Cooking Road Kill: Food and Nutrition

Road kill scavenger camps consist of a wide variety of types of people. Some are simply victims of economics while others are activists with a point to prove. Consumers of road kill are drawn to roadways and highways in search of edible nutrition for several very different reasons.

1. Road kill is a free source of food. There are no government issued taxes or fees for collecting road kill. 2. The animals typically consumed by road kill scavengers are considered to be high in vitamins and proteins. Some wild meats are lean meat very little saturated fats. 3. Vegans and vegetarians are known to cook and eat road kill food for a once in a while meat treat even though they do not buy, cook or prepare commercial meats. The reason being road kill is drug and chemical free. 4. It's a way of appreciating the natural balance of the Earth's life span cycles.

There are activists that have taken to the road kill scavenger lifestyle to prove their point that this is a natural way to recycle life. They have chosen to keep nature's balance on track by eating the dead, knowing that they also will be consumed by those things living in the earth. There have been those activists that also claim cooking and consuming road kill is showing honorable appreciation for handling the remains of animals brutally killed by man-made automobiles.

Residents in Alaska are allowed to keep the carcass of a road kill accident but only after the State Troopers have had a chance to call local churches first to see if they want the meat. If the church does not want the carcass then it is offered to the next person on the road kill list. After all that if no one wants it you are allowed to drag it home and do whatever you want with it.

Many states such as Texas are ok with people taking home road kill after it has been validated and verified by local authorities. There are some states though that completely prohibits taking road kill home at all.

In 2001 a couple in Oregon petitioned the state to make collecting, cooking and eating road kill carcasses legal. Clausen and Waken told a news reporter from the Bend Bulletin that having dead animal carcasses decomposing on the side of roadways could draw other wild animals into civilized areas and pose as a potential danger for humans.

The real dilemma of road kill cuisine is not political so much as it has become a social platform for moral dictation by people who desire having total control over society's beliefs, one way or another, in order to justify their own beliefs regarding the disposal of road side casualties.

Whether you are for or against eating road kill food aside; the argument stands as one more example of mankind's need to convince and persuade the rest of mankind to agree and conform. You tell me who the king of the hill is.

Sources:
http://www.flatrock.org.nz/topics/animals/possum_pancake.htm
http://zinedistro.org/zine/251