This Woman Ate Mice And Other Pet Store Critters For A Week And Regrets Nothing

To combat the eco-impact of beef agriculture, Candra Kolodziej looked for nutritious meat alternatives.

For one week, Kolodziej ate one meal a day of proteins that can be purchased alive from a pet store. She wrote about her experience for Vice.

Mice and minnows made the menu along with other squirming, slithering critters. And get this: She says she lost about 3 pounds and felt more energized afterward.

"My experiment was met with equal parts admiration and disgust," she wrote in an email to The Huffington Post. "Everyone's on-board until it's time for mouse-meat pie."

Kolodziej, 32, of Traverse City, Mich., said the best-tasting dishes were the chocolate covered crickets and mealworm fries "for obvious reasons, I think."

Don't want to take her word for it? Kolodziej agreed to share a few of the recipes. But if you partake, do as Kolodziej did and consult with a physician beforehand.

Head over to Vice.com to read Kolodziej's first-person account of her pet project.

Now who's ready for some mouse pie?

Mouse Pie
Ingredients:
4 dead, flayed, skinned, and boiled mice
2 boiled potatoes
¼ cup shredded cheddar cheese
½ cup mixed veggies (in my case, from a can)

"Do NOT, under any circumstances, buy a mouse bred to be a pet for your pie," she says, noting that they could be pumped with antibiotics. Find live feeder mice instead.

Directions:
Learn quickly why beef and poultry are excessively processed and packaged (without their heads) by attempting to remove the innards from a distressingly soft, malleable creature that reminds you of how much you once loved Fievel.

Once you’ve carefully removed the salvageable sections of mouse meat located mostly around the hindquarters (use clean nail scissors if your household utensil selection isn’t equipped for gutting rodents), toss the scraps in boiling water while you prep your shepherd’s pie (boil taters, shred cheese, open the veggie can—it’s not rocket science). Bake all ingredients together for 30 minutes at 375 degrees.

Mealworm Fries
Ingredients:

1 fresh Idaho potato (russet)
2 dozen mealworms—boiled
1 cup chopped scallions

Directions:

Place mealworms in the freezer for at least one hour. Remove from freezer and boil two minutes. Slice your russet lengthwise into long slender sticks, skin on. Heat oil in a deep pan. Drop fries, meal worms, and scallions in together. Fry until worms and potatoes are golden brown. Remove and season with sea salt, chili powder and cayenne pepper, to taste.