“From Bitumen to Banquet”
Wild Meat!
“It always amazes me how squeamish your average carnivore is!”
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“The interest in eating wild food which includes ‘accidental meat’ as a healthy supplementary food source is becoming increasing popular. Many are realizing that what goes into our seemingly harmless supermarket and shop bought food items are more suspicious than nutritious. Wild plants are very different now from chemically cultivated foods and farm animals taste nothing like game animals.
Most people however view roadkill as ‘flat, furry, diseased and totally disgusting’.
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Eating roadkill has its own very special sociocultural taboos and hurdles to over-come. The first one is that animals falling into the above category are exactly that and not to be touched with someone else’s barge-pole, lol. Traffic casualties fit for human consumption are normally hit once and killed instantly, completely intact with minimum damage.
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Wild food foraging isn’t about being poor or desperate; it’s about being in tune with nature and our bodies. Some of its benefits are that it uses less packaging, less chemicals, less food miles and contains less pollution; it is cruelty free; it fosters biodiversity; our bodies ‘understand’ these natural foods, therefore cancer and other physical ailments are minimized because our immune systems are boosted naturally.”
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My workshops are either individually tailored or totally spontaneous. They often include discussions about the many symbolic, cultural, moral and ethical meanings and values of “recycling ”. In particular awareness is raised with regard to the human consumption of Wild and “Accidental Meat” as opposed to the “factory farmed” varieties found in supermarkets and butcher’s shops.
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These sessions always include a practical workshop imparting some of the knowledge required for the preparation of dead animals for food, art and taxidermy. With regard to eating ‘roadkill’ full instruction on how to identify and prepare road traffic accidents fit for human consumption is gone through step by step using
THE “Easy to Remember” ROAD-SIDE ROAD-KILL CULINARY CHECKLIST
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- Mobile Taxidermy lessons.
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- Wild food preparation at Sentry Circle.
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- Rabbit Skinning Works at the Nomadic Village.
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- Rabbit workshop at NV
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- Child friendly sessions at Gaia Tribe Camp.
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“I deal with all animals and participants in a sensitive, respectful, responsible and ‘matter of fact’ manner. I feel that if one intends to be a carnivore , then one would benefit from knowing what the process involves – from beginning to end and in-between.”
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As with much of my work, I aspire to gently push the ‘experiencer’, including myself, to question preconceptions and socio-cultural taboos by creating something delicious, beautiful and compelling, often from something dead and/or socially repulsive.
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Is it still fresh?
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS – Roadkill Recycling, Eating and Artwork…
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“When I see a tray of pre-packaged meat, I often wonder how the animal had been fed, what it ate, how it was looked after, respected, transported and finally slaughtered. Did the animal suffer? What has been pumped into it? Is it full of antibiotics and growth hormones? What is its carbon footprint? Do I even want to put this meat in my body or offer it to my family?”
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Essential questions, especially if we are to try to live a ‘green’ and sustainable life now and in the future.
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Come and learn a Survival/Life Skill, and maybe even challenge your own perceptions and concepts of “weird”, “disgust”, and fears of death, the unknown and unusual. You can participate on whatever level you choose be that culinary, survival, spiritual, political or environmental.
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Engage and ask questions, or be a spectator – everyone is welcome – carnivore, vegetarian, vegan and freegan alike.
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Prepare to feel closer to Nature and more in tune with what you eat.
These are not your average workshops!
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Please contact me to discuss your thoughts and requirements.
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- Cooking road kill on Come Dine With Me.
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Alison Brierley 