Quote Originally Posted by miotas View Post
I actually think that it would have started out of desperation rather than wealth. When you get to the point that you don't have a choice, it's either eat the dog or die. I think most delicacies would have started like that. Think about it, who would eat a mollusc or scrape fungi off the forest floor unless they were bloody desperate for food? Yet nowadays snails and mushrooms are delicacies that most people only buy if they have a bit of extra cash to spare.
No, delicacies are status foods, things people don't normally eat. If you are eating your dogs you will, it's stupid and pathetic and an absolute last resort.

However, if you have a surplus of dogs you can eat them, and that is a sign of pretty extreme wealth.

Mushrooms are actually quite nice, some of them, but they're scarce, hense expensive.

Snails are disgusting, so being able to eat them is a sign of extremely good breeding. You would be surprised the things medieval and renaissance nobles were willing to eat, just to prove a pedigree.