"Intuitive Revulsion"
I’d never heard that phrase before, and yet it succinctly summed up exactly what I was feeling. But more on that later.
Nutria, as you probably already know, pose a tremendous threat to the wetlands. These dirty, oversized rats can consume up to 20 percent of their body weight in plant matter and roots each day, eating up the vegetation that holds together wetland soil, causing major erosion. What was once wetland becomes permanent open water, and we lose more of our state. To say they are prolific breeders is a gross understatement. Each of these invasive, orange toothed rodents can breed up to three times each year producing up to THIRTY NINE additional nutria which can then breed up to three times each year producing up to thirty nine additional nutria which…well you get the point.
So it was with that in mind that we spoke to Catherine Normand, a biologist with the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries. The bounty on each nutria has been raised by one dollar in an attempt to literally gain ground on the damage done by these oversized rats.
It was a free wheeling discussion that separated nutria fiction from fact and eventually led to nutria being a tasty source of protein. Which brings us back to “intuitive revulsion”. That phrase precisely summed up my feelings. I gagged as our guest spoke to the tastiness of nutria and the different ways to cook it. The picture that popped into my mind was a grease-smeared zip lock bag in the fridge with cold pieces of nutria meat inside. A popular chef called in to say it was delicious.