The One Unusual Food Martha Stewart Vows To Never Eat

For some time, the image we all had of Martha Stewart was that she was a consummate Type A personality: an utterly composed Connecticut woman who cooked, decorated, and gardened better than anybody else while scarcely letting a single blonde hair fall out of place. This has changed somewhat in recent years, starting around the time she finished her stint in prison for insider trading. (She had some thoughts about the prison food.) Today, Stewart's persona is no less competent, but much more approachable. She pals around with Snoop Dogg; she appears on Comedy Central to roast Justin Bieber; and she was even seen in the audience at a Godspeed You! Black Emperor show. But even Martha Stewart's loosey-goosey side only goes so far — in other words, don't expect her to eat raccoon any time soon.

Stewart appeared on "Late Night with Seth Meyers" to promote the competitive cooking show "Yes, Chef!", which she co-hosts with celebrity chef and Nobel Peace Prize nominee José Andrés. After going over the basics of the show (which focuses on chefs with difficult personalities), she mentions the many raccoons in the area where they filmed — they were even discovered in the pantry prior to filming — before segueing into an anecdote about a "chicken and raccoon supper" she attended. Although the other diners apparently "loved" the raccoon, Stewart still didn't budge: "I don't like to eat rare things," she said. (While Meyers correctly responded that raccoons are hardly rare, Stewart said she meant that they were "rare on the table.")

It's easy to understand why Martha Stewart might be reluctant to eat raccoon. Despite the best efforts of Rocket Raccoon, these nocturnal critters are usually seen as unclean, scavenging "trash pandas." If it's true that you are what you eat, it's hard not to imagine what kind of effect the garbage raccoons eat might have on you if you were to partake in some roasted varmint. But while you probably won't see them on the table of a Michelin-starred restaurant any time soon, people have eaten raccoons for some time, especially in the South. As it became easier to get better meat at the supermarket, a stigma formed around eating game like raccoon (in addition to the unclean issue, they were also seen as food for people in economic dire straits), but some people still do it.

As you can imagine, raccoon tastes pretty gamey, but not in an entirely unpleasant way. (So we hear, anyway — we've never eaten it.) It's said to taste similar to turkey, as well as other kinds of game like venison or rabbit. It apparently tastes good smoked, grilled, or braised, and while you need to take care to get it to 165 degrees to kill off any pathogens, most cooking methods will get you there. It may not be to Martha Stewart's tastes, but then again, pungent onion sandwiches aren't to most people's taste, either, and she loves to eat those.