Posted on 02/15/2022 2:55:57 PM PST by mylife
From oral contraceptives to proposals to edit their DNA, efforts to control the UK’s invasive grey squirrel population have become increasingly elaborate. A growing number of chefs and conservationists have a far simpler idea, which they see as part of the trend in ethical dining: eat them.
“My original starting point with grey squirrel was taste. But it’s also great for the environment,” says Paul Wedgwood, one of Scotland’s leading chefs, whose restaurant on Edinburgh’s Royal Mile has had grey squirrel on the menu since 2008. Wedgwood has even made haggis from the North American rodent that has driven the local extinction of the native red across much of England and Wales.
“It’s mellow, nutty and a bit gamey. It’s just a really nice flavor, and it’s easy to match. Anyone who’s doing rabbit could just easily swap in squirrel,” he says.
Wedgwood is not alone among chefs putting invasive species on the menu. At Dai Due restaurant in Austin, Texas, owner and chef Jesse Griffiths is encouraging Americans to hunt and eat more of the millions of feral hogs that cause billions of dollars of damage to farmland. In the Bahamas, Michelin-starred chef José Andrés is serving up invasive lionfish to help protect reefs in the Caribbean. At Fallow in London, chefs are planning to cook king crab, the latest arrival on British shores that has sparked fears for native brown crab and scallop populations.
The concept of “invasivorism” was developed more than two decades ago by Joe Roman, a conservation biologist at the University of Vermont. “With this idea, humans are a form of biological control. Humans are amazing predators: whether it’s eating the grey squirrel in Britain or the European green crab in the US, we know eating them can have an impact on populations,” he says.
(Excerpt) Read more at motherjones.com ...
If they’re serving illegal aliens, count me out.
Cicada ka bobs.
On trips to the UK I’ve eaten rabbit, and black pudding, but I never tried squirrel. It must take at least a couple squirrels to have enough meat to eat.
Looks like Fed.gov will be adjusting its inflation measurements again
Can’t afford beef? Eat squirrel.
No inflation!
Squirrel today, rats tomorrow, bugs next week. Welcome to the future.
Rat burgers were on the menu in “Demolition Man.”
“Mellow, nutty, and a bit gamey.” LOL!!!!
You know, there are exact instructions for dressing a squirrel/groundhog in “The Joy of Cooking.”
If you hunt squirrels, they will stay off your property, but if you live in a residential area you’ll have to be more creative. Having a fast little terrier that barks a lot is one deterrent.
I am only in favor of eating fox squirrels which are not endangered. I like other squirrels. Groundhogs, eh. They have more meat on them but consider their dietary habits. You’d have to be starving to consider eating any of the others. My dad and his dad would hunt squirrels to eat back in the so-called Great Depression. They would try to shoot turkeys, but they are too wily - they only got a turkey in all the times they went out like twice.
As a teenager my Dad and I would hunt squirrels. Get 6 or more of them, head/gut/skin, quarter them up and Mom would treat them like fried chicken. They were pretty good.
they need to find a good recipe for manatee. they are ruining everything in FLA
They call them tree rats over there.
I explained to them we call them dinner in some parts here.
They looked at me like I was out of my mind.
I told them you eat rabbit, why wouldnt you eat one of those “tree rats” like they called them?
Hardly invasive though. Dad called them prairie monkey’s. Little bastards were everywhere.
Love squirrel, would eat a rat but I have only eat an occasional bug accidentally when camping and eating after dark.
They are small but tasty.
An excellent cookbook!
My dad bought me a JC Higgins .410 single shot when I was 9 (horrors!!). Lots of squirrels in the oaks along little streams and I shot a goodly number. My mom fried them up and they were very tasty, I wouldn’t hesitate to eat them now.
An episode of Cheers had Frasier Crane saying you catch more flies with honey than vinegar. Woody pipes up and says you catch the most with dead squirrels. Whoever wrote that scene had defintely been squirrel hunting.
Squirrel is kind of like eating overcooked chicken breast. It’s okay if it’s put in a stew.
Lots of squirrels have been featured on American dinner plates and for several hundred years, too.
Checking them for rabies before preparing them is the #1 concern here. After that skin them, gut them, and then cook to your taste.
Gather enough pelts and you can make a nice coat to cheese off your local maniacs from PETA.
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