Ah, so the BBC is one of the reasons that the ubiquitous “FRIED GATOR!!!” stands can be found at nearly every single summer event one can attend. Fair, festival, carnival, show, expo or open-aired gathering of tent – there’s bound to be one of these tents surrounded by folks where at least one of these exact conversations will be taking place:

Person A: “Look, it’s Alligator!”

Person B: “Do you think it’s real alligator?”

Person A: “I think so, should we try it?”

Person B: “Yeah!”

And lo, they part with ten perfectly good dollars that could have been spent on Kettle Corn, elephant ears and funnel cakes.

I’m not a fan of the alligator. It’s not that it tastes bad. In fact, I wouldn’t say that it tastes like much of anything. “Like chicken,” is probably not all that off, it’s just a much more exaggerated texture. And that’s where my issue with alligator rests. Alligators are large, predatory creatures that are incredibly muscular. The flesh is tough. I had mine quick-fried and it was CHEWY. Uncomfortably so. I just felt like I wouldn’t be done chewing. Like I said, it didn’t taste bad, but I wanted to be done eating all ready!

Well, I can say I had it – if I were offered it as a guest, I could smile, chew and be ever so nice about the whole thing, but if I’m looking at a menu and it’s one of the choices among many, it’s not really at the top of my list. :)