Steve Parkes reckons that only gipsies consider hedgehogs to be edible? A wee ---true ---story;when we were kids, [reared in the country] any travelling group whetted our curiosity. So it was one day when we noted the presence of a group around a fire 'way up on the hillside, and perversely settled in the open grassland in spite of the proximity of sheltering woodland [with abundant firewood.] As was our wont, we raided Faither's potato patch and set off to visit. We were welcomed by a father and his son and daughter, a family from the Orkney Islands according to the man's story.They were travellers, and much of their living was derived from the ability of the man to manufacture whistles, clips etc.. from sheet metal.Tinkers, we called them in those pre-p.c. days. We were invited to stay and share a meal. All the potatoes were popped into a pot which was left to bubble away on the fire while we blathered. Finally, the pot was removed from the fire. To our surprise, the next move was to scrape the fire to an adjacent location, and to lift the scorched turf . There was a rare smell and a cloud of steam.The guy lifted something out which was caked in what looked like clay and wet leaves. When he broke it apart, two cooked animals were revealed. "That one", says he, "Is a rabbit." The other was a HEDGEHOG. And not only was it edible---it was delicious!