He rolls into the parking lot of Leon’s Thriftway in an old, maroon Impala with a trunk full of frozen meat. Raccoon — the other dark meat. In five minutes, Montrose, Mo., trapper Larry Brownsberger is sold out in the lot at 39th Street and Kensington Avenue. Word has gotten around about how clean his frozen raccoon carcasses are.
To be clear, I think this is fantastic. Wild game was traditionally a major part of the American diet (just read Mark Twain on the subject) and it's a shame we're losing it to declining hunter numbers and food safety regulations. The article claims that:
The meat isn’t USDA-inspected, and few state regulations apply, same as with deer and other game. No laws prevent trappers from selling raccoon carcasses.
That's not entirely true, as sales of deer meat butchered in customer facilities IS banned (see link above). But I never thought to ask if a whole deer carcass could be sold. So just what does this mean? I can sell a raccoon carcass to my neighbors but not my own farm-raised goat meat? That's just absurd. Maybe I should start offering whole goat carcasses at market and see what happens. I'll name all the goats Raccoon and label them "Raccoon meat". That'll work.
And no, I've never eaten raccoon, though I'd like to. We have plenty around, and have live-trapped them out of our fields many times. One of these days, in-season, I'll end up deciding to hang out by the corn for an evening with a rifle instead. Why let the neighbor dogs have all the fun?
(Thanks to Ethicurean for finding this)
1 comment:
I'll name all the goats Raccoon and label them "Raccoon meat". That'll work.
Beautiful.
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