Roadkill chef puts taste to the test

February 01, 2006

LONDON: It needs a brave soul and a strong stomach to have dinner with
Arthur Boyt.

For he is a connoisseur of roadkill flesh, and among the dishes served in
his kitchen are casseroles made from squashed badger, hedgehog, otter, rat,
rabbit or pheasant.

And his recipes may soon gain a wider following, because he hopes to publish
a roadkill cookery book.

Mr. Boyt, 66, who used to work in the fire protection business, has tucked
into a labrador - "just like a nice piece of lamb" - two lurchers (hunting
dogs), cats and a great horseshoe bat, not to mention squirrels, foxes,
mice, deer and pigeon. He even brought a dead porcupine back from holiday in
Canada. He has a weasel in the freezer but thinks it is too smelly to eat,
and he has just picked up a barn owl he is keen to taste.

But his favourite snack is badger sandwich. He is partial to the badger
head, which he says includes four distinctive tastes: the jaw muscles,
salivary glands, tongue and brains.

Mr. Boyt started collecting roadkill as a teenager in Watford, near north
London, bringing home a dead bird found in a local park. For the past 50
years he has regularly eaten animals run over near his home in Cornwall, in
southwest England.

He is also a keen taxidermist and keeps animal bodies for food or his hobby.

His taste for roadkill started as a way of saving money. In the past 10
years - after his second marriage to Sue, a vegetarian - he has mellowed his
menu and now refuses dogmeat out of deference to his wife's views.

"I know people think I'm bizarre." he said, "but I had a cousin who died
from variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (the human form of BSE) and I'm sure
that was from some kind of supermarket meat.

"Everything I eat is natural, wild and fully organic.

"If the meat is cooked properly there's nothing wrong with it. Cat, though,
is a bit bland and it's not my favourite."

People are happy to eat a fallen apple, he says, so what's the difference?
"Just because it hasn't got a label doesn't mean it's not edible."

On Christmas Day, he ate a stew of roadkill pheasant, badger and rabbit and
added onions, potatoes, parsnips, sprouts, walnuts, chestnuts, mixed herbs,
salt and pepper.

Mr Boyt changes his diet when he eats out and will settle for chicken kiev,
but otherwise never touches meat from a butcher or supermarket.

The Times

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I just passed this along...don't blame for anything else...:-)

Hubert Liverman
Opelika,AL