining because I would like to work on recording the personality of the Everglades in photographs.
Jake has posted the Sunday word of the week and it is “reality”. You can join the fun at: http://jakesprinters.wordpress.com/2014/01/12/sunday-post-reality/
A New Day: Living Life Almost Gracefully 
You are braver than I am. I had Buffalo jerky, Moose and Antelope stew in Wyoming. Yuck! 🙂 I liked the jerky though.
I love the photo’s. You are very talented with that camera of yours. Thanks for sharing.
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I seem to be a bit braver with animals than seafood. I have been to a couple of restaurants lately that had alligator fingers. I didn’t try them.:)
Thanks, Sue. I have discovered that I really enjoy photography and blogging gives me an opportunity to display what I do. Great fun.
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You do it very well. I used to take a lot of pictures but not so much any more. You’re inspiring me to get back at it. 🙂
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Pat, you are brave…a gator burger…Not sure I could do it.
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I was so intrigued in the place and moment that I didn’t think about it. I have heard of other things that I would take pause with. Aren’t we funny creatures, Sue. I really enjoy shrimp but if I saw it in a market for the first time in a foreign land, I would pass it up. 🙂 I just remembered seeing the reality show Swamp People when they were eating gator and I said Ewww, while turning up my nose.
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When I was a child I ate squirrel without knowing it! It makes me sick now to think of it…:-O
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Hedgehogs was a staple diet for around 400 years for country folk and Gypsy’s. A few years ago was a uproar because one of the major crisp (chips) manufacturers brought out Hedgehog flavored crisps I had them and they were yummy, but they didn’t really taste like Hedgehogs, I have eaten Hedgehogs while in the forces when I went on a survival training course.
Trap one hedgehog,
Dispatch with a bleed making sure the knife is sharp
Open up the stomach cavity (making sure you do not spill the stomach contents)
Wash with water
Cover thickly with mud covering all the spines
The place on hot embers and cover with more embers or place in a hot fire and bake for 15-20.
Break open the mud and you will find that the skin and spikes will come off.
Enjoy.
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I know that people eat all kinds of animals, especially under extreme conditions. I don’t eat much of any meat nowadays…though I know I need protein, I would prefer to be a vegetarian…
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I am diabetic and I use an injection which is made from a hormone that is found in the venom of a lizard, since I started using it twice a day my yearning for meat has dropped dramatically, along with my need for fats, like butter, I live on very little but healthy diet, I eat more fruit that anything else, I am watching out in case I get scales lol. I used to eat salmon a lot even the thought makes me feel sick. I have lost 6 stone (14lb to a stone) and 10 inches off my waist and would you believe I have gone down a shoe size, my diabetes is ‘healed’ and I am a happy bunny 🙂
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I think I would have tried it too.
LOL – on your comment on what it tastes like. 🙂
I tried alligator once. I can’t recall what it tastes like. But – I remember enjoying it. It was not a burger though.
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Exactly, RoSy. We couldn’t say what it tasted like but it was good. Why would we eat it if it tasted like something else? 😀
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Sometimes you never care what you have to eat when you are hungry that`s the reality ….
Thanks for sharing Pat 🙂
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$13 doesn’t sound so bad for a gator burger. I’ve had it grilled before, and think that chicken/fish sounds like a fair descriptor. Of course, I’d say the same thing for frog legs. Three cheers for sunshine!
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I think it was the contrast to the cost of other burgers. And sunshine has returned to the sunshine state. 🙂
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How fascinating! (How daring of you to try so many different kinds of meat.) I mostly stick with veggie burgers, lol. You paid $13 for an amazing experience of trying something different.
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Sometimes the need for thrills overtakes my judgement. 😀
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It would be interesting to taste a burger made of meat different from what is sold in the supermarket.
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Try South America, you can get a guinea pig burger, rat burger, tarantula burger, it will be the legs as you cannot eat the bulbus part where the web comes from, armadillo burger and a selection of what is called bush food 🙂
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Wow, now that should make every pallet happy. Thanks for the info.
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Thanks Pete. I think I’ll go barf now. lol Ohhhhhh yuck!!!!!!
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I think of myself as enjoying an adventure as much as the next person, but I cannot even imagine working up to a point of eating alligator. But, I’m glad You enjoyed it. 🙂
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Fun post, Pat! There’s a little place called Country Cousins near Chehalis where you can get a yak burger.
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Wow, maybe I’ll have to put it on my travel itinerary. 🙂 Thanks, Naomi.
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