The Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries came up with it's own palatable idea. The agency reenlisted the services of Parola, who was instrumental in popularizing alligator meat as gourmet fare nationwide. Parola, a comandeur des Cordon Bleu de France, first came to Louisiana in 1984 as a corporate chef for the Mafia-connected Marcello family in New Orleans. It helps his culinary environmental crusade, he said, that nutria is such a clean, delicious animal. Rats are omnivorous.
Nutria are herbivorous.
They are really quite clean. In the choice of pork or chicken, I would prefer to eat nutria. His best selling point to chef and patron alike is the cuisine, itself, he said. It is currently being shipped to individuals and restaurants as far away as Seattle. Nutria is fairly common in gourmet restaurants of France and Germany, said fur specialist Greg Linscombe of the Wildlife and Fisheries Department.