Possum on the menu at Cook 'n' with Gas

Congratulations on trying possum - one of New Zealand's most under-rated gourmet meats! As you discovered (or are about to find out) it is [delicious/sweet/tender… tasting notes here]
Not only are you trying a unique new culinary experience - you're also doing good for New Zealand's natural environment and biodiversity.
Why? Because possums are an environmental menace. They are not native animals: they were introduced from Australia in the nineteenth century. Our forests can't cope with their depredations. The possums choose the tastiest plants in our rainforests like totara, miro, rata, pohutukawa, five-finger and fuchsia. Scientists have estimated there are more than 70 million of them all over New Zealand, and they eat more than twenty thousand tonnes of vegetation every night.
So why did people introduce the possum? Because they wanted to establish a fur industry and didn't know any better.
The only way we can get the possum numbers under control is by marketing possum products. So help save New Zealand's biodiversity - eat a possum today!
The possum meat we serve at Cook 'n' with Gas is from wild animals and is subjected to the same stringent meat-inspection and quality assurance procedures as all manufactured meat products. Enjoy!

The name of the game is game

Herbivorous mammals from four continents have been introduced to New Zealand since Captain James Cook released pigs in 1769. Red deer were gifted from game parks in England, and the Emperor of Austria gave us the chamois. US President Theodore Roosevelt furnished the first introductions of wapiti and moose.
New Zealanders now enjoy access to some of the world's best wild food - introduced game and fish as well as native animals like muttonbirds, eels, scallops and lobster.
Venison has an extraordinary history. At different times deer have been protected, hunted for their trophy antlers, exterminated as pests destroying the forests, and elevated to the status of a valuable farm animal. Most recently, game parks have been established to make trophy deer available for tourist hunters.

How venison got on the menu

In 1861, three deer were successfully introduced from Lord Petre's Thorndon Hall herd in the UK, and were protected while numbers were allowed to build up.
The first hunting licenses were issued in the Nelson area in 1882 and cost £1. New Zealand could offer sportsmen better opportunities for obtaining a trophy than anywhere else in the world. However, by the 1920s deer numbers had risen to plague proportions and hunting them was encouraged.
The meat had no commercial value, though it soon became an established part of local cuisine. An export market for wild venison began in the late 1950s and there was an explosion of commercial hunting. Deer were carried out from the rugged, isolated bush and high country on men's backs, in jet boats and light aeroplanes, on tractors, and floated down rivers on inner tubes. Then came an era of helicopter hunting, which so reduced the numbers that the call was made to allow deer farming. The first deer farming licenses were issued in 1970. This was internationally important for adapting a wild animal to traditional farming systems
By the year 2000 there were 2.2 million deer on almost 2,000 farms, and export earnings were put at $194.3 million from velvet, venison and by-products. Cook 'n' with Gas believes it is the first restaurant in New Zealand to put the tongues and cheeks on the menu.

A quacker of a dish

The wild duck on our menu is mallard, an introduced species which is very common in New Zealand. In May each year duckshooters converge on lakes and ponds, dressed in camouflage. They sit in hides called 'maimais' made from brushwood. They float decoys - model ducks - close by, and blow on 'duck calls' to attract the birds within range.
Wild duck is rich, dark meat with excellent flavour and a proud addition to our menu.