Our Wild Venison Project has now been launched, promoting the use of wild venison in restaurants and donating this sustainable and extremely lean meat to alleviating food poverty. The Wild Venison Project is a not for profit movement for chefs and restaurateurs set up by renowned restaurateur, chef and conservationist Mike Robinson and The Country Food Trust.
Britain faces an exponential increase in wild deer numbers due to two years of very low culling. The over population of deer has led to a massive loss of biodiversity, damage to fragile woodlands, the destruction of young tree plantations and huge losses to agricultural crops. At the same time Britain also faces a huge increase in the number of people in food poverty due to the cost of living crisis, many of whom are schoolchildren. It is estimated that 13.4 million people in the UK live in households that are struggling to feed themselves, over a third are believed to be children. The Country Food Trust since inception in 2014 has donated over 2.8 million meals to people in need.
The collective experiences of Mike as a chef, restaurateur, deer manager and venison retailer and The Country Food Trust, as a charity helping feed people in need, are best placed to first hand explain how collaboration can operate. We hope that the hospitality industry will support us in this endeavour and make wild venison the meat of the next decade.
