Jonathan McGowan, 44-Year-Old UK Man, Lives Off Roadkill For 30 Years

Rats, mice, foxes, owls, pigeons, moles, snakes and pheasants: the makings of a pleasant episode of Winnie the Pooh, an autumnal diorama of woodland life at the Academy of Natural Sciences in Philadelphia -- or, for one 44-year-old UK man, 30 years worth of dinner.

Jonathan McGowan, a professional taxidermist, started eating roadkill at age 14, when he found a dead adder on the side of the road and decided to cook it, reports the Daily Mail. That first snake wasn't very tasty, but he was intrigued. Over time, McGowan came to see the ecological and culinary benefits of eating only meat he found dead on the side of the road. (It seems his forager-instincts were limited to the flesh: he would buy fruits, vegetables, grains, spice and so forth like any other person.)

McGowan detailed the logistics of his diet in a rollicking essay in The Guardian last spring. He writes:

Rabbits, badgers and pheasants are my most common finds. Rabbit is actually quite bland. Fox is far tastier; there's never any fat on it, and it's subtle, with a lovely texture, firm but soft. It's much more versatile than beef, and has a salty, mineral taste rather like gammon. Frogs and toads taste like chicken and are great in stir-fries. Rat, which is nice and salty like pork, is good in a stir-fry, too – I'll throw in celery, onion, peppers and, in autumn, wild mushrooms I've collected. Badger is not nice and hedgehog is hideous.

In a way, McGowan's roadkill-centric diet is the logical terminus of a few recent strands of thought in the culinary world. He is at once a locavore forager in the tradition of Rene Redzepi, a nose-to-tail carnivore like Fergus Henderson and a freegan in the same vein as Gio Andollo. (Never mind that he embarked on his unusual project decades before any of those figures rose to prominence.)

McGowan doesn't fess up to any negative consequences of his roadkill diet, except for the occasional grimace from a friend or acquaintance. So if you're feeling cavalier, eco-conscious and in the mood for meat the next time you see a deer carcass on the side of the highway, you might want to consider following his lead -- at least after reading this guide to roadkill on Slashfood.

McGowan's story was featured on CNN Monday. Here's the clip:

Comments

[thetxsndn]

11:21 AM on 10/27/2011

Question: how long does it take to prepare his meals?


Answer: depends on traffic...lol

[ignacio sanabria]

11:27 PM on 10/22/2011

A godsend for the caveman some thousand years ago.

[Diasamax]

11:51 AM on 10/21/2011

Like my Nana says "now thats some good meat right there". Then again she is 88 yrs old and grew up in the south. Her mom would cook dear, rabbit, bear meat. To her it is no big deal. But every time she is my car and says that I look at her like she nuts. I like my meat from the grocery store. With all the things humans have dumped into the ground and on land, we don't know what they are eating. Some road kill could have disease......jack up your insides for sure!

[Ted Kane]

11:02 PM on 10/20/2011

Brother wishes he was in Zanesville about now

[Bor Zoi]

10:56 PM on 10/20/2011

He could've had a V8

... struck possum.

[limstillme]

09:18 AM on 10/20/2011

I've heard of this before, it's a program sponsored by the Department of Transportation,called "Wheels on Meals" program.

[lpcrsotp]

12:05 AM on 10/20/2011

New Mexico used to have a policy of allowing low income families to sign up for roadkill, such as deer, antelope, mountain sheep, elk, etc. When a person's name came up on the list, they were called and had a set amount of time to respond, else the next name on the list was called. I knew people who took advantage of the opportunities. Of course, the person had to pick up the animal and dress it out themselves.

[jacmed]

07:06 PM on 10/19/2011

Lived in the South for awhile when my then-husband was in the Army. One of our neighbors ate road kill, as long as it was fresh, and also collected and tanned the hides as a hobby. Anyway -- being adventurous and having very few food phobias (I do have some, but they shall go unmentioned here!), I ate road-kill squirrel, rabbit, and raccoon. I'd eat squirrel again if I had to and I have eaten rabbit since then (farm-raised, however), but no way would I eat raccoon again unless I was practically starving!

[oberlinkay91]

02:37 PM on 10/19/2011

As long as it's fresh I guess go for it. Its probably better for you than all that crap in the grocery store. I've seen the right and wrong way to prep meat and if some of you saw the wrong way, you wouldn't eat it. If you can get your meats from a local owned business or slaughter house. A grocery store stuffs their full of color, preservatives and other junk. I used to work at a small shop run by a butcher and all he did was cut the meat, let it "bloom" (air causes the meat to turn red, its naturally brown), and them put it on a platter and wrapped it. The meat turned brown in about a day and a half, so I spend may days explaining how brown meat is not bad. If grocery store meat turns brown, its a BAD sign so stay away. It pumped full of dyes so it stays red a lot longer than a day. If anyone has every seen aged beef, most wouldn't eat it. You have to carve an inch of mold off.

[drser93]

01:12 PM on 10/19/2011

you can bet the farm if times get tuff enough the people who say yuk will be the most violent ones to take it and eat road kill.

[ned3986]

08:52 AM on 10/19/2011

I guess my biggest concern would be the amount of time the road kill to the plate is. Also the meat is not bleed out properly, There is just to much about this I don't like. Maybe if it was your own road kill, at least you know when it was killed and you may be able to properly deal with the meat.

[zelduh]

03:55 AM on 10/19/2011

Gross.

[pcs5141]

01:52 AM on 10/19/2011

Ewwwwwwwww,yuk,pitooeee.

[Barb Hatfield]

05:51 PM on 10/19/2011

I am going to fan you just for the pitooeee. LOL

[romigua]

11:52 PM on 10/18/2011

Just spit the pebbles out.

[Cailleach Echo]

10:15 PM on 10/18/2011

I've been vegetarian/vegan for more than 25 years so I'm not interested but I did work for a grocery-related company for a while and learned some pretty horrifying things about what passes for food in the US grocery stores.

Fact is, this guy's road kill is very probably healthier than the cuts of meat you see in the pristine meat case of the grocery store.

If I ever do go back to eating meat, I will never buy meat from a supermarket/grocery store again.

[oberlinkay91]

02:29 PM on 10/19/2011

You are right. I've seen the good and bad ways to prep meat. Grocery stores add a ton of nasty stuff to it. I've also worked for a local butcher in one of his shops and seen meat prepared right. He cut it, let it "bloom" (exposure to air turns it bright red), and then placed it on a platter and wrapped it. No colors, preservatives etc. It turned brown in about 2 days and I speny many times explaining to people why brown meat is not bad. If its not dyed, it wont stay red! If dyed meat turns brown STAY AWAY from it! But we should all stay away from grocery store meat anyway. If you want to know if ground beef/chuck etc. is color free ask the workers to break it apart. If the center is brown, its color free. If people have ever seen prime "aged" beef, known for its great taste and tenderness, you would not eat it, they carve an inch of mold off of it.