If there’s anything we love in Britain it’s a good old summer barbecue.
Thick juicy steaks, sizzling sausages and if you’re a little adventurous, how about some exotic meats?
We’ve seen ostrich burger and zebra fillets around, but Guardian journalist and environmentalist George Monbiot has taken it a step further.
The writer has taken to eating squirrel. Yes grey squirrel, the type you see scurrying across your washing line to get at your nuts.
It all started with a provocative tweet by Monbiot where he spotted some roadkill, took it home, cooked it and wolfed it down…
This weekend I found a squirrel on the road, just killed. Skinned it, marinated in lemon juice for 2 hours, then barbequed. Amazingly good.
— George Monbiot (@GeorgeMonbiot) August 23, 2015
The thought of anyone scooping a dead squirrel off the street and serving up for dinner like something off The Waterboy sent the internet a bit nutty…
@GeorgeMonbiot @DouglasCarswell Them critters sure is good eatin’, Billy Bob.
— Stormin’ Corbyn (@OffencePolice) August 23, 2015
@GeorgeMonbiot wtf George. I trusted you — hannibal lecture (@blakejp) August 23, 2015
@megzaz @GeorgeMonbiot it was on the road alive at the time collecting nuts, bit harsh George.
— Dez Mundie (@dezmundie) August 23, 2015
But Monbiot justified it thus… https://twitter.com/GeorgeMonbiot/status/635717133595484160 However, that wasn’t the end of it. The man was invited to bring himself, an axe and a dead squirrel onto Newsnight to show how it’s done, and indeed why the hell he did it.
Yes there probably some people throwing up behind the couch, but Monbiot made some solid points about the damage of ‘unethical’ farmed meats, which he explains further here.
But it seems that chopping up and cooking a squirrel live on TV has not put people off. In fact, quite the opposite – they’ve started selling it in shops (although it probably wasn’t scraped off the side of the M25).
https://twitter.com/frostybutcher/status/637697732057137152
@GeorgeMonbiot I don’t get what the big deal is. I got some squirrel from a game dealer in Cambridge in 2010 & made a lovely casserole… — Mick Craig (@mickcraig101) August 29, 2015
@GeorgeMonbiot I once bought a squirrel pie from a market in Birmingham…it was very tasty.
— Wildraar (@Wildraar) August 27, 2015
.@GeorgeMonbiot ‘Dress it’ up better. We’ve quite a journey yet before we rewild ourselves #wildfood pic.twitter.com/liGrfUMxAu — Rob Yorke (@blackgull) August 24, 2015
@GeorgeMonbiot @DanHannanMEP Barbequed squirrel legs are really tasty!
— John Moss (@John_J_C_Moss) August 24, 2015
@GeorgeMonbiot Present pieces of dressed meat on plate, labelled roadkill squirrel and factory farmed chicken, I pick the squirrel everytime — Deano… (@Frugal_ways) August 24, 2015
