Would you eat kangaroo?

[lederhosen]

Just curious about how others (both Australians and non-) feel about 'roo on the menu.

[Poll #1044252]

Comments

[velvetink.livejournal.com]

Have eaten it in the past due to family culture but basically am a vegetarian who sometimes eats seafood.

[hpapillon.livejournal.com]

Just put in front of me right this minute, no, I would not try it. I have some guilt over still eating meat at all (not that it stops me, which makes me more guilty) and will tend to consider any new kind of meat carefully. I simply don't know enough about kangaroo to know if eating it is acceptable by my standards. How smart are they? Are there plenty of them to go around? Is the practice of kangaroo farming problematic? I dunno. If I were given a whole bunch of arguments why it's 'okay' to eat them, I might try it.

I'm not particularly emotionally attached to them - I saw Dot and the Kangaroo when I was very little, but it wasn't a favorite. :)

[silverblue.livejournal.com]

I can answer the farming :) They aren't. Since European occupation has changed the land, massively increasing the amount of grazing land, kangaroo numbers have gone up hugely - they're a well designed desert animal, and something a cow would look at in despair is a feast for a kangaroo. They're culled yearly to keep the population in check - exactly what that means is up for debate (the good of the kangaroos? The sheep? The dairy industry?). The culls provide meat and hide and fur for various industries, and kangaroo leather is a frequently used material here.

I consider them bright and canny, but I think sheep are too - more than people think. The culling is overseen by the RSPCA to ensure it is humane, but those definitions might be up for debate too.

Ethically, from a global perspective, it is vastly more sensible for an Australian to eat kangaroo rather than beef - kangaroos do vastly (I mean, VASTLY) less damage to the land, suffer less in droughts, and the gaseous waste by products from their digestive systems are not expelled as methane but rather concentrated as an acid that is turned back into fuel for the kangaroo. They are optimised for Australia. We shouldn't have a huge dairy industry - that's destroying our fragile environment.

I believe it's a better choice than beef for Australians. For those overseas, those pesky airmiles blow the eco-footprint out a big way.

[cheshire-bitten.livejournal.com]

I wish someone would start farming them, I know there hard to keep inside fences but he wild population can sastian Australia's desire for red meat and I completely agree with you over dairy/beef farming.

[fizit.livejournal.com]

You'd need a hunting collective rather than farming approach. Ie a bunch of individuals invest in what's hundted over a large range of land - kind of like an open range farming commune(ish)...

[cheshire-bitten.livejournal.com]

yeah, I have thought about stuff like that before, whether you could boost stocks through breeding programs?

[mdsteele47.livejournal.com]

Could it be an autonomous collective?

[hpapillon.livejournal.com]

Cows and pigs aren't exactly mindless either (chikinz iz pretty dum). Peter and I are still somewhat divided over the issue of pigs. He thinks they should fall under 'too smart to eat', I find the idea of pigs being extremely smart to be incredibly disturbing for various reasons and am just not that sure in general... I've seen a cute trained pet pig, but I've also seen at least one 'look how smart my pig is!' that looked only marginally more bright than a rock.

(Elephants definitely rate on my smart list, but I don't *think* anyone eats them... I hope not!)

So yeah, I suppose in Australia I'd probably try it. Don't know if I'll ever be down there though.

[lederhosen.livejournal.com]

FWIW, I've stopped* eating squid and octopus for that sort of reason - they do so many nifty-cool things that I would feel bad about it.

*in a pragmatic sort of way. I won't order them or encourage people to get them, but if somebody else does and there are leftovers, I'll eat them.

[hpapillon.livejournal.com]

yup, they're on my smart-list too, and I've been passing your squid pictures on to D, who is very fond of tentacled things. :)

[verylisa.livejournal.com]

This sums up my position too. If I'm going to eat any red meat, I'll eat kangaroo as the most ethically sound for Australians. Also the healthiest: bonus!

Right now I'm not eating (much) meat, but if I ever go back to it, kangaroo would be my first choice.

[bitsofrose.livejournal.com]

I don't eat red meat so I tell everyone cos most think of beef lamb etc..Which do me no favours.
I do however like Kangaroo. So it's my exception.

[elynne.livejournal.com]

Oh migod, I haven't thought about that movie in ages, but now I'm vaguely remembering it - Dot and the Kangaroo! I'll have to see if it's available on Amazon or something. :)

[alchemon.livejournal.com]

Where's the "I prefer eating Kangaroo over traditional red meats" option? :P

What I do have a beef (sorry for the pun) with, is that unless I go to a butcher that cuts their own 'roo, you can't buy it diced or in stir-fry strips. This would make it a lot easier when I make 'Roo Rendang or when stir-fried. :D

[the-funkmeister.livejournal.com]

Or indeed the "Usually do when the opportunity presents itself, but I always prefer it the way alchemon cooks it" option :)

(Guess that's what comments are for)

[alchemon.livejournal.com]

*grin*

[lokicarbis.livejournal.com]

There's more than one? I usually end up buying my roo from Vic Market, but I'd happily go somewhere quieter/less crowded.

[chaos-crafter.livejournal.com]

Our safeway sells a really nice herb and garlic Roo Mini-roast, stirfry roo strips, fillets etc. And all cheaper than beef.

[lokicarbis.livejournal.com]

My safeway used to have it, but now they only stock fillets and sausages, so I have to go elsewhere for my mince.

[alchemon.livejournal.com]

Stirfry roo strips? Wah!!!! Why doesn't anyone my way do that?

Admittedly, they still having finished building the only Safeway that would in any way be local (Ivanhoe), so I'm hoping that will change.

