Unusual Natural History - Food 1
Newspaper articles ยปThe man who cooks and eats road kill
As a taxidermist I have possession of many animal bodies that is meat. I love to eat meat, especially naturally produced meat. I have always eaten wild animals. I am not in favour of participating in the nasty Commercial farming trade. I do agree with some of it to some extent, after all if there were no farming of animals then there would be no wild animals left, but I disagree with the short inhumane lives the animals lead. I don't like the additives either and hormones and all other medicines and drugs given to the animals. I do eat free ranging animals from reputable farmers, and then only locally produced. I prefer to eat wild animals for several reasons.
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The
animals have led a natural free existence. The animals have lean fat
free healthy flesh, there is far more variety of taste and texture,
they are free from most poisons I do not like wastage. The wild animals
I obtain are the result of road killed animals So I do not participate
in their death, but may prevent other scavengers from dying by taking
the carcass off the road.. Most road kill is utterly wasted and simply
feeds the tarmac. By taking the animals, using their skins to preserve
to recreate a visual replica of an animal as a mounted piece of
artwork, for any reason is fitting. Any animal is edible. All birds and
mammals are edible in the world, the UK is no exception and I have
tried all manner of birds and mammals. We have a rather bland record of
animal eating compared to other parts of the world Even on the
continent The variety of animals classed as edible is amazing. In the
UK we are very backward in regards to what we can or cannot eat. Fish,
insects, crabs small and large birds and most species of mammals are
frowned upon and just wasted. |
A
typical example of British ignorance is our insatiable appetite for
cod; a fish that is on the brink of extinction because the British are
habituated to eating them and just a few other species. Dozens of
perfectly edible fish are wasted because there is no demand for them,
or that they would not be used. Most people do not even eat game such
as venison or pheasant, of which are favourites of mine. Many dozens of
wild plants are covered in weed killers. Little do people know that if
gardeners ate them, they would be much healthier, and of course there
are no pesticides or other chemicals to take ingest. Most garden weeds
are the best plants to eat. I do not live off all these wild foods but
simply supplement my daily or weekly intake with many of them. My
freezer is certainly full of differing birds and mammals either to eat
or to use in taxidermy, or both. |
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I
love to eat wild herbs and fungi of many types. I like eating some
insects such as mayflies when they swarm along the rivers in early
summer, or the autumn crop of crane flies. Care must be taken when
eating anything from the wild and good guide books are essential for
the beginner especially in regards to eating plants or fungi. Road kill
animals are also not free from hazards. Many wild animals carry
diseases or viruses and care must be taken when dealing with animals
such as rats or foxes and badgers. Badgers can contract bovine from
cattle so care must be taken when moving the carcass. It is best to use
healthy looking specimens from areas not affected, or butcher it on the
spot, and carefully bag and seal the flesh so as to avoid any spread of
disease.Foxes can carry disease as well as rats although both animals
are very clean and do not carry a quarter of the diseases in which
humans carry. Some can be lethal.I personally only eat rats and foxes
from the country side well away from human habitation. |
Gulls and crows also carry bugs especially herring gulls.They feed from refuse tips. Some animals ere afflicted with natural illness and disease but they usually would pose no problem for humans to eat. Even rabbits with myxomatosis are safe to eat if only skinny and weird tasting. Other hazards are the parasites that attach themselves to animals such as lice, fleas and ticks. Also previous injuries on the animal could harbour bugs or infection. On the whole wild animals are far healthier than commercially produced meat and I rarely encounter problems. There could be a build up of toxins in long lived animals or in deer, hares and rabbits that have been feeding on certain sprayed crops but we eat them all the time. Birds of prey may have rodenticide contamination.
Jonathan McGowan