Backcountry Hunters & Anglers

Hunting in America Is More Than the Old Trophy-Mount Stereotypes | Eater

"Held each spring on the first Saturday of May in an outdoor Boise plaza as part of the organization’s annual gathering, this high-energy cook-off features teams from chapters around the country preparing only wild-sourced foods (no domesticated meat) that are judged on presentation, creativity, taste, and how well each dish represents the landscape it came from. Contestants plate restaurant-quality, meticulously crafted entries — everything from venison and trout to squirrel, grouse, barnacles, oyster mushrooms and even a bowhead whale sourced from Utqiaġvik — and standout recent dishes have included venison pasties with cherry and morel sauce and antelope jackrabbit tacos served with elote-style cholla buds, bacon-seasoned rattlesnake, and a “Phoenix margarita.” Hundreds of spectators watch teams work quickly in public, and a small panel of judges (this year including U.S. Sen. Martin Heinrich) circulates to learn about and taste each plate, while the event itself draws well over 1,000 attendees to the larger gathering. Beyond competition, the cook-off is meant to challenge assumptions about game meat’s flavor and desirability, celebrate the labor and authenticity of sourcing food from wild places, and connect culinary storytelling to conservation and access to public lands." - Kristen Gunther