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Feeling Ethical? Eat a Squirrel
Although the logic isn’t 100 percent airtight (particularly from a vegetarian perspective), the Observer (UK) makes the case that the ultimate ethical meal is a gray squirrel.
“It’s low in fat, low in food miles and completely free range,” and it’s flying off of shelves faster than hunters can gun down the poor little bastards, long despised in the UK as low-class rivals to the native red tufty variety.
The folks selling them—in impressive numbers—argue that it’s more than just a question of ethics.
[Shopping center director David] Simpson likens the taste to wild boar. [Shop owner David] Ridley thinks it is more a cross between duck and lamb. ‘It’s moist and sweet because, basically, its diet has been berries and nuts,’ he said.
Another theory on the squirrel’s newfound popularity? Sheer novelty.
“If they can say, ‘Darling, tonight we’re having squirrel,’ then that takes care of the first 30 minutes of any dinner party conversation,” says the Observer’s restaurant critic, Jay Rayner.
Hoping to provoke a dinnertime discussion/revolt? Best Prices Storable Foods sells bone-in and boneless dehydrated squirrel meat by the gallon or quart. And, heck, why not, squirrel filets.
Posted by | Thursday, May 15, 2008 at 8:55am | 4 comments
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if you've ever wanted to know how to make squirrel melts:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7RlK0X...
Of course you must take the little boogers out with lead-free bullets or shot if you want to be ecologically correct.
Hmmm ... we have mostly red squirrels in my area. Are they good, too? Should I stop letting my dog chase them away? For that matter, should I try to take down the possum family living in my poplar tree? Possums are good eating, right? I was thinking of bulking up my sorry excuse for a vegetable bed, but maybe I should be concentrating on huntin' small game!
Oh, and one more thing: did you know that the snails commonly found in California gardens are the same species they eat? Just catch a few, feed them corn meal for a few days, and you have a gourmet treat that's even more "ethical" than squirrel!
Do I detect a note of irony, Ruth? I'd steer clear of possum, because its filthy with umpteen diseases (including the plague iirc), but squirrel was good eatin' for our colonial ancestors! :)