Can you eat hippo

It's sometimes dried, salted, and added to a vegetable stew. Hippos are still eaten in their native West Africa, even though poaching and war have decimated the population. Poachers, many of whom are current or ex-militiamen , use rocket launchers, machine guns, and even dynamite to kill the hippos.

In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the sale of the meat is illegal, commanding high prices in village markets and turning a tidy profit for the poachers. But hippos can be as deadly dead as they are alive. In , people in Zambia were infected with anthrax after eating tainted hippo meat.

In , four people in western Uganda died after eating a hippo that "died of a strange disease. The problem is verifying the safety of a wild hippo for consumption, no matter where it lives. Just as New York state officials didn't have a plan in place to test and cook the hundreds of wild geese it exterminated in —a number of people wanted the meat donated to a food bank to feed the homeless—the cost associated with green lighting wild meat might outweigh the benefits of feeding hungry locals.

Sign In Create Account. This story is over 5 years old. They belong to the enemies. Not all the villagers see a link between their appetites and the dwindling hippo population.

IE 11 is not supported. For an optimal experience visit our site on another browser. Politics Covid U. News World Opinion Business. The meat of the hippo can be cooked many different ways: grilled; roasted over an open fire or spit-roasted on top coals from wood fires a traditional method.

The taste of the flesh is often described as being similar to beef, with a slightly sweet flavor and tough texture that can be improved by marinating it before cooking or smoking over an open fire. What makes hippo meat distinctive from other meats is the fat content. The taste of this unusual animal varies depending on how you cook them; if cooked with spices such as cumin seeds then its flavor will resemble venison deer.

The hippo is an unusual animal, but there are many ways to cook it. Another option for cooking this unusual animal would be in stews like beef stew with vegetables such as potatoes carrots onions celery garlic peppers tomatoes etc.