Donkeys are very tasty and commonly eaten in Sicily once they get too old to work. The taste and texture could be described as tasting of veal or young beef. Most of the “stranger” Italian dishes were created out of necessity. By using the entire animal or buying the off-cuts, Italians throughout the centuries could save money and still eat a nutritious meal. They still refer to this type of cooking as cucina povera, or “poor cooking”. The recipes are local and come from what was readily available throughout the country’s history.
Italy’s consumption of donkey comes from its agricultural past, when the animals were used hail burdens and to work the fields and food was scarce. Horses and donkeys too old and frail to work any longer were viewed as protein like anything else, and the people ate them out of necessity. The trend was common in the 1800s when doctors prescribed inexpensive equine meat to combat anemia, as it is high in protein and iron and low in fat and cholesterol. Italy still has the highest consumption of equine meat in all of Europe and there are still plenty of delicious dishes to be found throughout rural Italy. Try donkey ragù or stracotto d’asino, made with donkey meat slow cooked for hours and hours. Yummy!
https://modernfarmer.com/2014/12/donkey-delicacies/
https://allthingssicilianandmore.com/tag...eir%20meat.
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