Um, Reuse and Recycle? Jamie Oliver’s New Show Features Road Kill

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by Michael dEstries December 15, 2006
Categories: Animals, People.

snipshot_89rpkept0n9.jpgBefore you go ‘eww’ on this one, let’s take a look at what this ‘shocking’ new show is bringing to the table. From the article,

“The BBC programme, with the appetising name Road Kill Café, made by Oliver’s TV-production company Fresh One, features pioneering forager and road-kill chef Fergus Drennan.
Drennan’s delicacies include badger meatballs, roast duck and wild squirrel stew.

And Drennan’s main ingredients all have one thing in common: they met their ends on the road.”

Okay, but keep in mind that this road kill is super-fresh. “The animal must be fresh. If rigor mortis has set in it’s not eaten. Otherwise it’s immediately back to his kitchen. In the show, Road Kill Café, Drennan goes to Sandwich in Kent to persuade locals to forage for the first time and discover the delights of road-kill meat.

At the end of a three-week stay, he holds a wild-meat banquet, offering people the choice to eat either the food he sourced from beaches, forest undergrowths and roadside gutters or from normal channels.”

Um, well, I’m a little split on this one. On one hand, I can only trust the regulations in place for the meat I consume to protect me; even then, I have no idea how these animals are treated. So, roadkill would be a nice alternative. However, I’m not sure how much I trust the guy driving around town looking for meat off the side of the road; nor what killed the animal in the first place. All of this in consideration, I would still be curious enough to stop in and sample the menu. Would you? Have you ever tried road kill?

About Michael dEstries

Michael has been blogging since 2005 on issues such as sustainability, renewable energy, philanthropy, and healthy living. He regularly contributes to a slew of publications, as well as consulting with companies looking to make an impact using the web and social media. He lives in Ithaca, NY with his family on an apple farm.

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  • Woodsy

    I’ve eaten road kill before on many occasions. Tastes great, but sometimes it’s a bit tougher than if you kill it with a gun. With a gun the animal doesn’t see it coming and has no time to get scared. On the other hand when an animal gets run over it has plenty of time to think about what is happening because it doesn’t always die instantly. This makes the animal release lots of adrenaline, which toughens up the meat.

  • http://www.jetstreaker.com jetstreaker

    Thanks for the trackback link! And yes, we’re also a bit split about it. While always culinary adventurous, we’re also a bit dubious about the fact that we don’t know how the roadkill met its end. It’s good that the rule is that you can’t eat anything you’ve killed yourself, otherwise you’ll get people going out of their way to mow down animals.

  • http://www.ecorazzi.com michael

    Interesting insight, Ross. Thanks. Had no idea that someone like adrenaline would ‘toughen’ up the meat..but it makes sense.

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