While nothing will ever be as controversial as pineapple on pizza, a Florida pizzeria has said it is halting sales of its viral iguana-meat pizza amid regulatory concerns about the unexpectedly popular dish.
Bucks Coal Fired Pizza in North Palm Beach, Florida, whipped up a storm earlier this month when it revealed its “Everglades Pizza”, which consists of iguana, venison, alligator, bacon, cheese and topped off with ranch dressing.
Amid Florida’s historic cold snap at the beginning of February, which saw rare snow flurries and temperatures dropping to 35F, iguanas began falling from trees due to being “cold-stunned,” leaving them immobile.
Considered an invasive species that causes significant damage to crops and plants, green iguanas, which can grow over five feet in length and weigh 17 pounds, are not protected in Florida except by anti-cruelty laws and can be “humanely killed” on private property with landowner permission.
Iguana meat is edible and has been eaten for centuries in Mexico, Central America, and parts of the Caribbean, where it is often known as “the chicken of the trees”.
However, in the U.S., where eating lizards is less common, serving iguana to paying customers raises unusual regulatory questions, and after several calls and complaints to the Health Department, Bucks Coal Fired Pizza has had to stop making the Everglades Pizza for now.
“My buddy hit me up and was like, ‘How do you feel about me bringing in some iguana meat and making iguana pizza?’ I said, ‘absolutely,’” Frankie Cecere, owner of Bucks Coal Fired Pizza, told Florida news outlet Local 10.
“We have received about 1500 calls for iguana pizza,” he said. “It’s highly sought after apparently.”
But along with the popularity came the backlash. “People called in saying we had live iguanas in house, like an animal cruelty issue,” Cecere said. “We don’t have live iguanas here.”
“I thought it would fall under catch and cook,” he added. “You don’t need a license to harvest iguanas because they’re an invasive species, but apparently, there’s no statute for it.”
The pizzeria is now working through regulatory questions about serving iguana meat.
Source: independent.co.uk