Good morning!
Yesterday I didn’t post my usual report because I did my hard walking session in the afternoon. I also changed my route and while walking along a rather trafficked road, I found a dead racoon. I took a photo, but in the end, I decided against posting it. Instead, you are getting a nice view of my favorite “Xmas tree.”
I also did some research on roadkill in Japan.
According to NEXCO (Nippon Expressway Company) reports, roadkill on expressways increased from about 36,000 in 2002 to about 47,400 in 2018. In other words, about 130 collisions with animals occur on expressways alone per day.
The reason for the increase in roadkill is said to be the development of transportation infrastructure. About 70% of the land area of Japan is forest, of which 50% is natural forest. New roads are constantly opened through mountainous areas, leading to an increase in the number of incidents.
The most common animal to be killed is by far the tanuki (raccoon dog) which comprises about 40% of the animals killed on expressways. About 18,800 are killed annually. If general roads are included, some data puts the number at up to 340,000 per year.
The next most common victims are cats. According to a survey by the NPO Human and Animal Coexistence Center, about 290,000 cats died on the roads in 2019.
Other animals include rabbits, weasels, foxes, deer, wild boars, bears, and turtles. In some cases, crows and black kites are hit while trying to eat the animals that were run over.
On expressways alone, birds account for 27% of all deaths. Speaking of birds, there have been many reports of birds and other animals hitting the car windshield and blocking visibility or causing the driver to suddenly steer or brake in an attempt to avoid the animal, causing the car to jump into the oncoming lane, hit the curb, fall into a gutter, be rear-ended by a following vehicle, or roll over.
In addition, collisions with large animals are also on the rise. For example, there were 4,009 deer-related traffic accidents in Hokkaido in 2021, an increase of 498 from the previous year, setting a new record for the fifth consecutive year. This is 3.4 times the number since the survey began in 2004.
Wild deer are increasing outside of Hokkaido as well. According to the Ministry of the Environment, the distribution area of Japanese deer has expanded by about 2.7 times and that of wild boars by about 1.9 times in the 40 years from 1978 to 2018.
According to a survey conducted by the Ministry of the Environment from 2000 to 2003, brown bears live in about 55% of Hokkaido, and Asiatic black bears live in about 45% of Honshu. The populations of both species have been increasing rapidly in recent years.
In On Roads, Joe Moran writes that “The word [roadkill] originated as a hard-boiled American term, that reduced the many species killed on the roads to a non-guilt-inducing uniform mass. In the US, you can buy roadkill coloring books for children, and the word has taken on a more general meaning as something that is useless or redundant (I'm just roadkill in my kitchen). Some Australian restaurants allow patrons to bring in their own roadkill to be cooked.”
Next, Moran reports on the “roadkill cuisine” phenomenon:
“The current vogue for roadkill cuisine has its origins in the foraging movement initiated by Richard Mabey's classic 1972 book Food for Free although Mabey himself said he was too sentimental to scrape up roadkill pheasant. The food-taboo destroyer Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall brought it into the mainstream on one of his first television programs, in which he prepared a ragout of roadkill.”
“Roadkill cuisine is perfectly in step with the values of the burgeoning slow food movement. First, thrift: a piece of roadkill is a meal going to waste, although most of the time (unless the dying animal managed to crawl over to the side of the road) it is too mangled to be edible. Second, local sourcing: roadkill is intrinsically seasonal and each region has its delicacies. Finally, good husbandry: a run-over badger has led a fuller life than a battery-farmed chicken. [British] TV's "roadkill chef" Fergus Drennan, whose signature dishes include wild squirrel stew and badger intestine sausages, even won an Ethical Cuisine award from PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals). "If you must consume meat," went the award citation," the only ethical way to do it is to scrape it off the road."
Since we are close to the glorious winter holidays season, when we wolf down tons of food, I’ll end this post with a roadkill recipe, courtesy of Jonathan Thomson (I found it in Iain Sinclair’s London Orbital). Vegetarians and vegans can skip this part:
Having gathered the creature from the road, I check to ensure the condition of the bird is reasonable - I reject those which are infested with maggots or are too damaged from the impact of the collision.
Once gathered, next step is to pluck the bird. I always do this while still in the country. This is a problematic task in central London.
A good “hanging” from the neck with entrails intact is essential to bring the flavor on - if this step is missed, or the duration of the hanging is too short, the meat does not develop a sufficiently “gamey” flavor. The hanging process and the smell this produces steers many adverse comments from those who live in our building. The last hanging bird was hauled down because of the strength of protest rather than the meat being sufficiently matured.
On completion of the hanging, the bird is gutted and cleaned.
The cooking is as follows: I very slowly cook the legs in braise of white wine, game stock, onions, carrots, juniper berries and thyme. The dish is best cooked in a heavy skillet. Method is as follows: sear the legs over a high heat in butter or oil. Remove. Add salt and pepper and sweat off onions, carrots and celery until softened. Then add two crushed garlic cloves. Deglaze the pan with either white wine or Calvados - ensure that all the sediment is scraped from the bottom of the pan. Replace the pheasant legs and add enough game stock to generously cover the bottom of the pan. Put into a moderate oven and cook slowly until tender. To finish, remove the legs (keep at serving temperature), strain off the braising vegetables and reserve the liquor in a saucepan (this is optional, the braising vegetables can be retained). Place over a high heat and reduce. Thicken the sauce with cream.
The breasts, which are removed from the carcass before cooking, are cooked very quickly and served close to rare, dependent on individual taste. I cook the breasts on a skittle over a medium heat in a little butter and olive oil. Once cooked, they are sliced and plated. They are served with a sauce which is made from the stock of the boned/legged bird and sometimes finished with cream to thicken.
The vegetables are like to serve with this dish are roughly mashed potatoes, fresh fine green beans and carrots.
Et voila, bon appetit!
Wow! I wasn't expecting a detailed road kill recipe, Gianni. Want an interesting subject for a post!
Until recently, road kill in Australia was considered inedible but we're changing our views on that. I've tried kangaroo meat a few times but that was in restaurants and at a BBQ (I'm pretty sure it wasn't scraped off the Hume Highway but you can never tell).
I eat a considerable amount of game in Japan, mostly venison, but never considered roadkill. In my neighborhood there isn’t much.