You’ve heard about bugs being the next sustainable protein source, but what about squirrel?

Every culture has different foods that are socially acceptable to eat. Thus, when growing up in England, squirrel was never part of my diet. [Editor’s note: But it has long been a staple in the South, and was once common enough eating for the 1962 edition of The Joy of Cooking to include a diagram for how to skin one of the critters.]

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For John Ny Vang, who is from Laos but has lived in Minnesota for the last 30 years, squirrel is just like any other meat. A few weeks ago, he took me out on a hunting expedition to shoot the little guys. Squirrels were shot, and squirrels were eaten … and they were delicious! Believe it or not, I went back for seconds and thirds.

[Warning: This video contains images that are not for the squeamish.]

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