Going wild for Great British Game Week 4-10 November 2024

Meet the passionate farmers, stalkers and chefs working tirelessly to put sustainable and healthy game meat on the country’s tables. Great British Game Week runs from 4-10 November 2024.

The physical beauty of British game inspires poets and artists, and can stop most of us in our tracks. Hides in myriad tones of bronze, feathers in stained-glass hues and boar… well, a row of piglets trotting after their mother couldn’t be any more adorable. You certainly never forget the first time you see emerald flashes from teal wheeling in the sky or a silhouette of antlers against a sunrise. But what’s just as uplifting are the health benefits of eating these beauties.

In comparison with other meats, game would be the undisputed Top Trumps winner. Pheasant has more protein, less fat, five times as much iron and three times the selenium of chicken, and half of the calories. Venison has extremely high iron, zinc and protein levels and, compared with beef, it’s a winner in calorie content, too: 104 kcal per 100g, compared with 191 kcal in beef and only 1g of fat, with trace levels of saturated fat compared with 11g in beef. Venison is also rich in vitamins B6 and B12 and its omega-3 levels are five times higher than those of beef.

British game equals wild food

Annette Woolcock, head of wild food at BASC, believes that there is something special about wild food because “there’s nothing artificial or chemical in its diet”. BASC has commissioned research from the University of Nottingham to look into the precise nutritional values of game. “We believe vitamin and protein levels are likely to be higher than in farmed equivalents, but most of the current research has been conducted on farmed meat,” says Woolcock, who imagines a future where venison from different species of deer can be targeted for care homes or for post-operative patients in need of specific health benefits. “With 92% of people going into care homes being underweight, and many having lost their appetite, it’s a huge market we could fulfil.”

Jim Lee, lead wildlife manager of Forestry England, explains that there is an estimated population of two million deer roaming Britain. “These animals no longer have natural predators and have a disastrous effect on ground flora and young trees,” he explains. BASC says 350,000 deer are culled every year but to keep the population at a sustainable level that number needs to be between 500,000 and 800,000. Forestry England works with 70 rangers whose work goes well beyond landscape recovery. As venison is one of the most sustainable proteins on the planet, and the nutritional benefits are well researched, there is now a partnership between Forestry England and a number of NHS Hospital Trusts bringing venison to a wider public.

A 2021 pilot with East Lancashire Hospitals Trust led to venison becoming a mainstay on menus and the initiative was a finalist in the BBC Food & Farming Awards 2022. Tim Radcliffe, the NHS net zero food programme manager, says: “Wild venison ticks all the boxes of the Trust’s goals from sustainability to health, and means we can serve meals that are full of nutrients to aid recovery.” Other hospitals are piloting the scheme, including Guy’s and St Thomas’s, so if you’re unlucky enough to become a patient you might be lucky enough to be served a venison and winter vegetable pie during your stay.

Conscious consumers

Mark Kempson is head chef at Michelin starred restaurant Kitchen W8, which hosts the GWCT’s annual Wild & British Dinner. He’s seen consumers become more conscious about what they put in their bodies and applauds organisations such as Eat Wild that reach new audiences in places such as festivals, like at CarFest where samples of partridge were handed out. Kempson believes it’s our “duty as a nation to complete the food cycle by eating wild meat”.

Wild food is chef, restaurateur and hunter Mike Robinson’s passion. He controls the wild game and boar on more than 60,000 acres of private land in the UK and supplies his four restaurants, The Elder in Bath, The Woodsman in Stratford-upon-Avon, The Forge in Chester and The Harwood Arms in London, with sustainably sourced game. Furthermore, his Deer Box business delivers wild venison. “At The Harwood Arms, about a third of the menu is wild: there’s always venison and duck, plus hare when we can get it,” he says. Asked whether pigeon is popular, he replies: “It sells like bananas and we can’t keep it in stock.” According to Robinson, squirrel hasn’t found many friends, however: “It’s a rat with a cuter outfit.” Despite this, Deer Box is enjoying a 30% to 40% annual increase in sales to “normal working people who want the health benefits or simply find British game delicious”.

