duck, rabbits, turkey, mutton/sheep/lamb, horse are not unusual in France. Though beef is more common than horse.
also see urchin, Mussels, Oysters are common. I don't know how common they are elsewhere.
Often:
Beef/veal
Pig
turkey
chicken
rabbits
lamb
duck
few fishes, but nothing unusual.
bream (mostly), tuna, cod/aiglefin/colin, salmon, trout, etc.
octopus, squid, Mussels, shrimp
less frequently or once only:
Horse
donkey (as sausage)
quail
pheasant? I don't remember
venison/deer
wild boar
escargot
frog
shark
lobster
things I'm willing to try:
ostrich
kangaroo
espadon/swordfish
crocodile? where do we find that?
snake (apparently it's not that good)
guinea pig / Kui (ahhh, I have them as pet)
big red crabs
probably more (fox, etc.)
Things I'm not willing:
insects or spiders
dolphin (poor thing, probably illegal)
Squirrel (I think it's illegal here?)
turtle (not sure it taste good? poor thing?)
see urchin (that orange thing just looks disgusting)
Oyster (I don't want to try, but every french like it!)
Things I don't know, just because of culture and probably illegal here:
cats and dogs
Now, What am I eating today?
Sea urchin would be a speciality thing if it is available at all around here. Mussels are pretty common, though you need to make sure you are at a decent restaurant here as gritty mussels are horrible. I also had curried mussels the other month... hard to understate how delicious that was. Oysters are common enough, though some of a delicacy rather than something you would have a plate full of as a main course (starter, side dish, late evening snack* sort of thing). Winkles would also want to be added to that list.
*they are also considered an aphrodisiac (aphrodisiaque) so yeah.
Swordfish is delicious. If you have someone good at cooking fish and you can find some then do it, especially if you like bream. Don't know what I would suggest as a sauce and I prefer it fairly plain as these things go -- few herbs, some salt, maybe some butter and pan seared swordfish steak... I would not go for garlic at first but could see it working and definitely don't be slathering it in a white sauce or anything based on tomato (and I say that in spite of the fact I hate tomatoes and they hate me).
Dolphins are bastards and pigs are probably about as intelligent. I can see why they would spear fish tuna but no qualms there from me.
Surprised to see the objection to squirrel though. For the most part squirrels are rats with good PR/fuzzy tails. Don't know if it is illegal in France, did a quick search (albeit in English) and did not have anything come back.
Do want to try guinea pig as well actually.
Forgot about insects. Ignoring that chocolate has a surprisingly high number of insect parts it is allowed to contain (so much so that most of the poor bastards that are considered to be allergic to chocolate are probably actually allergic to insects). Anyway done various chocolate covered ants, crickets and possibly a locust as well. As far as straight roast insects then don't know that I have. Have not learned to keep my mouth shut when out on a bike so had a few there as well. Did try snails many years ago in France but it is basically just like chewy garlic butter with the amount of seasoning done so eh really, do like however that snails were likely one of the first domesticated species that humans ever did (they found a cave somewhere that showed people breeding them to be larger and larger).
I nearly forgot, I’ve had rabbit a few times in Australia and my friend took me out to a snake restaurant in Hong Kong a few years ago. They sold snake wine too but I didn’t try any.
I haven’t seen the meat of any of the other animals you mentioned for sale before. If I go to the UK, which I probably will next year, I’ll give some of them a shot.
I had goat, rabbit, quail and kangaroo in Australia and the others overseas. Crocodile at a food festival in Malaysia, horse at a restaurant in Japan and the rest in China.
You can buy crocodile in Australia if you know where to go, but I never did. It’s easier to find than the other exotic meats mentioned in this thread.
Fox is the most interesting meat I’d like to eat. We don’t normally eat carnivorous mammals. I like Naruto too much. Live foxes are easy enough to find in Australia, but I’d probably be breaking a few laws if I went to a local park, set a trap and slaughtered the fox which walked into it.
Turkey is a more common meat which I forgot about.
Other than the birds (other than chicken and turkey you tend to find those processed and in plastic, pheasant only at times of year when it is shooting season) if you go to a normal size or big size supermarket it is going to beef, lamb and pork, and livers of pig and lamb (seldom see beef liver in normal supermarkets, more likely to see chicken liver), maybe some kidney and heart too. The kangaroo and ostrich stuff is a few times a year thing in one or two less popular supermarkets, or a specialist order. Goat you can find on high street butchers but not all will (if you can find somewhere with a decent Caribbean population or ask them where they get it then you will be more likely to find it), and it might be somewhat seasonal. Same for venison, rabbit and boar, though there are butchers specialising in wild foods and game which will probably have all three. Sometimes you might some venison mince or a few cuts of it in a plastic wrap in a single solitary chiller in a supermarket but I would not know where to go right now to definitely find any in a supermarket. Squirrel not outside of certain restaurants. Many places around have a rare and local breeds butcher if you wanted to do that one as well.
Reindeer wise then the only place I can consistently get that is Ikea, and even then it is usually just salami where it is mixed with pork or mini salami bites.
For the most part most UK peeps you will speak to have probably never knowingly eaten anything other than beef, lamb, chicken, duck, turkey and pork + whatever fish they like. Beyond that most below about 55 have probably never eaten anything other than the "normal" cuts of those either (give or take whatever they mince up to make a cheapo pork pie or "mechanically recovered meat" that people shove in sandwiches), and those above 55 will likely only have had heart, tripe, liver and kidney (outside of the steak and kidney pie popular in fish and chip shops) when they were kids. Other than them leaving fat on the cuts, the cuts being slightly different in some cases and lamb being super popular (it would be very strange to be a dedicated meat eater here that never had lamb, though as it is expensive then maybe not as an everyday thing) it is all pretty American these days which is something of a shame -- other than it meaning liver is dirt cheap then basic muscle meat lacks certain things that connective tissue and other such things have in far greater quantities.
As for Australia then most times the topic has been brought up then on kangaroo I usually hear "urgh that is dog meat mate". Now that usually means it is genuinely overlooked (and given you can find it cheap in the UK that is quite likely) or the locals are saving it as a hidden delicacy.
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