Mmm, Roasted Plains Pronghorn Antelope! To Save a Species from Extinction, Serve it for Dinner

When you’re deciding what to cook for dinner, your first thought might not be Tennessee fainting goat, the Makah ozette potato or the Carolina Flying Squirrel. First of all, they’re endangered, which you’d think would mean we should not be eating them. Second, we’ve become accustomed to eating a somewhat narrow range of ‘acceptable’ foods even though choices for nutritious, edible meals abound far beyond what’s typically found in an American refrigerator.

Gary Paul Nabhan is compiling a list of endangered plants and animals that were once commonly eaten in America, but are now threatened or extinct in grocery stores and restaurants. From the New York Times:

Mr. Nabhan’s list, 1,080 items and growing, forms the basis of his new book, an engaging journey through the nooks and crannies of American culinary history titled “Renewing America’s Food Traditions: Saving and Savoring the Continent’s Most Endangered Foods” (Chelsea Green Publishing, $35).

The book tells the stories of 93 ingredients both obscure (Ny’pa, a type of salt grass) and beloved (the Black Sphinx date), along with recipes that range from the accessible (Centennial pecan pie) to the challenging (whole pit-roasted Plains pronghorn antelope).

To make the list, an animal or plant — whether American eels, pre-Civil War peanuts or Seneca hominy flint corn — has to be more than simply edible. It must meet a set of criteria that define it as a part of American culture, too. Mr. Nabhan’s book is part of a larger effort to bring foods back from the brink by engaging nursery owners, farmers, breeders and chefs to grow and use them.

The idea behind this is to increase the demand for such exotic foods, causing an increase in farmers’ desire to grow and raise them. He also wants to preserve America’s rich culinary history, which is fading away as we get used to eating the same things over and over again.

Interesting idea, but can you stomach the idea of eating something like squirrel? The only person I’ve ever known to eat squirrel is a woman who grew up very poor in an extremely backwoods part of north central Florida, and that squirrel was usually roadkill made into soup. Is your mouth watering yet?

Links [New York Times] & [Environmental Graffiti]

Photo credit: Wikimedia Commons & Wikimedia Commons

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