This chimes with the experience of the Duke of Argyll’s head stalker Tom Kirsop. During lockdown, when the restaurants the estate supplied shut, Kirsop turned to a local food-delivery van. This has grown into his Argyll Game business. When he introduced the famous square Lorne sausage (designed to fit into a bap for the perfect piece), it sold out at its first farm show. He estimates about 10,000 of his burgers were eaten at a recent Murrayfield match. Kirsop acknowledges there is a perception that game has a strong flavour but argues that the only difference you’ll notice is that the meat isn’t “full of gristle”. He also runs West Highland Wildlife Tours, including a Lock Stock and No Smoking Barrel tour – “like stalking without the shooting” – and has even had vegans convert to wild meat once they see how little stress is involved for the animals. “We assess the deer carefully. Which doesn’t have a calf? Which is old? They’re shot from 150 metres away and don’t know anything about it.”

Jeremy Clarkson, British farming’s unexpected new champion, has joined the increasing numbers calling for this “abundant and free resource” of food to be more widely available to schools and other institutions. Viewers of Amazon Prime’s Clarkson’s Farm may remember him lamenting that his farm was overrun with deer “eating everything” and damaging young trees. Out stalking with British Deer Society chairman Hugh van Cutsem, Clarkson bagged his first doe, which was turned into venison hot dogs that went down a storm with visitors to his farm shop.

High-protein meals

Food poverty charity the Country Food Trust raises funds to provide high-protein meals that are distributed to food banks and community kitchens. Chief executive SJ Hunt explains that protein is the most expensive part of a meal and often the first ingredient to be dropped by those in food poverty. Dishes include pheasant curry and wild-venison bolognese using meat donated across the UK. Designed to be stored at ambient temperatures, the pouches don’t need refrigeration because “food banks often don’t have fridges” and can be eaten without heating because “people in food poverty are often in fuel poverty, too”.

Farmer Tom Alden believes venison might just help us eat our way out of trouble by aiding both the physical health of the nation and the environment. With wife Chloe he runs Church Farm & Park in Oxfordshire producing sustainably managed red deer venison. When we speak, I can hear a stag roar in the background. “We’re just getting into rutting season,” he explains cheerfully. With a family background in butchery and experience as a personal trainer himself, Alden is passionate about explaining the full field-to-fork process. His Deer Schools for adults and children teach foraging, butchery, cooking and nutrition. His deer enjoy a 100% foraged diet of 17 seed mixtures, including clover and chicory. “This benefits the land and the deer. The crop doesn’t need spraying or nitrogen and it improves the soil structure to guard against our increasingly very wet and very dry seasons,” he reveals.

The GWCT’s Alex Keeble says the health benefits of eating British game are one factor that encourages him to use this meat regularly at home. Stalking is a necessity on the farms that he manages and the venison obtained feeds his family throughout the year. Likewise, Christian Barrington, founder of multiple award-winning Mud pies, says he’s noticed a growing interest in the company’s game and venison pies, and a resurgence in the appreciation of British heritage ingredients. “It’s seasonal, sustainable and offers a fantastic taste experience,” he enthuses. Michael Symonds, co-founder of event company Rocket, is another game fan. “I search for game on any menu and will always order the grouse or wigeon,” he reveals, adding that his corporate clients love the sustainability credentials of venison as an alternative to beef, “not to mention the health benefits”.

A final word from Master of Wine Susie Barrie: “Wine goes beautifully with game. Pinot Noir is the ultimate match. Try a fragrant, autumnal classic from Burgundy, something richer and more fruit-forward from the New World or even a light, juicy style from England. There’s a Pinot out there to suit every type of game dish.” Given the high levels of polyphenols found in red wine, this sounds like a deliciously healthy double whammy.

Great British Game Week runs from 4-10 November 2024. Field readers can receive a 10% discount at Deer Box by using the code Field10. This offer ends 1 February 2025. Visit: deerbox.co.uk