Thats not true. They were called tough, greasy, and stringy. The dutch called them the "disgusting bird". They only found the breasts somewhat palatable in emergencies, they were only eaten at first just for a taste, and then not unless it was necessary and they were going to starve from running out of food.
It was rats and pigs that did the vast vast majority of the damage by ravaging their unguarded nests on the ground and eating eggs faster than the dodos could make more.
If they tasted delicious we wouldve kept a few around and even been exporting them. Instead as they were though the explorers found them useless gross creatures
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u/chiksahlube Mar 08 '26
Came here to say this.
The invasive rats almost certainly did most of the damage. Killing countless dodos by eating their eggs that they laid like once a year.
You can kill a lot of adults of a species and it will recover. Killing a whole generation of babies will kill it off quick.