Never mind shrimp on the barbie. Camel is what’s for dinner Down Under.
Due to a swelling population of feral camels, Australian authorities are urging citizens to eat more of them. The animals are becoming pests, nibbling every bit of foliage in sight and leaving heaps of dung everywhere. They’re found in the outback, in the northern jungles, even showing up in major cities, wandering along roads and grazing in parks and residential yards. Brought to the country as pack animals in the 19th century, the dromedaries have now proliferated to over 1 million, and are deemed an invasive species by the government.
(Dingos and cane toads are also considered invasive species in Australia, but is anybody Down Under roasting those on the grill? -Ed.)
Aussies have been more than receptive to this latest environmental call of duty. In fact, they can’t get enough of the delicious camel meat. Served in restaurants everywhere from Sydney to Perth, the delicacy is becoming ubiquitous on menus, more so than kangaroo meat, presently the “official” Australian dish. A cottage industry has sprung up nationwide, with meat processing plants and butcher shops getting into the business. Cut into steaks and chops or ground into burger and sausage, and at roughly half the price of beef, the camel meat flies off the counters of supermarkets throughout the country. Fast food shops and street vendors sell camel kebabs for lunch on the cheap. Camel stew is fast becoming a popular home-cooked meal.
The Australian Parliament has taken notice of this trend and is doing everything it can to encourage more people to butcher and eat camels. A bill in Parliament would declare camel to be the new National Dish of Australia. Hunters are allowed to bag as many of the lumbering ungulates as they want, and can legally shoot them from airplanes. Citizens throughout Oz are jumping on the camel meat bandwagon.
“Crikey! It’s better than ‘roo meat, and wots wrong with ‘roo meat, mate?,” exclaimed Peter Altman, a longshoreman from Sydney. “Me and the missus toss it on the barbie at least twice a week. Slice it thin and serve it on flat bread with some vegemite. It’s very tender and tastes a bit like wallaby. Only thing, it makes me bloody thirsty for hours afterwards.”
“Camels are tasty and nutritious,” said Melinda Haggerty, while eating a plate of camel lo mein at a Chinese eatery. “There’s hardly a restaurant in Sydney that doesn’t serve it. And it’s wild camel - much leaner than the farm-raised stuff.”
However, the success of camel meat hasn’t extended beyond Australia. New Zealanders won’t touch the stuff, and it’s a sure bet it won’t catch on in the U.S. either. So don’t expect to see camel on the menu at your local Outback Steakhouse anytime soon.