[alchemon.livejournal.com]

I've found some Coles and some Safeways have it. Unfortunately, sometimes the management at the supermarket decides that it "doesn't like the idea of 'roo" and so it disappears from the shelves.

I've had this happen at a few places when the management has changed. Requests and complaints haven't seemed to help. :/

[ruth-lawrence.livejournal.com]

We actually ate it frequently for a short while when there was a big substitution scam going on at the local abbatoirs (seventies).

We couldn't figure out why the minced 'beef' was not cooking in ways we expected. The kangalonis were quite odd. Then all was revealed!

I'd eat it again, if not for the cost.

[chaos-crafter.livejournal.com]

You are missing an option...
"OMG Yeah! Best Meat Evah!"

[fizit.livejournal.com]

I'm so with you on this one! And as for cost, it's comparable to lamb (my other ed meat of choice), if not cheaper!

[lederhosen.livejournal.com]

Yes, I'm firmly in the 'nom nom nom' camp...

[silmaril.livejournal.com]

Actually I would probably try it if served---the only reason it's different from venison is that it's unique to a specific geographical area, and there are enough species in trouble from us as it is.

[lederhosen.livejournal.com]

AFAICT, the main threat to kangaroos at present is loss of habitat. A lot of land has been cleared for sheep/cattle farming, which causes erosion problems, and farmers don't want 'roos competing with their stock for what food there is (especially when supplies are reduced by drought, which is pretty often lately). So eating kangaroo meat here is probably not such a bad thing for the species, and actively good for a lot of others that need the same sort of habitat.

(I'm not sure how far demand would have to rise before we reached the point where hunting for food was a threat to kangaroo populations, but I think it's well above current levels.)

[cheshire-bitten.livejournal.com]

Accually it's the only red meet I eat, I don't eat a lot of meat and when I do I want to to be ethical/sastainable and I think Kangaroo is one of the few meats in Aus I don't have a problem eatting.

[shadow-5tails.livejournal.com]

I think you needed a "if you do eat it, why?" question on this poll. It's become apparent in the comments that a lot of people have given this thought, and knowing my reasons for eating it encompass the flipside of five of your six "red meat, but not 'roo" options, it'd be interesting to see what others' thoughts on the matter were.

I think we have another Skippy roast in the freezer. I think I know what I'm cooking on the weekend...

[lederhosen.livejournal.com]

I was mostly curious about why people wouldn't eat it - I've encountered an attitude that 'roos are friends rather than food (much like the way people here, but not in France, tend to feel about eating horsemeat) and I wondered how widespread that was. Apparently, among my flist, not very...

[shadow-5tails.livejournal.com]

*nods* But that's the thing (said the fox-thing, coming back to this discussion days after the fact). Part of the reason I eat 'roo is precisely because I take issue with the idea that some animals are "food" and some are "friends," and that the eating of the latter only is unthinkable and something for animal rights to get up in arms about. Perhaps I should be conducting my own poll about how widespread that sort of attitude is - your poll and its comments have me quite curious by this stage. *wry smile*

Meanwhile, I still hope to try horse some time...

[lederhosen.livejournal.com]

I would be uncomfortable about eating, say, dog, although I'm quite willing to admit that that's more of an emotive stance than a closely-reasoned one. I would try horse, but then I've never been around horses long enough to try forming an emotional bond with them.

[michiexile]

The only reason I haven't tried 'roo is a financial one. I'm in Europe, so transport gets extremely expensive, and so the meat is hard to come by, and in the end MUCH more expensive than everything else.

That said, I have had opportunity of sorts; there is one pub in Jena that specializes in "weird meat" - they serve Kangaroo, Ostrich, Antelope, etc. Alas, they are expensive and way off my normal paths, so while I know it's there, I have never been there.

Antelope I ate once at another exotic-themed pub. It tasted very spice in an not entirely pleasant way.

[krfsm.livejournal.com]

Whereas I haven't (yet) tried kangaroo, but found the antelope (springbok, nom nom NOM) I've had VERY tasty, possibly the tastiest meat I've had thus far. May be a preparation issue - I used a modified version of a marinade recepie I got from an ex-SA irc aquaintance, and barbecued it.

[xenex.livejournal.com]

All the time. We only buy Kangaroo mince now. We also use 'roo steaks in stews and stir-fries.

It's cheaper and it tastes better. What's not to love?

[remus-shepherd.livejournal.com]

When I visited Australia I tried both kangaroo and alligator. The gator was merely edible, and I wouldn't bother eating it again just because it didn't appeal. But the 'roo was *delicious*. Lean, tender meat...yum. I'd definitely eat it again.

For the record, I tend to partition the world of edible animals into 'us' and 'them' -- I do not eat 'us' (but I would have sex with 'us'), but I will eat 'them'. Dogs, horses, and dolphin are us; Cows, chickens, and kangaroos are them.

[quatranoctal.livejournal.com]

Just tonight I enjoyed a rather unique dish - the Real Aussie Man's Shepherd's Pie. It involved taking last night's chilli con carne del canguro, topping with mashed potato and cheese, and whacking into the oven. Delicious, and a darn sight cheaper than it would have been with equivalent quality lean beef.

[mr-figgy.livejournal.com]

I ate it because I just can't resist reynardo-prepared foods.

[wingedkami.livejournal.com]

I'd eat kangaroo in preference to beef if I lived in Australia and could get it. Having eaten the stuff I'm amazed how little of it there is in supermarkets. It tastes wonderful, and I'm a firm believer in making good use of any animal that has to be culled.

I really wish our ancestors had been a bit less clueless when colonising the place.