To celebrate Great British Game Week 2024, this year we have our ambassador Simon Whitehead talking about what he knows best, rabbits, and the amazing bunny burgers we had the pleasure of experiencing throughout the years country shows.
Simon Whitehead
Great British Game Week 2024
National game week is upon us once more. A celebration of the fantastic array of wild meat that we have to offer from the four corners of our island. Whether it is a bird, beast or even fish, that life should be celebrated and not wasted, and what better way than to champion our chosen wild game, or in my case, the wild rabbit, than during this week. To me though it isn’t just a celebration of the culinary world, but the world of the harvester, letting those from outside our world gain a little glimpse into what makes us do what we do, and how we go about it.
The Art of Ferreting
My modus operandi is the timeless art of ferreting. A practice that marries in with my moral compass perfectly. I rely not on technology nor ballistics, but fieldcraft, good ferrets and a few nets. Wherever I am, I have the confidence and ability to harvest rabbits for the table as I provide a valuable service for those that seek out my expertise, and it is all carried out in an organic and environmentally friendly manner. No noise, poisons or toxins, just the tried and tested method of using a ferret to bolt out a rabbit into the waiting net. Of course, it isn’t always as straightforward nor simple but for the sake of this piece, it is.
That is why we should all start to believe in environmental responsibility. Think very carefully about the origins of our food, the land it grows on, but more importantly the traditional skills required to harvest it, for you never know when you may need these skills and characters to harvest food for you in times of need once again because in the past, our country has survived wars, strikes, recessions and lockdowns by eating food harvested from the wild.
The provenance of any ferreted rabbit is unquestionable. That is one of the most important factors of producing food and protecting the future of those methods of harvesting it from the wild like ferreting. I do believe that one of the main reasons ferreting has a degree of protection is the fact that we can organically harvest food in the manner that we do, it has been its saving grace.
Truly “Freerange”
We are living in a timeline of our history where more and more people want to know where their food has come from, why and how it was harvested. By answering these moral dilemmas whether in written or spoken word, no one can realistically argue against the merits of traditionally harvesting wild rabbits and why in my opinion, nothing can nor will ever replace it.
The rabbits that I harvest do not get a visit from a vet, or filled with antibiotics and growth promoters and as such, their free range lifestyle is transferred through to their delicious protein laden and fat free meat. Once the rabbit has drawn its last breath, it isn’t just a rabbit anymore, but a valuable source of food and one that has to be treat accordingly.
Bunny Burgers
I do quite a lot of rabbit butchery and cooking demonstrations over the course of the year and often get quizzed as to why I have chosen to do them in the manner that I do. Firstly, as I play to my strengths, and that doesn’t include being a chef, cook or foodie, I have thought logically about what I want to achieve.
You are faced with a crowd that may or may not like what you are doing so you have to break it down and make it relatable to everyone. After a very simple butchery demo, I simply make some delicious bunny burgers. The reason why I do a burger is twofold. It takes away the image of a rabbit, puts this delicious meat in a form that is accepted across the world and therefore I get the audiences to actually try rabbit for the first time. I could spend a lot of time making a fancy recipe that none of the audience will ever try at home or taste, but as humans we are programmed and one of those programmes is to eat meat in the form of a burger.
Embrace Game
Times are changing and we have to move with them. By being proactive in promoting and educating the byproduct of what we do, a large percentage of the country are now seeing game in a completely different light and that can only be a good thing.
