There is some romanticism to the barbarous act – it appears in Proust and the title character devours one in Gigi. The American chef Anthony Bourdain says the experience is close to ecstasy: “With every bite, as the thin bones and layers of fat, meat, skin and organs compact in on themselves, there are sublime dribbles of varied and wondrous ancient flavours: figs, Armagnac, dark flesh slightly infused with the salty taste of my own blood as my mouth is pricked by the sharp bones.”