Roadkill Fan Penning Recipe Book

A man from north Cornwall who regularly eats animals killed on the roads is set to share his unusual taste with others.

Arthur Boyt, who is 66 and from Davidstow, is writing a recipe book about his gastronomic enthusiasm for roadkill.

Mr Boyt, a retired civil servant, insists the creatures are no threat to health if they are well cooked. He has been picking up the bodies of a wide variety of creatures and cooking them for 30 years.

'Good meat'
Mr Boyt, who has a degree in biology, cooks the meat at a high temperature for a long time, ensuring it is safe to eat. "It's good meat for free and I know nobody has been messing with it and feeding it with hormones and growth accelerants and so on. It's just natural, fully organic meat."

Some of his more unusual meals have included a greater horseshoe bat and otter. He regularly eats badger, rabbit, deer, weasel, hedgehog, squirrel and fox. "I've lived off roadkill for the last 30 years or so. It adds to the pleasure of a meal to know I haven't paid for it," said Mr Boyt, whose wife Su is a vegetarian.

Mr Boyt says that as well as writing his book he has been approached by Gordon Ramsay's cookery programme the F-Word, to cook one of his roadkill dishes later this year.
BBC News, 29th January 2006