This is the Australian coat of arms. It has a kangaroo and an emu on it. They're on it because they're quite common in Australia, and because they're both animals that cannot walk backwards- symbolic of our progression as a nation.
People have been eating kangaroo and emu for centuries. The Aboriginal peoples have been eating them for thousands of years. I ate a kangaroo meat patty the other week and it was delicious. It's quite a good meat, very lean. I've not yet eaten emu but I wouldn't be opposed to it. There are sometimes emu and kangaroo farms for meat, other times, there needs to be a cull of them (they are too abundant in some areas due to humans planting/allowing grass, providing too much food. Then they have a population boom, eat all the grass, and potentially starve or ruin crops.), and that meat I believe is sometimes eaten. (if it's not, it should be!).
Foreigners are often horrified by this. How can we eat something so cute??
Apparently there is now/going to be emu or kangaroo flavoured chips. Why is that worse than beef flavoured chips?
Some people are getting a bit upset about it, but most Australians I've asked are not concerned- though they may not choose to eat them themselves.
Their argument is that 'it's on the Australian coat of arms'. We're apparently the only nation that eats the animals on our coat of arms. But we made a choice that was like putting a cow or pig on the coat of arms.
And I think that the argument against the chip flavour is ridiculous.
It's not like we're eating a bald eagle, a lion, a unicorn, etc, things that don't exist or are almost extinct.
What's your opinion?
Hey, I thought this post was great! I never thought about eating kangaroo. In American small towns, it's not available. Your writing is fine, and I particularly like that you asked the question at the end of your post. It leads the way for all sorts of opinionsto come in! Kudo's! :)
ReplyDeleteI'd give them a taste! Why not? Like you said, they're not a protected species.
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