They Eat Iguanas, Don’t They?
A Taste of Roatan
Years ago I was watching an episode of Parts Unknown with Anthony Bourdain. He was traveling with a guide to a remote mountain town in Costa Rica to sample the local specialty: stewed iguana. The show made it seem as if this was a very rare and exotic treat that took considerable effort to find.
I have since found that this is not exactly true. Iguana is a popular food in Latin America and the Caribbean. I first became aware of this on a trip to Roatan, Honduras where they are proud to serve it as a local delicacy. It is served both at home and at restaurants and they actually have iguana farms where they are produced for consumption much like chicken in the U.S.
In Roatan they won’t let you get away with saying Iguana tastes like chicken. They are very adamant that it is much better than chicken. In my experience the meat was very similar to chicken but the spicing was what made the dish.
The most common way to serve iguana is in a stew. Iguanas are stewed whole with the bones, minus the head and entrails. The stew we had was served with the bones, but some recipes for soups or curries remove the bones after stewing. The meat can also be used to make gumbo, etouffee, or tacos.
While iguanas are farmed in some areas such as Roatan, in other areas of Latin America and the Caribbean they have been hunted almost to extinction and have laws protecting them in the wild. During a tour of Puerto Vallarta in the Mexican state of Jalisico, our guide told us about how iguanas were his families favorite food when he was a boy. Now there are heavy fines in Jalisco for poaching iguanas. (This does beg the question, why don’t they farm iguanas in areas where they have become endangered?)
Meanwhile, in southern Florida, iguanas are an invasive species that is wreaking havoc in the local ecosystem. Florida officials have been trying to encourage people to hunt them and eat them. They have gone so far as to hand out recipes for “The Chicken of the Trees.” Since they are an invasive species, no permit is needed to hunt them.
Iguana meat is high in protein, low in fat, and quite tasty. So don’t hesitate to try it if you are in an area where they serve it. Or take a trip to Florida and check them out. During a cold snap the cold-blooded creatures go stiff and dormant and fall out of the trees.
Here is a recipe in case you would like to give it a try:
3 pounds iguana meat or 5 pounds whole cleaned iguana
3 cups vegetable stock
2 bay leaves
1 teaspoon oregano
1 tsp chopped parsley
1/2 tsp thyme
3 stalks chopped celery
10 small potatoes, diced
3 tomatoes, chopped
3 large carrots, chopped
2 whole chile peppers, choose your heat: Anaheims to Habeneros
3 cloves garlic, chopped
Salt, pepper to taste
Bring all ingredients to a boil, then reduce and simmer for one hour. If you used whole iguana you can remove the bones and skin now if you like.
Serve with beans and rice, a squeeze of lime, and a splash of dark rum. Buen provecho!
