In Minnesota, American restaurant-goers are discovering camel meat, a prized food among Somali refugees in the state and an environmental pest in Australia, says Erica Berry in FERN’s latest story with NPR’s The Salt.
Traditionally nomadic, the Somali community has relied on camels for milk and meat as well as transportation. But in Minnesota, where most Somalis in the U.S. live, the “meat of kings” is imported from Australia.
“To understand how Australia became the world’s No. 1 source for camel meat — soothing the culinary homesickness of thousands of Somalis in Minnesota along the way — you have to understand why camels are a problem in the Outback: They’re totally feral, and have caused huge headaches,” writes Berry.
The British introduced the animals in the 19th century, but with the arrival of the railroad they weren’t used anymore, so stockholders let them roam the range. They went unchecked by predators, their population rising into the thousands. Desperate for water, they would break into holding tanks and trample vegetation, degrading ecosystems and eroding waterways.
“With helicopters and marksmen, Australia culled some 135,000 camels between 2009 and 2013, and processed another 15,000 for human consumption,” says Berry. “The meat camels were slaughtered according to halal standards, and then shipped to places like Dubai, home to camel hot dogs and the world’s first camel-milk chocolate company, and Minnesota.”
Now Somalis who relocated to Minnesota during the country’s civil war in the 1990s are introducing others to the lean meat, served as burgers and stews at places like Somali-American chef Jamal Hashi’s restaurant. Customers say it tastes a lot like beef. But it might be a lot more sustainable, considering that eating feral camels is “in line with researchers who urge a “pestatarian” diet — eating animals that are environmental pests — as a sustainable alternative to a diet of mainstream meat. And it’s one arguably more palatable than eating insects or lab-grown bu