By Larine Statham of AAP
Give me a camel burger at MacDonnells over the golden arches in the big smoke any day!
I'd gladly wrap my laughing gear around a medium-rare slice of the desert dwelling pest, and it seems I'm not alone.
Centralians and tourists alike - stretching from the West MacDonnell Ranges to Kings Creek Station, Alice Springs and Yulara over - are helping conserve Australia's native flora and fauna by consuming the feral food.
Surprisingly, the meat is not gamey at all.
It has a smooth finish, and tastes a lot like beef.
Touted as being low in cholesterol, high in protein, and containing Omegas 3 and 6, more and more flash restaurants, cafes, stations and road houses are proudly selling locally caught and slaughtered camel in the form of sausages, burger patties, small goods and steaks.
While for tourists in particular the novelty of tucking in to a hearty camel burger is more experimental than ethical, for others it's a well-considered choice.
 |
On a recent tour of central Australia, and with a vegetarian friend in tow, I found myself involved in a series of engaging conversations about animal cruelty and intensive meat farming industries.
Having long held the opinion that Australians should reduce their consumption of introduced hard-hoofed grazing species, which cause erosion and are big carbon emitters, I was delighted to pick up the local Alice Springs newspaper to find residents in the Red Centre are already leading the charge.
Heralded as a new form of semi-vegetarianism, according to the Centralian Advocate "kangatarians" exclude all meat, except the Australian marsupial, from their diets.
They claim wild kangaroos are killed more humanely and cause less damage to the environment.
And now, eco-savvy centralians are taking ethical eating to the next level.
Enter the era of "cameltarianism".
Boasting some of the cleanest waterways in the world due to a lack of crop-dusting and industrial run-off, camels taken from Australia's arid lands are the closest you will get to finding organic meat that isn't farmed.
While soft-hoofed camels do not compact the earth like cattle, governments have been culling the marauding animals by the hundreds, and are leaving their carcasses to rot in the desert, because of the destruction they cause to native vegetation, fences and water holes.
It has only been thanks to a handful of passionate Territorians, who are determined to turn the camel problem into an economically-viable industry, that more waste has not occurred.
Before you pass judgment about what should be done to solve Australia's ongoing camel crisis, sink your teeth into a juicy piece of camel - it's certainly a food for thought!
©2010AAP