When was the last time you drove past an unfortunately squashed pheasant and your stomach grumbled. Never? Well, you might soon be more moved to reach for a napkin and knife and fork if the latest foodie movement has its way.
You’ll have heard of Meat Free Mondays. You’ll know about the eco and ethical concerns voiced by everyone from Jamie Oliver to Thomasina Miers surrounding the current consumption of meat. That too much rainforest is being cut down to make way for soybean plants that are used to feed pigs. That cows are producing too much methane, that we need to cut down on our consumption if we’re going to sustain the future of the planet.
And so here comes the third way. Roadkill. As Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall told Russell Howard on the BBC last week, and as Miranda Krestovnikoff - the president of the RSPB – beseeched Telegraph readers, it is an untapped resource. She apparently hosted a dinner party of fried rat with a garlic and soy sauce dip, fox, sautéd in garlic, and badger in a hunter’s sauce. Probably - possibly - all quite delicious. But could you eat it?
A couple of caveats: while it’s legal to eat roadkill, anything that has been out too long may be full of bacteria. And also, you’ll need to butcher it yourself.
But it's an ecologically ethical meat source. A waste-not-want-not approach to supper. A whole new meaning to drive-thru. Could you?
