Locally Produced Geese On The Soup Kitchen Menu
by John Laumer, Philadelphia on 03.22.07
Going just by the name Canada Goose, you'd think the US has Canada to thank for goose crap all over its parks, golf courses, beaches, and even private yards on year round basis. In actuality, Branta canadensis has only recently elected to skip flying back to Canada in spring and gave up flying south to winter because of man-made environmental change. Storm water basins in every single US suburb provide perfect habitat, few people hunt any longer, natural predators like fox have been run over by the SUV parade, PETA won't let local government hire trappers, climate change keeps many local water sources open for most of the year, and millions of square miles of perfectly manicured lawns provide grass for grazing. Via the National Post of Canada (how fitting) we learned that:- "A Michigan citizens group fed up with Canada geese soiling the state's parks, beaches and golf courses is proposing the explosive fowl population be culled --and fed to the homeless. A volunteer waterfront committee in St. Clair Shores, a bedroom community of Detroit, suggests a mass euthanization will reduce thousands of "nuisance geese" infesting 10 kilometres of the town's shoreline...Donating bird carcasses to Detroit soup kitchens struck the group as a good idea after another Michigan suburb curbed a deer population by supplying local shelters with venison about three years ago,..."
Rich suburbanites giving nuisance geese to starving inner city residents. Sounds so generous. Well, before you go off consider this. While the raising of ducks and geese for local market is a strong tradition in much of Europe and throughout Asia, for some reason you can't find a fresh one in most US grocery stores or at the butchers. Rubber chicken everywhere you turn; but hardly a goose to be found. The traditions of how to prepare them are mostly forgotten. Perhaps it's because they're not amenable to factory farming?
Truth be told, even a wild goose, as long as it's not the oldest toughest member of the flock, is a delicious treat. Wild geese have the disadvantage of relatively low fat content compared to domestic versions, so they take careful preparation so as not to dry out the meat. On the good side, the lean meat of a wild bird is healthier to eat than the grease packed domestic version. (There's a starter recipe at the end of this post suitable for cooking wild goose.)
If there is a risk of the St. Clair proposal it's that suburban geese can be extensively exposed to herbicide and pesticide treated lawns and may hang out and feed in streams and ponds that receive untreated sewerage overflows. The latter aspect may have something to do with why goose droppings cause beach closings: a problem of our own doing. A few lab tests by the MDNR could settle the question of whether the geese carry unsafe contamination levels. For now, at least, we have absolutely no reason to suspect a specific problem.
Think about Peak Oil, about what happens when the housing bubble eventually implodes, about the impact of extended drought and corn based ethanol on market prices for any corn fed meat. These are risk factors as well. The time may come when suburbanites are going to be wanting those geese for themselves. The soup kitchen diners should be so lucky.
The absolutely easiest way to cook a goose for the novice is to stew it, with skin off. Quarter the bird and pack the skinned pieces in a big covered pot or slow cooker with carrots and celery and onions and pieces of apple. Add salt and some spices like whole fennel seed, pepper corns, garam masala blend, curry...whatever you like...and cover with water. Simmer for several hours until the meat is tender. Remove the pieces and place on platter to cool. Separate the vegetable pieces from the broth using a colander and thicken it slightly with starch, adjusting flavor with additional spices. A cup of white wine recommended at this time. Plenty of fresh parsley flakes also a good addition toward the end. You can take it from there.
Thirsty for more? Check out these related articles:
- Doubting Renewable Energy
- Tom Friedman Can't Make Up His Mind
- GreenBuild: I Have Seen the Future and it Flushes
- Universal Studios Hollywood Gets a Little Bit Greener
Exposure to pesticides, herbicides, and untreated sewage aside, doesn't euthanizing an animal put something into its body that one would not then want to consume?
==== author's response follows ====
Poor choice of word by the person quoted. I'd prefer sustainable harvesting, by whatever means are safest in the suburban setting. Netting, hunting, trapping, whatever.
I'm a little surprised that the National Post neglected to mention that the idea of feeding Canada Geese to the homeless was once given serious debate in Toronto. In the end it was scrapped due to toxicity and animal rights concerns.
It is a sad state of affairs that we have to refer to urban wildlife as something to be eliminated. These animals have just as much a right to exist as the humans living there.
How would we like to be referred to as "nuisance humans infesting shorelines and wilderness areas?"
Re: "nuisance geese" infesting 10 kilometres of the town's shoreline"
"a problem of our own doing" indeed: based on the early part of the article, there are several appropriate solutions to the goose "problem":
1) Find ways to bring back natural predators.
2) Discourage vast expanses of "perfectly manicured lawns."
3) Continue to find new ways, and encourage people to adopt them, to curb global warming.
4) As mentioned by SteveL, stop viewing urban/suburban wildlife as "something to be eliminated."
5) stop exposing geese (and everyone else) to all these toxins, thus reducing the harmful impact of their droppings.
I used to be a caretaker on a nature preserve in New Jersey, and have had to dispose of a goose carcass or two from a public lawn adjacent to a lake on occasion, and I admit that it did cross my mind that all these geese (and there are a LOT) could become a vector for avian influenza. How would that factor into the urban wildlife equation?
=== author's response follows ===
Because the Canada's hanging around the suburbs don't really migrate they would not be a primary in-vector for avian flu. However, the local flocks could, hypothetically, become infected by other migrating waterfowl, in which case the 12 gage shotguns would be a blazing under the guise of public health protection. Carcases would go to the incinerator or landfill.
If it came to that, other cultural norms would have to change as well. For example, recent studies in Asian cities have show that a high percentage of cats found outdoors in areas where bird flu virus outbreaks occurred, show signs of contact with the virus. It only makes sense because cats hunt birds. Cats not kept indoors during pandemic would get the same treatment as the geese, SPCA not withstanding.
The logical prevention measure (and I doubt that Homeland Security or CDC has even thought about this) would be to harvest these urban geese sufficient to reduce the standing populations before a virus hits.
I'm flashing back now on reading Albert Camus' "The Plague"
If you do hunt them, just make sure to use non-toxic shot. You don't want to add lead to the environment or your diet!
EAT THEM!!!!!!!!!! They are so freakin tatsy!
Where can I buy themTree Huggers... tell me.
I need one to stuff my turducken into and then to stuff it into an Ostrich.
Help!!
Thanks.
hugs and kisses and go environment and stuff.
Treemusic