[Sca-cooks] bats in Europe? as food?

[Martin G. Diehl]

Stefan li Rous wrote:
> 
>    William de Grandfort commented:
>  > --- Sue Clemenger <mooncat at in-tch.com> wrote:
>  >> These "airplanes" are pretty good at delivering fresh 
>  >> foods, as are their cousins "trucks," which I'm given 
>  >> to understand travel on the ground as is proper for 
>  >> mortals, instead of in the sky, which is the province 
>  >> for birds and angels....
>  >
>  > And bats, too... don't forget bats.
> 
> Hmmm. bout all I remember bats delivering is guano. Good 
> for saltpeter and fertilizer but not much else. :-)

Bats eat flying insects by the ton.  

> Bats are native to Europe as well as North America, right? 
> Are there any medieval recipes for bats or references to 
> them being eaten?

I sincerely hope not -- not even as illusion food.  

OTOH, I do recall seeing a TV special on bat habitat -- 
and skunks going inside to 'harvest' fallen baby bats off 
the floor of the cave.  Yum!  Yum!

Some additional info ... 

"NJ Outdoor Women's League Bat Walk Outing"; 
http://www.njowl.org/outing9-01bat.htm

and this especially charming image ... 

"Winter Bat Surveys / Spot the Sodalis"; 
http://www.batmanagement.com/Projects/2004WinterSurveys/pages/HiberniaSodalisInMiddle.html

Success Stories: Bats; 
http://www.batcon.org/batsmag/v20n2-16.html 

And scroll down to the last item to read ... 

	"Success Story: Little Brown Bat, Myotis lucifugus"

	New Jersey's Hibernia Mine, a source of iron ore 
	since 1722, was by the 1980s one of the most 
	important bat-hibernation sites in the northeastern 
	U.S. The long-closed mine was the winter home for 
	more than 25,000 little brown bats. 

This specific bat hibernaculum is about 3 miles from where 
I am sitting.  

> Stefan

> (who was well aware that fresh seafood is delivered to 
> even Montana by air. Was just kidding Maire. Austin is at 
> least three hours from the Gulf by truck. Once you get 
> that distance, most fresh seafood probably is flown in, 
> and it probably doesn't make much difference how long the 
> flight is)
> --------
> THLord Stefan li Rous 

Vincenzo

-- 
Martin G. Diehl

http://www.renderosity.com/gallery.ez?ByArtist=Yes&Artist=MGD

Reality: That which remains after you stop thinking about it.
  inspired by P. K. Dick