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Comment by hunglee2 | Hacker News Reader

It's pretty clear we need to eat these animals:

LionFish, Asian Carp, Burmese Python (any Python really) - are all meats that are well worthy of the table. We need to stop thinking of them as pests (and as pets, for that matter) and start thinking of them as resources to harvest.

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i applaud this idea - snake is a delicacy in many parts of the world. but i found this:

http://news.discovery.com/earth/invasives-hunting-dining-fas...

Python skins can be sold, but Novak recommends against eating the meat. Research found some pythons in the Everglades contained high levels of mercury, she said

Honest question: Have you ever eaten Asian Carp? It might be worthy of "the table" but as an occasional recreational fisherman, it's known simply as an invasive species and only for eating by the poorest among society. The joke is to put forward a really intricate recipe where a fillet of carp is put on a plank of wood, seasoned, cooked, and then after a bit of time, throw away the fish and eat the plank.

I mean, if you really enjoy eating carp, great, but around here, they are simply pests. Rough fish. Trash fish. Basically the perfect target for bowfishing...just sayin'

Carp is delicious. As is eel. As is Catfish. It's all in the prep. The thing is, food items move in and out of acceptable fashion according cultural & historical context - it's not always to do with taste.

Read up on the history of Atlantic Cod or Maine Lobster and you'll see that at one time these delicacies were also once considered vermin, fit for the dogs and not for the table.

What we have to do is secure a better understanding of what we are doing when we categorise animals. Simply calling them 'pests' removes invasive animals from the very viable option of hunting and eating them.

You can eat them and you may even like them...but they are pests in the sense that they (at least Python and Lion Fish) are destroying South Florida's ecological balance. Farm them all you want for personal or commercial gain, but the problem is their introduction to natural habitats where they have no natural predators.

Thanks Will. I do agree with you - they are destructive and unfortunate introduction to the native eco-system. My argument is not that eating them is some sort of boon, but that we should eat them as a means of controlling their population. And the social precursor necessary to doing that is to categorically move them from 'pest' and into 'product'

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