Squirrels are Toast

[dotinthesky]

Celebrity chefs like Jamie Oliver are being urged to feature grey squirrel on their menus.

Full story here

I don't know if this could ever come to pass in Britain. Maybe squirrel meat tastes good, but would I ever actively choose it from a menu if there were other options? Have any of you ever eaten squirrel meat? What does it taste like?

Comments

[kirstenlj.livejournal.com]

I seem to remember there being a very lively post on someone's journal about eating squirrels a few years ago.

[commonpeople.livejournal.com]

Aww, I must have missed that! What was the general consensus?

[steer.livejournal.com]

I have certainly mentioned it on my journal. It was served in one of our uni canteens once. Some of the students made a fuss. I thought it tasted OK though.

[mr-tom.livejournal.com]

IIRC, You can get squirrel hearts at St. John. Not had 'em, mind.

[yaruar.livejournal.com]

yeah, but st.john specialised in inediable crap for the sake of being different ;)

[hunterjr.livejournal.com]

oh, poor squirrels... I wouldn't eat them :(

[commonpeople.livejournal.com]

Even if it meant saving the red squirrels?

[canudiglett]

I heard they taste a bit like rat.

[commonpeople.livejournal.com]

Well... they are rats, aren't they? Only they have a better marketing department behind them and their brand is alot better accepted by the masses.

[desayuno-ingles.livejournal.com]

my mom has. and pigeon. and sparrow pie. but I haven't, so I dunno what it tastes like!

[commonpeople.livejournal.com]

I've had pigeon meat wrapped in lettuce leaves, in Hong Kong. Delicious.

[juego.livejournal.com]

My father used to eat squirrel when he was a child. I've always scruched my nose at the idea.

[commonpeople.livejournal.com]

Did he eat it because he enjoyed it, or out of necessity?

[greenteablack.livejournal.com]

That's kinda nasty. Granted, I've never tried squirrel but I've seen a lot of dead ones on the side of the road and never stopped to think "Hmmmm, I wonder..."

[sparklielizard.livejournal.com]

Ah yes, I remember back in January I did a ticky box about who would eat roadkill - which may as well be squirrel. Only one person so far has, but it seems a few wouldn't mind!

[commonpeople.livejournal.com]

Roadkill, for myself, would have to be a desperate last resort. In a society like ours, with plenty of food, including non-animal based, it seems like eating roadkill should only be an option if all your other options have been exhausted.

[saint-narcissus.livejournal.com]

remember I come from red neck white honky farm boy stock!
squirrel is not all bad, a little tough and stringy usually.
my Father and brothers would put corn out to feed the squirrels.
therefore the ones we et did not taste as wild as most.
we all so et;
possum
racoon
pigeon
bunny rabbits etc,,,
YUM!

[commonpeople.livejournal.com]

Which were your favourite? Maybe there's a business idea somewhere in there!

[stevenothing.livejournal.com]

I've just found something really strange. If I search google.co.uk for "mail order squirrel meat", it thinks I'm a virus and refuses to let me proceed.

How odd.

[steer.livejournal.com]

*grin* Well, it doesn't think I'm a virus but I couldn't find anywhere to buy squirrel meat online.

[izzybees]

I worked with a girl in Virginia who made squirrel gravy out of squirrels she hunted herself. My mom and I used to tease her about it.

[commonpeople.livejournal.com]

This post has been an eye-opener for me. I had no idea squirrel eating was so widespread.

[annakey.livejournal.com]

I don't see what the problem is here.

[la-mascherina.livejournal.com]

The Siberian reindeer finally made their gentle padding way through the snow to my post box to make me smile.
Thank you very much!!
*big kisses to you*


If someone says it tastes like chicken I will hit them... with....Jamie Oliver! It will taste like squirrel, however that is!
Will you have a nibble?
What was the most unusual dish you had in HK? I think mine was sampling a jelly made from frogs' backs. *shrugs* It was supposed to be good for the skin.

[commonpeople.livejournal.com]

Glad they arrived safe and well! ♥

When I lived in Hong Kong, I was an incredibly picky eater and I didn't eat anything beyond brasilian, pizzas, McDees, etc. It was only after I went to university, met people who taught me how to appreciate cooking, that I went back and learned to enjoy Cantonese cuisine. But, by then, I was thinking of myself as very adventurous if I ate sweet & sour pork. The most extravagant dish I had was definetly pigeon meat wrapped in lettuce leaves.

[commonpeople.livejournal.com]

I was a vegetarian for a while too, but gave up because I really missed meat. I was brought up eating all kinds of meat, from free range animals that led some kind of "humane" existence before being put down. And having worked with nutritionists for almost two years, I heard plenty of arguments as to why meat is good for us. But, in relation to the article, I think the British are too set in their ways, already used to various options that are not squirrel-based. Maybe a few people would start eating squirrel if Jamie Oliver endorsed it, but they would do it more as a novelty thing than as an attempt to inject something new into their diet.