Save a lake, eat an invasive

The next time you’re complaining about Great Lakes invasive species, do something about it.

Go home, cook one up and eat it.

Spoil your taste buds with some savory, smoked Asian carp or let your kitchen fill with the eel-like fish aroma of sea lamprey pie or lamprey stew.

Yum.

Not into smoked things or pie? Don’t worry there are all sorts of invasive species recipes strewn on the world-wide web.

Like, why not batter the next quagga mussel you stumble upon in lager? I’m not sure what the toxins that accumulate in the bivalve’s system will do for your palette, but everything tastes better in beer!

Or host an Italian night and top your various pastas with a garlic mustard pesto, a plant that has asserted itself all over the Great Lakes region.

And in the tragic event that all this creative and invader-eliminating cooking has led to a sore or ulcer, use some purple loosestrife on it–apparently that helps.

Need another secret weapon in your Great Lakes recipe cabinet? How about underutilized species. Make someone’s Valentine’s Day the best yet by gifting the quite romantic book, “Great Lakes fishery cookery: Recipes for underutilized fish species ; alewife, burbot, carp and sucker.”  Some may not be invasive, like the burbot, but others like the alewife are certainly invaders. This one may even be a collectible because according to Amazon.com they “don’t know when or if this item will be back in stock.” So keep your eyes peeled!

Don’t be afraid to send in your own invasive species recipes.

Bon Appétit!

DISCLAIMER: I in no way tried or looked into the validity of these recipes. So do your homework before eating or using invasive species for medicinal purposes.