"SWAMP" news and stories

Actually, according to The Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries, nutria is a red meat, but it supposedly tastes like rabbit or dark meat turkey. More than a little confusing, I know. What is clear is that Louisiana has a surplus of these 20 pound South American swamp rodents, which the LDWF kindly dubs "fur bearing herbivores." As some of you may know, Louisiana has, for several years, had a campaign going to try to cut down on the population (the nutria population, that is) by convincing people to eat to eat these critters, which were originally brought in for their fur, but then escaped and wreaked havoc on the local greenery. Also known as coypu, the nutria is apparently also a host for a type of nematode that can infect human skin and cause 'nutria itch,' according to Wikipedia. Nevertheless, the LDWF has plenty of recipes for the little guys, the names of which are too good not to mention: there's Heart Healthy 'Crock-Pot' Nutria, nutria sausage, nutria chili, "Stuffed Nutria Hindquarters," and "Enola's Smothered Nutria." The site also has over 20 photos of how to butcher a nutria, but we don't need to get into that right now.

 
SWAMP is short for Studies of Work Atmospheres and Mass Production. The group's stated goal is "to find creative expression within elements of culture that are inherently counter-creative." Of the many darlings of consumer culture that the group touches on again and again is fast food. One of their most outlandish and amazing projects, the Meat Helmet, came in response to McDonald's recent "adult happy meal" that came with a pedometer. SWAMP's Meat Helmet hooks the user up to a series of pneumatic 'air muscles' that force the wearer to make chewing motions. Based on the amount of calories entered into the helmet's CPU (say, 560 for a Big Mac), the 'muscles' pump the appropriate amount of chewing to work off the meal. They estimate that chewing burns roughly 70 calories per hour, so a solid eight-hour jaw flappin' workout should work off that Big Mac. The SWAMP site contains more pictures and a pretty slick video presentation, too.

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