http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/westcoastnews/story.html?id=39f6e523-ad42-4e6e-ab48-71f89ed07f3e
Much ado about Roo
Kangaroo is low in fat and better for the planet than beef, according to a Greenpeace report

Randy Shore
Vancouver Sun

Friday, December 14, 2007

Randy Shore cooks up some kangaroo in the Sun test kitchen.
CREDIT: Bill Keay, Vancouver Sun
Randy Shore cooks up some kangaroo in the Sun test kitchen.

The market for kangaroo meat has a new bounce in its step since a scientist in Australia touted roo as an environmentally friendly alternative to beef.

In a report commissioned by Greenpeace, Dr. Mark Diesendorf says cutting beef production in Australia by 20 per cent and substituting kangaroo meat would save 15 million tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions over the next 12 years.

Gripped by a crippling drought, Australia is taking note of anything that could slow climate change.

Kangaroo is starting to turn up on menus at "white table cloth" establishments around Vancouver, says Mark Hills of Hills Foods, Canada's sole importer of roo.

He names The Locus Cafe, La Belle Auberge and Aussie theme pub Moose's Down Under as regular buyers, but says he is just now in a position to maintain a regular supply for his customers -- an essential assurance for chefs considering regular menu items.

"It shows up mainly in specials at the moment," Hills said. "Supply was a bit spotty before."

Before Hills received an entire container load of kangaroo, that is.

"I had hoped to get that container in August, then we would have seen kangaroo on fall menus," said Hills.

As it is, roo seems like a natural for spring.

With 15,750 kilograms of "australus" now on Canadian shores in Hills' warehouse, maintaining a steady supply will no longer be an issue.

That will be good news to Locus chef Todd Boyer, who has used ground kangaroo meat for hamburgers and serves topside, a cut from high on the leg, as a special every few weeks.

"We cut it into medallions, like a scallopini," Boyer said. "It is a very low fat meat, so we just sear it very quickly with a light seasoning."

The flavour, he says, is gamy but "not overpowering."

For hamburgers, Boyer adds a little pork fat so the patties don't dry out.

Boyer sees the market for kangaroo picking up, now that the price is dropping, although to his customers, novelty may be more important than price.

"Last week, we did a camel strip loin, we have some alligator on this week," said Boyer. "We like to use whatever new products [Hills] have in that the rest of the market isn't using yet."

The opportunity to grow a market for roo in Canada only arrived with Hills' sea container a few weeks ago. It took Hills two decades to convince the Canadian Food Inspection Agency to allow him to import for sale.

When the world came to Vancouver for Expo 86, Hills took note of some of the game meats sought by countries hosting the international pavilions.

Hills was inspired to develop a game meat business and began sourcing obscure meats. He found Australia did in fact have a domestic kangaroo meat industry.

He wrote a letter to the CFIA asking for permission to import roo. They were unmoved, he said.

Hills was a bit ahead of his time.

"Back then, we had a hard time selling bison and venison," he recalled. "It took 10 years for the business to really get going.

"Until then, there were some lean years," he said.

CFIA approval might have come sooner had he accepted the government's offer to send Canadian inspectors to Australia at his own expense. He didn't.

The CFIA finally relented and inspected the Australian slaughter and packing facilities, piggybacking the inspection on a regular tour of cattle and sheep processing plants. That cleared the way for Hills' shipments, about 20 years after he wrote his first inquiry.

Now, it seems, the timing is right. Even Greenpeace is on board with eating kangaroo, so long as it means raising fewer cattle, whose flatulence is a major source of greenhouse gases.

Bacteria in the digestive tract of cattle is what produces the methane. So now scientists are looking into transferring the bacteria from kangaroo stomachs into sheep and cattle to see if they can build a cleaner cow. Until then, roo is the greener way to go.

"It's an alternative for those who care about the planet," jokes Hills.

The red and grey species of kangaroo that make their way to our tables are taken from the wild by licensed hunters.

About 30 million kg of kangaroo is harvested in Australia, although less than one-third of that is eaten by Australians. Russia imports more than 10 million kilos and significant markets exist in France, Belgium and Germany.

The $200-million industry is dwarfed by beef exports, which bring Australia about $5 billion a year.

Despite their symbolic status as Australia's national animal, kangaroos are considered a voracious and fast-breeding pest and numbered up to 50 million in 2005, before the current drought.