Squirrel haggis and Japanese knotweed reach UK menus as invasive species trend grows

theguardian.com:

It can be grilled like asparagus, mixed into a sweet-sour ripple ice-cream or even turned into a beer. When guests arrive at Silo, a “zero-waste” restaurant in east London, next month they’ll be treated to a series of dishes from an unlikely source. It is more famous as the scourge of homeowners, but for some, the solution to the Japanese knotweed crisis is to serve it for dinner.

Eating invasive species – called “invasivorism” – is increasingly fashionable as people search for ethical diets. In London, at The Ninth in Fitzrovia, three-cornered leek, a milder version of wild garlic, has been whipped into aioli, while at Native in Mayfair it is used alongside asparagus. At Seasonality in Maidenhead you can tuck into muntjac deer tartare, while Edinburgh’s The Palmerston uses sika deer extensively.

Also in Edinburgh, chef Paul Wedgwood of Wedgwood the Restaurant has had squirrel on the menu since 2008, most famously in squirrel haggis. “It’s mellow, nutty and a bit gamey, and can be substituted for rabbit,” says Wedgwood, who occasionally uses Japanese knotweed and three-cornered leek.

Silo is to hold a series of dinners this summer to highlight the issue. Douglas McMaster, the owner and chef of the Hackney Wick restaurant, cut his chops at several Michelin-starred restaurants: London’s St John, Heston Blumenthal’s the Fat Duck and Noma in Copenhagen.

The events will feature guest chefs including celebrity chef and campaigner Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, who will be challenged to create a menu using Himalayan balsam, and Skye Gyngell of Spring at Somerset House. The first dinner sees chef Matt Orlando, who previously used Japanese knotweed at Amass in Copenhagen, tackling the problematic plant.

Invasive species often wreak