Volunteers served up a game-meat lunch that included venison tacos at Lunch Break on Tuesday. (Photo by Jim Willis. Click to enlarge)
By JIM WILLIS
The Sportsman Channel’s Hunt.Fish.Feed outreach program volunteers were at Red Bank’s Lunch Break on Tuesday serving up deer meat.
Scott Leysath, chef and host of the channel’s “Dead Meat” program, prepared ground-venison tacos from game meat donated by hunters.
“A lot of people have misconceptions about what deer meat tastes like,” but tacos are good way to get people to try it because it’s a very forgiving dish, Leysath told redbankgreen‘s PieHole.
“They love it,” he said of the room full of diners, “and if they don’t they haven’t told me.”
“In urban areas, where hunting isn’t common, people aren’t as familiar with venison,” said Molly McFarland, on hand volunteering from the Sportsman Channel. But that doesn’t mean people aren’t receptive to it, and “it’s lower in fat and higher in protein than ground beef, and has the added benefit of being organic,” she added.
Lunch Break Executive Director Gwen Love says it’s been “many, many years since we’ve had venison here,” and was happy with the donation, which Sportsman Channel local cable affiliate Comcast helped orchestrate.
“To be able to have this kind of donation — the volume – to be able to feed all the guests that we serve in one day, that’s awesome,” said Love. “We are honored and humbled that Sportsman Channel chose us, and the fact that our community is going to receive this caliber of a meal so generously donated, we are just so very, very thankful.”
The Hunt.Fish.Feed program helps connect hunters and anglers with food shelters.
“Sometimes,” says McFarland, “in a soup kitchen or food pantry or shelter, the food that they’re able to serve on a daily basis isn’t as fresh or healthful as they’d like to be able to serve. So events like this are a nice opportunity to offer something fresh and healthful.”
