Shoot To Save | Food | Channel4.com

Date Published:: 23/06/2008

The Glorious 12th is underway with a barrage of shotgun blasts aiming to bring down grouse all across Britain’s moorlands. Game birds are off most people’s culinary radar but, as Nick Gulhane discovers, if you love our countryside then you should ironically love hunting too.

Most of us don’t eat anything wilder than a free-range chicken. The idea of tucking into a saddle of hare or roast partridge seems alien - and yet this is natural food and seasonal, too. After all, isn’t this how we’re supposed to be eating? A quick glance at the shelves of the major supermarkets tells you all you need to know – barely a handful of game products compared to dozens of conventional meats. Yet Britain has some of the best and most sought-after game in the world, and it’s all down to our landscape.

Shooting for Britain

There are few truly wild areas in Britain. The reality of our countryside is that it has been managed by humans for thousands of years. It’s become a brand instantly recognisable to people all over the world. One of the most important habitats is heather, the unique home of the grouse and an environment that, according to Martin Gillibrand of the Moorland Association, supports up to 120 other bird species, including waders. Grouse only feed on heather seeds and berries; with 70 per cent of the Europe’s heather moorland found in Britain, it’s all the more important that it is preserved.

As pleasurable as it is to stand on these moors breathing in lungfuls of fresh air, they are under threat from bracken, sheep grazing, forestry and other agriculture. It may come as a great shock, then, to discover that management of this land is practically all funded through grouse shooting.

Birds of a feather

For the last three years, Chris Butterfield has farmed a thousand acres of prime arable land in South Nottinghamshire. However, he’s also put aside 100 acres of woodland specifically for shooting purposes. Pheasant and partridge are raised from eggs until they are old enough to be released into the wild, ready for the October shoots. There’s no big money to be made and the benefit is purely environmental.

Large farms growing just a few crops can become deserts for wildlife but under the guidance of gamekeeper, Allan Dennisnichols, these woodlands have become little havens. There are hares, a good indicator of unpolluted grasses, but also insects. In the first weeks of life a baby partridge needs to eat thousands of sawfly larvae, otherwise they die. Also loving the insects are the woodland birds. There are siskins, wagtails, finches and skylarks, not to mention kingfishers and barn owls. It’s all music to his ears, but more importantly, a natural way of telling him that things are right.

Chris has even given the shot birds to local pubs for free hoping that this will kick-start people’s interest in game. He can remember a time when demand was so low that birds were dumped in the ground. But at £3-4 a pheasant for two people, it’s got to be worth a punt now.

The game is on

Of course there are many reasons why game only has minority appeal. Ben Weatherall, director of Yorkshire Game, points to its perceived ‘posh’ factor and because it is a bloodsport. It may also require plucking, not to mention contain the odd shot pellet in it. All that’s before you’ve put any in your mouth, where it might come as a shock to your culinary system if you’ve been raised on a diet of sausages and chicken breasts.

There are signs that things are changing. Chefs like Jamie Oliver and Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall have really taken up the challenge of opening people’s eyes to the wonders of game with more contemporary takes on dishes, like spicy Asian recipes for pigeons and partridge. Ben Weatherall has seen sales of game increase by 20 per cent year on year since 2004. What’s more, researchers Mintel suggest that sales will be up 8 per cent to £69 million this year.

So, if you fancy giving your taste buds a work out, try going with game and if you’re not sure what to do with it check 4Food for Hugh and Jamie’s recipes.