yalla

Roo taste.
Hard to describe taste.
First of all it's a game meat and should be hung for a few days. I don't think that happens with the limited quantities of commercial roo meat for human consumption.The taste is not as good. Most roos ''culled'' in Oz are used for pet food which is bottom of the market. Silly.
So it has a game taste something like beef IMO, similar in appearance and texture. I've given roo steak to people on more than 1 occasion without telling them what it was cos most Aussies have this weird prejudice against it. They liked it.

There are several things in it's favour as a potential human food.
Firstly it has minimal impact on the marginal lands. Within 20 kms. of here the land supports virtually no sheep/cattle without heavy supplemental feeding and watering.
Yet there would be, I'm guessing, certainly 100s maybe 1000s of roos surviving happily without being fed or watered.Remember we have just had 2 years of drought.Their water intake is low cf. body bulk and their output minimal. Recovery after drought is remarkable, they are breeding machines when they choose to be.
Secondly, the flavour is distinctive and personally I like it and most people I know who eat it, love it. So a market ploy would be sucessful in my opinion.We already have crocodile and emu being sold as niche markets.
Thirdly, if necessary it can be drowned in a sauce, 1 place [the only place I know of] sells it in many forms: mince, sausage, stir fry etc..
Fourthly, it is utilising an otherwise wasted food source. No need for pasture improvement, they are relatively disease free cf sheep etc..Tough critters.
But the best thing is that roo meat is virtually cholesterol free and highly suitable for carnivorous heart patients like me. I buy roo salami that has been tested at less than 2% fat. And it's nutritious.
Sounds great doesn't it?
There are no major hinderances to the prospect of large scale commercial farming of roos - mainly just lack of imagination.
And just to go a little further along this track. In this area there are 1000s of wombats.Their drought survival skills are even more impressive than roos. They can virtually exist without surface water at all and can survive in extreme environmental degradation as in this area. Their food utilisation efficiency is awesome.I don't know what they taste like but I am assured by friends they are delicious.
You probably got more than you wanted.
PS. Roo and wombat leather is easy to work, very very soft and yet hard wearing.

French Prometheus

They taste very good. We can buy kangaroo meat easily here in France. I prefer ostrich meat, though.

Phishfood

that's exactly what they want you to think. You must not have heard the Dana Lyons song "Cows With Guns"

capsaicin67

I'm for this! There have been some recent effortst o try and explore the potential for cloning of preserved thylacine specimens. Just a neat animal. But I fear the prognosis is probably poor for some time if ever.

I love all the sustainable roo/wombat eating talk! I'd be all about that. And bison in NA. The problem with bison is that they are too large and aggressive to just let wander all over strip mall-ridden America, and beef is cheaper to produce still equipment-wise [fences must be pretty substantial for bison, and they aren't as big on cooperation/predictability/docility]. I'd love to eat roo or wombat or emu or whatever. But I can't really get it anywhere around here, at least not without paying prohibitive prices.

Sarpedon

umm ok...Sorry, the derail was partly my fault, but I'd like to steer this one back on to ethics. So, lets rephrase the question to say: Is it ethical to eat culled animals. Or could a person who is a vegetarian eat a culled animal without qualms? Also, talk about cuteness and intelligence as influencing food choices might also make an interesting discussion.

If it continues on this track, I'll have to send it to a different forum.

premjan

I don't think there should be any fences for bison....just let them roam like they used to. If they run into people, maybe the people should carry guns in case of danger, else just ignore them. We are become a rather sissy culture, when we are afraid of animals without immediate cause in many cases..

long winded fool

Just to attack the best argument that could be presented so as to avoid a possible strawman, a logically consistent vegan might say that nature is taking its course in the case of overpopulation and starvation. Humans do not cause this suffering, the animals themselves do. Suffering itself is not the problem, it's the infliction of suffering on another animal by an animal that is capable of surviving without doing so that is the problem. Humans can understand that they are hurting an animal, and they can survive without doing this. So you might say that premise two is not specific enough. Suffering alone is not wrong, unneccessary suffering inflicted by a human is wrong, where 'unnecessary' means that the human could survive just fine without the action.

As an unrelated aside, I find it odd that things like honey and cheese are off limits for vegans. No harm needs to be caused by collecting these things. Even unfertilized eggs would be harmless, I would think.

Starshark

To answer your criticism, normally they can adapt to drought if their numbers are at 'normal' (ie, pre-colonial) levels. However, if the population explodes due to farming (because of the availability of dams) and the dams dry up, you're left with a stack of roos with no water and competing for scarce food.

I just remembered I saw a documentary on the El Nino effect that showed roos starving. I wish I knew the name of it, it would be a handy source.

Starshark

Good point. That could easily be inferred from 'suffering', especially given many vegans' proclivity to 'naturalness'.

Well, what can I say... They're fucking weirdos (Ah, shit, forgot my promise in the OP :devil1: :devil1: ).

capsaicin67

Well, I guess the ethical question here is if bison must be contained, unlike roos, for public safety. I would like to see free ranging bison as you suggest, very much, and even a move toward replacing cattle with ranched bison. And I'd be ok with the cost of either. But, a lot of folks that like to drive fast in open country, and not so open country, are going to be very peeved when they start hitting gigantic bags of dense bone, meat, water going 70 mph---and hominids start getting killed. Deer are skittish, and *usually*[not always] not lethal. Bison are not especially clever/insightful, and are like wandering hazards. Not esp redirectible either. And fencing etc would be quite expensive nationwide.

They are more akin to grizzlies, wolves, tigers and elephants. People romanticize the idea, but don't want them as neighbors and don't want surprises from them. Therefore they are kept in giant zoos known as parks.

Also, cattle folks are very biased against bison d/t tb and disease issues and tend to cling dearly to these biases.