roadkillDid you hear the one about the guy who's been living off roadkill for 30 years? No, really, I'm dead serious. (Sorry, couldn't resist.)

At first glance, the story of a 44-year-old man, who, for the last 30 years, has eaten meat only harvested from animal carcasses he's found on the roads  or in the woods around his house, just sounds completely, disgustingly gross. (Okay, at second glance it sounds pretty gross, too.)

But the more you think about his explanation, it starts to make a certain kind of unexpected sense.

He started to eat roadkill as sort of a lark when he was 14, and then later he did it to save money. In recent years, though, he's styled himself as something of a conservationist and found-food pioneer, maintaining that by avoiding the processed, packaged foods sold at stores he's actually eating healthier than the rest of us. (He has certain rules to help him make sure he won't get sick – like not eating an animal if he doesn't know how it died.)

So, while I'd think twice about nibbling on rat stir fries or digging into a stew made from chopped badger liver (um ... no, thank you), I might be persuaded to sample some owl curry or pigeon au vin. (What's not good au vin?)

After all, this guy probably knows more about his meat than the rest of us. What can we say for sure about the cow that went into that ground beef we're shaping into patties for tonight's barbecue? Do we even want to think about how the chicken breast sliced onto our Caesar salad met its end?

Yeah, me neither. Come to think of it, maybe I'll cook vegetarian tonight.

Would you ever eat meat found on the side of the road?

 

Image via Aida GagnierFlickr