My parents do not care how a dead bird makes it to their plates: free meat is free meat. They have been eating roadkill for years and, ever since I came home, they have been trying to force it on to my plate. They insist it is perfectly safe. Still, I had my reservations as I watched my dad pluck the fiery red and gold feathers from the unfortunate bird on our chopping board one Sunday afternoon. How can we tell how long it has been dead? What if it has had a disease? Are we sure this is legal? Under the Road Traffic Act, you are expected to report any fatal accidents involving household pets, horses and farm animals, but it is not illegal to munch other roadkill so long as it was not run over on purpose. And, as far as safety is concerned, it is quite straightforward, according to the professional forager Fergus Drennan... Brennan mostly eats run-over deer, but has dined on foxes, squirrels and at least 30 badgers over the years. But he doesn’t make just meals out of roadkill, he makes art pieces, too. “The reason I’m interested in the badger is because they have such fascinating skulls,” he says. Brennan explains that, unlike most animals, which have sinew and tendons connecting their jaw bones together, the badger’s mandibles come as a one-piece and open and close like Pac-Man. Badgers might make for fine artwork, but they aren’t the tastiest creatures you can find on the roads. Brennan says they taste like lamb, with an aftertaste that resembles their diets – earthworms, with the occasional frog or hedgehog thrown in. I was going to ask Brennan how he knows what these animals taste like, but I’m not sure I want to know the answer.