If You Can't Beat Them, Eat Them?
Camel: it’s what’s for dinner? Fraid so, mate. Aussies are being told that tossing camel steaks on the barbie can reduce global warming and save the fragile ecosystems and water resources of the desert where the wild herd is out of control.
The Desert Knowledge Cooperative Research Center released a three-year study of the environmental threat and what to do about it. The scientists observed that the million-plus camel population inflicts major damage on rare plants, animals and indigenous sites. Adding insult to injury, they make climate change worse by emitting greenhouse gases and turning landscapes into desert.
The study has concluded the best way to bring down the quickly multiplying population is to add the one-humped ferals to the human food chain. This comes shortly after the Australian people were encouraged to eat their friend, the kangaroo, to cut greenhouse gas emissions. Just how exotic can the cuisine get?
“It’s a bit like beef – it’s as lean as lean, and it’s an excellent health food,” agribusiness lecturer Murray McGregor tells the New Zealand Herald in his push to cook camel.
Many Persian Gulf countries concur, gobbling up camel kebabs which reportedly resemble filet mignon with a lower fat content. According to ABC News, the Camel Gathering Place, a popular restaurant in Damascus, Syria, sells meat from one camel a week, which is a lot of steak (they weight up to 1,000 pounds). Word has it (and I will just take their word for it) that the hump is the tastiest part; so delicious is the mound of fatty tissue that some people prefer it raw. I know, it’s a bit hard to swallow, but this is what the gourmet camel crowd says.
The camel explosion in Australia dates back to 1840, when the first camel was imported from the Canary islands. Between that year and 1907, a thousand feral dromedary camels were herded into the western outback and used for riding, draft and packing, and exploration. They carried critical goods to new settlements and mines. By 1930, these beasts of burden had done their work and were no longer needed. They bred ferociously across the Northwest Territory, Western and South Australia and into parts of Queensland. Some estimate the population at one million.
The Australian government has allocated $854,000 to control the feral camel problem over the last five years. Now, scientists are cooking up more drastic measures. “If you can’t beat them, eat them,” proposes J.M. Franke in his study: The Invasive Species Cookbook: Conservation Through Gastronomy.
Image: Angeloux
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10 Comments
December 22nd, 2008 at 9:14 am
Well hey, if you think about it, meat is meat. We only consider cows edible because of cultural upbringing. A devout Hindu in India would consider eating beef as appalling as we would consider eating a grilled cat. So why not camel too? So long as the animals are treated ethically and given healthy food and home throughout their life — I believe that’s the gravest issue in a carnivore’s diet.
December 22nd, 2008 at 10:27 am
Very interesting post!
December 22nd, 2008 at 2:18 pm
Nice job, Luanne. I’m with you, Sarah. Has anyone tried camel? Would anyone?
December 22nd, 2008 at 3:11 pm
Unbelievable! What won’t we try to eat?! I love the quote “it’s an excellent health food” – really?
December 22nd, 2008 at 3:29 pm
Fascinating. Thanks, Luanne!
I think I’d like to try camel meat. I recently tried ostrich meat and was pleasantly surprised. It’s interesting seeing such modern changes in meat-eating practices – something to be applauded, I reckon, since it fosters biodiversity. And I agree with Sarah’s point: the moral responsibility is to ensure that the animals involved are not treating as anything less than living, feeling creatures while they’re being reared.
The whole topic of “strategic food for the environment” is, I feel, on a par with seasonal eating, albeit globally. It’s animal husbandry on a planetary scale. If there is a huge excess of one animal and another animal is endangered and if we’re still continuing our meat-eating practices – and if the overabundance of the first type of animal is wreaking environmental havoc…? It makes good pragmatic sense to me.
An example of this is the case of the Brushtail Possum in New Zealand:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C.....ail_Possum
Oh, and….the mental image of a plate of raw camel hump is one that will stay with me.
December 22nd, 2008 at 3:48 pm
Mike, I take it you won’t be dining on camel with your Yorkshire pudding this year? I’m with you about the mound of hump.
Luanne
December 22nd, 2008 at 3:50 pm
Camel hump, parsnips and Yorkshire puddings? No, I think I’ll go straight to the dessert, thanks.
December 22nd, 2008 at 8:09 pm
Fascinating post Luanne but don’t think I’ll rushing out to try camel meat anytime soon.
Hey, I went to New Zealand’s annual wildfood festival a couple of years ago and spent all my time watching and not eating — not an adventurous foodie.
Liz’s last blog post..Healthbolt Giveaway: Win a Copy of The 2009 CalorieKing Calorie, Fat & Carbohydrate Counter.
December 22nd, 2008 at 9:18 pm
I would SOOOO OMNOMNOM that stuff.
But hey, I’m Chinese. I eat everything with legs except for the table, everything with wings except for the airplane, and everything that swims except for the submarine.
Quan’s last blog post..Real Men of Genius – Mr. Internet Crusader for Human Rights
December 25th, 2008 at 11:27 am
I hear you, Quan. I once watched a Survivor in which an Asian competitor was shamed for eating an entire chicken, even the mysterious parts. Our Native American friends never wasted any part of the buffalo and also thanked the beast for the sacrifice of its life. You go get yourself some camel hump and enjoy. Let me know if it tastes like tofu.
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