Bogong moths: If you can’t beat ’em, eat ’em

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Sydney: If you can't beat 'em, eat 'em. Those big, fat hairy bogong moths that have invaded the Olympics taste delicious in an omelette or maybe caramelised in a tartlet.

And if that doesn't whet your appetite, how about kangaroo in a corn and pumpkin relish or tempura of crocodile? But to top it all, nothing beats a barbecued chunk of "fat-arsed wombat".

When it comes to nibbling in the outback, Jennice Kersh has no peers. Now she is determined to educate Olympic visitors in the delights of eating Australian wildlife.

Defying protests from animal liberation activists, the flamboyant restaurateur argues, "Who wrote the rule book on what is right and wrong to eat?"

She and her brother Raymond run Edna's Table, a Sydney restaurant where they have offered everything from emus to witchety grubs. Now she is feeding the international media at Olympic Park.

"Animal liberation people have marched twice on Edna's Table this year. Paul McCartney and Brigitte Bardot said that women should not be allowed to serve kangaroo at the Olympics. What do they know? They are just a pair of middle-aged carrot killers."

Kersh, happy to put anything in her pot and full of admiration for the way Aborigines can cook up a storm out of nothing, said, "We have 35 million kangaroos in Australia, eight million wallabies and only 20 million people.

"We cull only six per cent of the kangaroo population. The meat has only 0.3 percent cholesterol." She blames it all on "Skippy", the children's television programme about a cuddly kangaroo.

"Skippy has a lot to answer for just as Bambi did. I believe in kangaroo for breakfast, lunch and dinner if you are a great meat eater," she said.

The Sydney Olympics have been hit by an unlikely bug - giant moths called bogongs who have been drawn off their migration route by the glare stadium lights.

The insects, an Aboriginal delicacy which are quite harmless, have descended on Olympic Park in their millions. Spectators duck and swat. Athletes have to watch out for the dive-bombers.

So stadium lights are being dimmed every night after the last event in the hope they might fly away.

But Kersh says this surprise harvest should not be wasted. "I could have bring-in and takeaway. We could put them in an omelette or maybe caramelised in a tartlet."

The wombat is another creature under fire at the Olympics. Australia are using the Boxing Kangaroo as their mascot but a cartoon character from a television satire show - Fatso The Fat-Arsed Wombat - is gaining in popularity.

That is enough to have Kersh licking her lips in anticipation: "I love wombat. What could be more delicious than a lovely piece of char-grilled wombat arse?"



(c) Reuters Limited.