A chef is serving up lasagne made out of grey squirrel in London's Borough Market.
Ivan Tisdall-Downes, who runs the restaurant Native in the capital's foodie hub, makes a squirrel ragu by slow cooking the meat from the squirrels' hind legs.
He sources the meat from his wild boar supplier, who also happens to help with grey squirrel culling, according to the Sunday Telegraph.
The former River Cottage chef, from south east London, said diners are increasingly turning to cruelty-free wild meat and are interested in minimising their carbon footprint - making squirrels a popular choice.
Mr Tisdall-Downes then uses his ragu to make an open lasagne using lightly cooked sheets of celeriac instead of pasta.
And the chef uses offal from the meat for Native's game parfait, according to Big Hospitality.
Grey squirrels, which were introduced from America in the 1870s, are classed as an invasive species that out competes the UK's endangered native red squirrel.
Mr Tisdall-Downes claims the meat tastes like rabbit.
He said: “Squirrel is one of the most sustainable proteins you can cook really. It is almost exactly the same in taste as rabbit.
“It's tasty, it's not as gamey as rabbit, it's nice white meat. It's good to cook down slowly and make stews from and ragus for lasagne.
"It's very good for you, it's quite lean."
He added: "I think sustainable eating is becoming more popular now. More and more people are more conscious of their carbon footprint and the damaging additives that get put in their food."
The London chef is not alone is his use of wild meat.
Kevin Tickle, who runs the Michelin-starred restaurant The Forest Side in Cumbria, uses grey squirrel meat to make croquettes.
His "critter fritter" has been on the restaurant's tasting menu since 2016.
He said diners “find it quite exciting”.
The red squirrel is officially classed as Near Threatened in England, Wales and Northern Ireland but is locally common in Scotland.
Since the introduction of grey squirrels, the UK population of reds has dropped from around 3.5 million to between 120,000 to 160,000 individuals (according to different estimates). The population in England is thought to be as low as 15,000.
