Jim Bradshaw: Nutria population exploded, and La. folks wrote recipes

It’s not surprising that a story about a new cookbook filled with recipes for nutria meat was considered front-page news in August 1963 by the Cameron Pilot.

Cameron was one of the coastal parishes hit hard by a growing invasion of Myocastor coypus, the rodent that, except for its big, orange front teeth, looks like a cross between a small beaver and a giant rat. Wildlife scientists said nutria in Louisiana had increased from “just a few animals” in 1937 to more than three million by 1963, and that the population was getting way out of hand

“They have extended their range … from a few acres … to nearly all of the coastal areas of the state and for long distances up inland watersheds,” according to a 1963 study.

Each of those millions of swamp rats carried with it a voracious appetite for wetland plants and usually ate the entire plant — roots, bark and all. That alone caused them to be a real pest, doing serious damage to coastal marshes. Worse, they didn’t content themselves with staying in the marsh. They were often caught eating rice, sugarcane and corn.

Not just a little bit of it. Nutria eat about 25% of their body weight each day, and since they eat the entire plant, the vegetation is less likely to grow back. Once the root system is gone, the soil washes away and the wetland become open water. That’s bad news in a state that was already losing large hunks of its coastal marsh every year to just the regular forces of nature.

Scientists were beginning to call nutria one of the most harmful species on the planet, and were trying anything they could to get rid of them. That included trying to convince people that nutria meat was not only good, but good for you.

“Because of the large number of nutria and because of their potential value as human food, an experimental cooking program was initiated by the [LSU School of Forestry and Wildlife Management,” the newspaper report about the booklet said. Nutria for the program were all donated, especially by several landowners in the Abbeville area, who preferred to see them in a cooking pot than in a rice field.

LSU faculty members Leslie L. Glasgow and Lavon McCallogh published the cookbook, “Nutria for Home Use,” as part of that effort. They claimed in its introduction that nutria was “one of the finest and one of the tenderest of wild meats,” and that it was one of the cleanest animals in nature, since it was a vegetarian.

The booklet offered, among others, recipes for nutria gumbo, roast nutria and chicken fried nutria, and pointed out that nutria come from the same family as squirrels, implying that since we eat squirrel (some of us, anyhow), we should like nutria, too. Maybe in a sauce piquante.

It also noted that nutria was marketed in some other countries under its French name. ragondin, and that “for the past few years [before 1963] occasional reports have been received from people in Louisiana who proclaimed that nutria meat is fine food.”

Some of the more popular recipes from other places were Ragondin Salad, Soupe au Ragondin, and Culotte de Ragondin a la Moutarde.

Despite the “occasional” proclamations by a few Louisiana people, the general reaction to the campaign was pretty predictable: “You can give it any fancy name you want, but it’s still nutria.”

It’s common knowledge that I’ll eat just about anything edible, but, all these many years later, I have yet to try even the “Heart Healthy Crock-Pot Nutria,” developed by the noted chef Philippe Parola.

That may be because I don’t remember seeing it in any of the many meat markets that I’ve visited across south Louisiana.

If I did see it, I opted for the brisket displayed next to it.

 You can contact Jim Bradshaw at jimbradshaw4321@gmail.com or P.O. Box 1121, Washington LA 70589.