London restaurant serves up gray squirrel lasagna

Feb. 4 (UPI) -- The chef at a London restaurant said he is catering to customers in search of "sustainable" proteins with a lasagna made with an unusual meat -- gray squirrel.

Ivan Tisdall-Downes, chef at Borough Market restaurant Native, said he struck a deal with his wild boar supplier to obtain the gray squirrel carcasses that would have gone to waste from culls of the invasive North American animals.

"Squirrel is one of the most sustainable proteins you can cook really. It is almost exactly the same in taste as rabbit," Tisdall-Downes told The Telegraph.

"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 lasagna," he said. "It's very good for you, it's quite lean."

Gray squirrels are considered an invasive species in Britain, where they were introduced from North America in the 19th century. The species has been blamed for the dwindling population of native red squirrels.

"Because there aren't really any predators left for the gray squirrels the population is booming and they are taking over the red squirrel habitat," Tisfall-Downes said.