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![enter image description here](https://i.stack.imgur.com/ahpTu.jpg)

Searching on Google, I found some food related to tanuki like tanuki udon (not
sure if they really use tanuki). But I can't find anything like tanuki hot
pot. Does this kind of food actually exist? Do they actually eat tanuki?


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2014-09-14T14:13:38.980
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culture the-eccentric-family
Does tanuki hot pot actually exist?


**Makiko Itoh** answered the question " _[Do people in Japan actually eat
tanuki in hot pot?](http://www.quora.com/Japanese-Food-2/Do-people-in-Japan-
actually-eat-tanuki-in-hot-pot)_ ". A side information of her shows " _I write
about Japanese food and cooking and am Japanese_ ".

I quote her answer below:

> A long, long time ago it may have been more widely eaten, but these days it
> rarely is. Even when it is eaten it's limited to certain regions, and to
> certain seasons. Tanuki are omnivores, and the meat of omnivores is supposed
> to be very unpleasant.
>
> You do see a lot of dishes that are called tanuki, e.g. tanuki udon, but
> that usually means it has some tenkasu (tempura batter crumbs) in it. The
> 'tanuki' part of such dishes has nothing to do with the animal - it comes
> from 'tanenuki', or 'no main ingredient/filling' - i.e. tempura batter
> without the shrimp or vegetable or whatever.

* * *

Another [article](http://food-in-japan.com/2013/05/kitsune-udon-and-tanuki-
udon/), which writes about interesting names of food, says:

> Do Japanese people eat fox and raccoon dog?
>
> “ **No way!** ”
>
> Don’t worry! They are just a name of foods and any fox and raccoon dog are
> NOT cooked.

(Raccoon dog = Tanuki)

* * *

Another answer by **bluemoonmemory** for the question " _[Do people really eat
tanuki?](https://ca.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20081206214834AAGjYYM)_
":

> Because raccoon dog is not cultivated but just hunting game in limited
> official hunting season, the supply is scarcely limited. Most of Japanese
> never eat tanuki but rabit or sort of fake instead actually.
>
> In addition, tanuki soba or tanuki udon is just name only. It doesn't
> contain any tanuki meat or tanuki extract. It is soba or udon with topping
> something non-animal products deep-fried that old people long time ago once
> had thought it as if tasted like tanuki or much better.
>
> Raccoon dog meat has heavy animal smell urinal. This modern society of Japan
> people prefer beef, pork and/or chicken much more to wild animal meat. They
> don't need to eat tanuki anymore.

With these information, I would say that Japanese generally do not eat tanuki.
Only the food is called like that, but it is actually made from other animal
or even vegeratarian. But I would not deny that it is eaten in some regions,
and especially a long time ago.


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