By Kirsty Topping
CROCODILE and zebra meat are being served up to Scots by a butcher from Zimbabwe.
The Edinburgh store is charging up £40 a kilogram for the exotic meat, which they will prove a big hit with Scots looking for something different.
Shumba Meats is also planning to add springbok and impala meat to its range.
Owner Tinara Shumba said: “There’s quite a demand for crocodile meat, in Zimbabwe you will find it on the menus of all the hotels so I thought why not sell it here and give a taste of it to the people of Scotland.
“Where we come from it’s a delicacy and it makes very good steaks. It tastes almost like chicken or beef but is not as rich as game meat.”
Tinara added: “Zebra meat is not as awful as it sounds. It’s very plesant and has quite a gamey taste.
“It’s not as strong as venison. I’d say it’s about a quarter of the strength.”
He said Scottish diners did not need to learn any new cookery skills in order to serve the unusual feasts up at home.
“We normally cook it barbecue style but you can pan fry and grill it too.
“It’s just the same as cooking steaks; you can still serve them up with your salad and chips.”
He urged people to try the food before turning their noses up at it.
“People should try something and then say “no”, rather than say “no” before they’ve tasted it. If they give it a chance they may find that they like it.”
Mr Shumba worked as a butcher in Zimbabwe and moved in Edinburgh in 2004.
He set up his business to serve the area’s African community.
“When I came here I saw that no-one was doing what I do.”
He gets his exotic meat – which comes from culled wild animals as well as farmed – from an importer in England.
