--- title: Food Festival Hosts Squirrel Burger Challenge description: Hey, they're protein canonical: https://time.com/3482553/food-festival-squirrel-burger-challenge/ author: Alexandra Sifferlin article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-10-08T20:06:47.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:13:40.896Z og:title: Food Festival Hosts Squirrel Burger Challenge og:description: Hey, they're protein og:url: https://time.com/3482553/food-festival-squirrel-burger-challenge/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Food Festival Hosts Squirrel Burger Challenge twitter:description: Hey, they're protein twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # Food Festival Hosts Squirrel Burger Challenge by [Alexandra Sifferlin](https://time.com/author/alexandra-sifferlin/) ## Alexandra Sifferlin Oct 8, 2014 8:06 PM UTC by [Alexandra Sifferlin](https://time.com/author/alexandra-sifferlin/) ## Alexandra Sifferlin Oct 8, 2014 8:06 PM UTC Squirrel burgers might be the next big trend for foodies. This year, the annual [Forest Showcase Food and Drink Festival](http://forestshowcase.org/) in southern England hosted ‘The Extraordinary Squirrel Burger Challenge” on Oct. 4. Participants were given a quarter of a pound of minced grey squirrel and additional ingredients and spices,[ according to AFP](http://news.yahoo.com/brits-nuts-over-squirrel-burgers-180502490.html). The winner was a “Cajun Melt” followed by “Chicken of the Tree Surprise.” “We have been told that grey squirrel tastes like the dark meat on a chicken and that a pair of mature squirrels provide about the same amount of meat as a medium sized chicken” said an event coordinator in [a statement](http://forestshowcase.org/competition/). “It is the ‘free range chicken of the tree.” According to the coordinators, squirrels may be a sustainable food source. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3482553/food-festival-squirrel-burger-challenge/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3482553/food-festival-squirrel-burger-challenge/"},"headline":"Food Festival Hosts Squirrel Burger Challenge","datePublished":"2014-10-08T20:06:47.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:13:40.896Z","description":"Hey, they're protein","url":"https://time.com/3482553/food-festival-squirrel-burger-challenge/","keywords":["Newsfeed","animals"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Alexandra Sifferlin","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/alexandra-sifferlin/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3482553/food-festival-squirrel-burger-challenge/","name":"Food Festival Hosts Squirrel Burger Challenge"}}]}] ```