If Bullfrogs Live In Every Pond, Why Don’t We Eat Them?

Bullfrogs live in almost every pond, and people say frog legs taste like chicken wings. So why don't we eat bullfrogs? We follow Albert Broel, the man behind America's 1930s frog-farm craze, to find out why his bullfrog cannery failed and why America still imports its frog legs. In 1933 Broel canned his first frog legs in Fremont, Ohio, then moved to Louisiana and sold Depression-era Americans a course called "Frog Raising for Pleasure and Profit." But bullfrogs only eat live food, eat each other, and take years to grow, so frog farming never worked. Meanwhile bullfrogs released by frog farmers spread across the American West and into dozens of countries, where they eat almost anything, from wasps to birds and snakes, and carry the chytrid fungus. So why are the frog legs in American restaurants imported from overseas? Timestamps: 0:00 The 1933 frog-leg cannery in Ohio 0:52 Albert Broel and the 1930s frog-farm craze 2:51 Why you can't farm bullfrogs 3:56 Mail fraud and the end of the cannery 4:57 How bullfrogs invaded the West and the world 7:08 Why America imports its frog legs 8:08 Frog season, limits and frog gigging References: Indiana State Library, "Frog Raising for Pleasure and Profit" (Albert Broel and the American frog-farm craze): https://blog.library.in.gov/frog-rais... Jennings & Hayes (1985), "Pre-1900 overharvest of California red-legged frogs (Rana aurora draytonii): the inducement for bullfrog (Rana catesbeiana) introduction", Herpetologica 41(1): https://www.usgs.gov/publications/pre... Jancowski & Orchard (2013), "Stomach contents from invasive American bullfrogs on southern Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada", NeoBiota 16: https://doi.org/10.3897/neobiota.16.3806 Mongabay (2023), "EU demand for frogs' legs raises risks of local extinctions, experts warn": https://news.mongabay.com/2023/01/eu-... KY3 (2025), "Arkansas frog-gigging season adjusted to protect breeding season": https://www.ky3.com/2025/04/11/arkans...