History Main / RoadkillForDinner

* ''Radio/WaitWaitDontTellMe'': In the [[https://www.npr.org/transcripts/1189180072 22 July 2023 edition of "Bluff the Listener"]], former NBA player Damien Lillard, famous for "buzzer-beaters", was given the subject "buzzard eaters", i.e. roadkill cuisine. The first question had to do with why an annual roadkill cooking contest held in Texas might knock off points,[[note]]gravel in the meat[[/note]] while the second was about a roadkill cook who got special recognition for "Stripped and Shaved Beaver Tail".[[note]]he got a spot on ''Series/MasterChef''[[/note]]

* ''Series/RFDS2021'': Eliza responds to a call from an Aboriginal family who suffered some injuries hitting an emu in their SUV, and when the patient with a head injury refuses to go to the hospital (a result of Australia's fraught history with indigenous relations), she decides to camp out with them overnight to observe the patient. She's startled to find the dead emu in the back of their truck and is told it's good meat and they shouldn't waste it. While initially put off, she agrees the fire-grilled emu meat is delicious.

In actual fact, this is TruthInTelevision and [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roadkill_cuisine a lot more common and less extreme than it sounds.]] [[ReducedToRatburgers Rural people may not be able to afford to be picky]], and a fresh roadkill isn't inherently any more dangerous to eat than a conventionally hunted animal. It does need to be ''fresh'' though: if it's been on the road more than a couple of hours, and especially if you don't actually know how long it's been there, then you should probably leave it for the buzzards. Also, the legality of collecting roadkill varies by jurisdiction, so if you want to try it yourself, look up your local laws first.

* In the ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'' spin off ''Mrs. Bradshaw's Guidebook to the Ankh-Morpork and Sto Plains Railway'', it's mentioned that the temple of Aniger, Goddess of Squashed Animals (mentioned in ''Literature/TheLastHero'' as growing in popularity due to faster coaches and better roads, and now even more so due to the railway) sells a book of track-kill recipes.
* ''Literature/WildCards'': This is part of the schtick of [[TheCoroner Gordon the Ghoul]], the forensic pathologist of the police station in the Fort Freak trilogy of novels. Half the cops of the police station in Jokertown are wild carders (humans mutated by an alien virus), and the thing with Gordon is that he is actually a normal human who is weird enough in both physical appearance and behaviour to be commonly mistaken for a joker (someone with physical or mental deformities due to the virus). Part of that image comes from his obsession with roadkill, that he will defend at all times with speeches about this great source of nutrition that America is overlooking.

* ''Series/DocMartin'': In the episode "Midwife Crisis", Bert Large's new chef Marigold starts bringing in roadkill to cook, explaining that her family have always eaten it. She initially claims that they only eat animals they've hit themselves, but later, while driving with Bert, she finds a dead rabbit by the side of the road, gives it a good sniff and proclaims it "fresh as a daisy", dismissing Bert's concerns by comparing it to eating a windfall apple. Meanwhile, however, her husband starts to become seriously ill, while she herself becomes fatigued and develops a sore throat; turns out their habit of eating spoiled meat has given them both toxoplasmosis.

* ''Series/RFDS2021'': Eliza responds to a call from an Aboriginal family who suffered some injuries hitting an emu in their SUV, and when the patient with a head injury refuses to go to the hospital (a result of Australia's fraught history with indigenous relations), she decides to camp out with them overnight to observe the patient. She's startled to find the dead emu in the back of their truck, and is told it's good meat and they shouldn't waste it. While initially put off, she agrees the fire-grilled emu meat is delicious.

* ''Series/TopGearUK'': In "Series 9, Episode 3 -- America Special", one of the challenges given to the three presenters was that they would have to spend a night camping and only be allowed to eat whatever they found at the side of the road. Clarkson found an opossum but May ran over it. They then found a tortoise but refused to run it over and set it back in a nearby swamp. Hammond found a squirrel which was collected and spent a while trying to figure out how he would "peel" it. As Hammond and May set up camp, Clarkson went to look for more roadkill; he came back with ''an enormous dead cow''.

** Sam Starfall's ExtremeOmnivore species can find roadkill quite palatable. Florence [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff300/fv00216.htm refuses]] to eat a road killed possum, but is on the verge of reconsidering when she sees the kind of LethalEatery Sam frequents.
** Helix doesn't have the heart to watch Florence hunt a deer but accepts the [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff300/fv00228.htm compromise]] that she'll eat one that's been road killed. She then [[ExactWords brains a deer with a manhole cover]].

* ''WesternAnimation/TheClevelandShow'': Lester, Cleveland's redneck neighbor, has been known to bring roadkill home for dinner. Case in point, in the second episode after Cleveland accidentally runs over his stepson's dog he asks Lester to get rid of the body, which he does by eating it, much to Cleveland's disgust.

-->'''Sima''': But I thought you were vegetarian?
-->'''Charles''': Oh, oh, we are. We're very strict vegetarians.
-->'''Miranda''': But we always eat animals we find dead at the side of the road. It doesn't increase the demand for meat and, well, it would be a tragedy to waste all that protein.
-->'''Charles''': Yes, it's a way of recycling the animal into our own bodies. And it's the highest tribute that one can pay a fellow creature.

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