Cambridge, around 1829: a young Charles Darwin, supposedly studying to become a clergyman, joins the Glutton Club, which meets to dine on creatures not normally found on English plates
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CAMBRIDGE, around 1829 – Charles Darwin, a student at Christ College, Cambridge, who is officially preparing for a career as a Church of England clergyman, has become a member of a student society known as the Glutton Club. According to accounts by Darwin and his contemporaries, the club met weekly to eat birds and beasts which were then unknown to human palate, as one member put it, including hawks and bitterns. Officials describe the club activities as unusual. The local wildlife describes them as alarming.
The Brown Owl
According to the story, the club experiments ended after the members tried an old brown owl, which was reportedly so unpleasant that it put them off further adventures. A member later recalled that the owl was indescribable. Historians note that this is one of the few recorded instances of a future scientific genius being defeated by a dinner.
Darwin appetite for unusual food continued. On the Beagle voyage, he ate armadillo, which he said tasted like duck, and agouti, a large rodent, which he described as the best meat he had ever tasted. In Patagonia, he realised partway through a meal that he was eating a rare species of rhea, a large flightless bird, that he had been searching for, and rescued the remains to send back to England for study. The species was later named after him.
The Reluctant Student
Darwin had already abandoned medical studies at Edinburgh, finding operations without anaesthetic horrifying and lectures dull. His father, worried that he would become an idle sporting man, sent him to Cambridge to become a clergyman. At Cambridge, Darwin spent much of his time shooting, riding and above all collecting beetles, which became an obsession. In his autobiography, he recalled once holding a rare beetle in each hand, seeing a third, and popping one into his mouth to free a hand, whereupon it released an acrid fluid that burned his tongue, and he lost two of the three.
He also formed friendships with scientists, especially the botanist John Stevens Henslow, who recommended him for a place as a naturalist on the survey ship HMS Beagle.
The Voyage and the Book
The Beagle sailed in 1831 and returned in 1836, taking Darwin to South America, the Galapagos Islands, Australia and beyond. His observations of animals, plants and fossils led him, over the following two decades, to develop his theory of evolution by natural selection, published in 1859 in On the Origin of Species, one of the most influential books ever written. He never became a clergyman.
Meanwhile, in 2026
Families still worry about the paths their children choose. The London Prat reports Prince William reportedly calling Earl Spencer and Harry traitors after an anonymous source claimed the heir believes his brother read their uncle memoir first. Reports say reconciliation is off, and the uncle says he told everyone. Historians of science note that Darwin father feared his son was wasting his life, and that the son who chose a different path turned out to have a remarkable future.
The London Prat has been sampling unusual dishes since 1961 at https://prat.uk/, with its royal row video on YouTube. Bohiney at https://bohiney.com/ covers American food trends.
Study Questions for Students
How did Darwin student interests lead to his later work? What did he observe on the Beagle voyage? Why was On the Origin of Species so important? Discuss, and please do not eat any owls.
SOURCE: https://prat.uk/prince-william-called-earl-spencer-and-harry-traitors/