© Joe Franke and Bradford Street Press If you can't beat 'em, eat 'em.
One of the least publicized ecological crises facing us today is the introduction and spread of non-native invasive species. The working definition of an invasive is any non-native species whose introduction does or is likely to cause economic or environmental harm or harm to human health, and that outcompete native species for the resources necessary to exist. Unbeknownst to most of us, the 30,000 nonindigenous, human-introduced invasives that have become established in the United States are the responsible for the decline of more than 40 percent of the plants and animals presently listed as threatened or endangered here, and that cost us an estimated $123 billion per year in economic losses.
Starlings invade bluebird boxes, Kudzu is choking out entire forests in the Southeast, flying thirty pound Asian carp are injuring boaters on the Mississippi and competing with native fish, and bullfrogs in the Northwest are busy consuming native amphibians and the Pacific pond turtle. Giant Gambian pouched rats the size of cats are now permanent residents of the Florida Keys, and Burmese pythons prowl the Everglades. We combat them with whatever means we have at our disposal, but what hasn’t been discussed, until now, is their edibility.
The power of the human alimentary tract to act as the final resting place for non-human life-forms is not to be underestimated. Even formerly abundant species such as the passenger pigeon were rendered extinct at least in part to satisfy the bellies of humans, and the bushmeat crisis facing the tropics has lead to the extinction of species such as the Alagoas currasow in northeastern Brazil and the Miss Waldron's red colobus monkey in Ghana and the Cote d'Ivoire. The Chinese are busily loading the world’s turtles into the cooking pot...
Perhaps it’s time to put all of those grumbling stomachs and gnashing teeth to work in a way that benefits, rather than hinders, biodiversity conservation.
To this end we’ve provided gourmet recipes from some of the world’s finest chefs, as well as some great old standards and our own kitchen tested inventions. Long have we labored in field and kitchen to bring you hundreds of ways to do your ecological duty while filling your bellies for free.
So get out there and catch yourself a mess of nutria, the scourge of our southern wetlands, using one of the great recipes provided to us by noted Louisiana chef Philippe Parola (his “Ragoudain a l’orange” is particularly good). Serve it with a nice side of pasta slathered in a pesto based on the ecologically noxious but wonderfully edible plant called garlic mustard. Wash it down with some homemade kudzu blossom wine, and top it off with a slice of Japanese knotweed pie.
Printed on heavyweight stock and spiral bound for convenient use in the kitchen, The Invasive Species Cookbook is an indispensable resource for gourmand and naturalist alike.
"A wonderful tome, socially and environmentally relevant and well serves our natural resources" .
- Shannon Tompkins, Houston Chronicle
Sample : Nutria recipes
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