Talk:Cockchafer soup

Linguistic ambiguity regarding dates

The article says both "1900s" and "1800s", which leads me to believe that these terms are used in place of 20th and 19th century, which isn't very precise but also introduces a level of ambiguity. Example: The article states that it was common to eat this until the "mid-1900s", which means a vague date around 1905. Often times people would carelessly use "1900s" when they mean the 20th century and I understand that some people find this acceptable, but if we talk about the "2000s" we talk specifically about the years from 2000 to 2009. If we use any other decade, the proper use of this format becomes much clearer, for example "1830s" or "1920s". "1900s" is not a valid replacement or synonymous with "20th century", it's a careless misuse of words. I did check the sources and they do make the same mistake, which is why I haven't edited it myself. I currently don't have the time, but if anyone can find a better source, please consider fixing this problem. Xaromir (talk) 19:21, 7 May 2025 (UTC)

Importance of this as a delicacy is almost certainly overstated

A brief review of the sources cited in this article seems to suggest that significant source inflation has occurred over time with this recipe. There really does seem to have been an article published in 1844 ("Maikäfersuppen, ein vortreffliches und kräftiges Nahrungsmittel," or something like "Cockchafer soup, an excellent and hearty food item," by Johann Joseph Schneider). This suggests that it was at minimum some local, experimental, or potentially one-off culinary item.

But further articles with grander claims (e.g., "commonly consumed," "delicacy," etc.) all seem to trace back to the same cluster of articles which themselves seem to have strongly been inspired by (or even plagiarized from) the original 1844 article.

Indeed, after a review of the German Wikipedia article, it appears that that article version has moved in the same direction. I.e., not denying the recipe was simply conjured out of thin air, but doubting that such an item was ever really a remotely established food in the German-speaking (or French-speaking) world. ~2026-15603-21 (talk) 20:55, 11 March 2026 (UTC)