(London) Gray squirrel, American crayfish, Japanese knotweed… What if eating invasive species could help fight them? A London restaurant explored this avenue, which arouses the caution of scientists.
The idea behind several “invasive” dinners, the latest of which was served at Silo in east London on Tuesday evening, is to “creatively popularize species that are harmful to the environment”, says the chef Douglas McMaster, whose establishment claims to be “zero-waste”.
From the squirrels which swarm in British towns and countryside – to the detriment of their red cousins - to the “signal” crayfish which makes local crayfish disappear, or the Japanese knotweed, all “are forces of destruction”, explains he told AFP. But “they are all edible, they are all delicious”.
They are among the invaders at the heart of a recent report by experts working under the aegis of the UN, the publication of which gave rise to calls from specialists to “wake up” in the face of this “scourge”.
Douglas McMaster would like the supply chain of these species to be “legitimized” and for them to become “an accessible resource” for chefs.
But the idea is obviously “not to popularize these species and for the demand to be such that it allows them to become more invasive. It would be something terrible,” he emphasizes. His hope is that we can “bring balance to the ecosystem and then stop eating them”.
” Out of control ”
Because the danger that the remedy will aggravate the problem is very real.
“Consuming invasive species is not something I would encourage,” Karim Vahed, emeritus professor of entomology at the University of Derby, told AFP.
For the “signal” crayfish, imported in the 1970s to the United Kingdom for human consumption before escaping to colonize many waterways, to the detriment of the white-clawed crayfish, there are according to the specialist a risk that “people introduce them themselves” thinking of catching them so that they can be consumed.
Invasive specimens also transmit a fungal infection, the “crayfish plague,” to which American women are immune. And their few predators, otters, herons, are in no way enough to stem their spread.
Today, it is “out of control”, laments the specialist. Smaller native crayfish, which have declined by 80 to 90 percent, are at risk of extinction.
“Very human response”
In a small stream that flows through a park in Derby, American crayfish abound. 16 years ago, one of Karim Vahed’s students found the first recorded specimen there. In the five years that followed, the invasive species completely replaced the native one.
Taking the largest ones does not help contain the spread. “You just help the youngest to survive,” explains the specialist. “Taking them to eat them is not a solution.”
The picture is more contrasted for Japanese knotweed, an invasive plant which can be consumed or used to brew beer.
“It could potentially be a good idea,” notes Karen Bacon, specialist in this plant, amused by this “very human response” which consists of saying “this plant causes problems, it is edible”, “let’s eat it”.
“But on the other hand,” the professor, based at the Irish University of Galway, emphasizes to AFP, “there are risks”: because disturbing the plant can actually make it grow.
She underlines the need to develop any project with specialists “who understand the plant”. “There is potential,” she concludes, but things must be done “cautiously”.