Geese in Jane Austen

As the title says, I am currently reading 'Emma' and I was struck by the references to geese in this and other novels.

In 'Emma,' Mrs Martin of Abbey Mill Farm gives a present of a goose to Mrs Goddard, who, as we are told, dressed it on a Sunday and invited the other teachers to sup with her. I presume that she gave it over to her cook to be plucked and prepared.

Emma gives Robert Martin a goose as part of her apology for the way she treated him over Harriet Smith.

In 'Mansfield Park,' Mr and Miss Crawford are driven out of the house as a result of the ill temper of Dr Grant over his disappointment over a 'green goose ' (A 'green goose?!)

As far as I remember, I have never eaten goose and I wonder if anyone here has ever eaten it. Is it just one of those foods that have gone out of favour in modern times? Which other foods have gone out of fashion?

We used to eat goose (instead of Turkey) for Christmas lunch sometimes when I was growing up we occasionally had Duck or Pheasant but never Turkey. I have been a vegetarian now for nearly 40 years so am struggling to remember the taste but I do remember it was flavoursome and we all enjoyed it. Our local butcher supplied these

I think, as this thread progresses, you will find that lots of people eat goose at Christmas.
My sister in law, farming family, usually had it and at various times throughout the year.
My daughter cooked goose one Christmas. We're not keen on it. It's fatty and there's not much flesh on the bird.
It certainly has not gone out of fashion I would say.

I have never eaten geese. The other thing they used to eat is swan ( Tudor times ) but I think they are protected now. I have eaten crocodile , it wasn’t too bad, a bit like chicken. I have also eaten kangaroo but didn’t like it one little bit! Jane Austen must have been wealthy I think having time to write novels and living in a place where geese were on the menu ( even though it was just her characters)

We have had goose at Christmas.

Growing up, it was always farmyard ducks or geese,

Never turkey.

From the responses, I am learning that people do eat goose on special occasions. Other foods that have gone out of fashion are frumerty ( not sure of the spelling) and gruel, which has been replaced by a thicker preparation of porridge.

The other thing they used to eat is swan

Isn't it true that the only person allowed to eat swan is the current monarch? Although I can't remember any mention of the late queen ever having eaten it.

Jane Austen was far from wealthy, though the impression given in biographies of her that after her father had died she and her mother and sister were poor relations who lived on the charity of the rest of the family always seems a bit overblown to me. they seem to have had a very comfortable middle class existence. very much as the people she wrote about in her novels.

This ‘existence’ was rural and rural life included the raising of poultry for food. Goose would not be an uncommon food for comfortable middle class people.

I’m always amazed that Mrs Goddard managed to get enough off the goose to share with others. I’ve cooked goose a couple of times and, while it tastes fine, I think it is a very expensive way to get huge quantities of fat and not a lot of meat! But the fat was very useful to 18th/19thC households. They didn’t have access to all the petroleum based oils that we have. Goosefat was not only used for cooking and preservation, it was a lubricant and was held to have some health preserving properties.

P.S I’ve read that swan is dry and fishy tasting. The Royals are welcome to it😆

would a green goose be a goose that had had gone off?

We had it once at Christmas. It's a bit like duck but more gamey tasting from what I remember. Everyone was ill with stomach thing (not goose related) and we've not really revisited having it again. We had it from waitrose.

A green goose is a spring one - young, "green" geese are more delicate and tender. They would have fed on fresh spring grass and greens, rather than being fattened up on grain or harvest leftovers later in the year. I think Christmas Geese were "Stubble Geese".

I don't remember Mansfield Park at all but they were considered a seasonal luxury.

I thought goose was standard Christmas fayre for the comfortably off. Turkey was an American tradition long before it was adopted here.