Would you like to try turtle soup? How about a thicker, richer-tasting gumbo made with alligator meat? Or perhaps you would like a helping of chili made with bear meat. Foods like these might sound very appealing to some Americans, but not everyone. They were just a few of the unusual foods available at the West Virginia Roadkill Cook-off. The cook-off festival takes place each year in Pocahontas County, West Virginia. Since 1991, the event has been held in the Appalachian Mountains in the small town of Marlinton. The cook-off is a celebration of food dishes Americans normally do not find in a restaurant. All the dishes are made with roadkill, meaning animals found on the side of the road after being struck by a car or truck. Anyone can sign up to prepare food for the event. But at least 25 percent of the meat must be “wild,” meaning it came from either hunting or killing an animal, and not from a store.
