Would you ever try iguana tacos?
TikToker Gray Davis (@gray.davis) recently made waves with a series of videos highlighting the way it's "raining iguanas" in Florida thanks to the cold weather.
"Since iguanas are cold-blooded and sleep up in the trees, when they get too cold, they no longer can hang on and they end up falling to the ground," he explained, showing various lifeless-looking reptiles.
Despite their appearance, he says that they usually do just fine once they're warmed up. However, green iguanas are considered invasive to Florida, and because of the weather, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) temporarily allowed residents to remove and dispose of cold-stunned iguanas without a permit.
Making iguana tacos
Davis, who is known for his TikToks exploring how to legally and safely turn Florida wildlife and plants into sustenance, decided to take a fairly unique approach to this problem.
"Whenever we have these cold fronts and they start falling down, a lot of people will go out and collect them to help control the number in the population," he said. "But they do have the nickname 'chicken of the trees' because they're absolutely delicious. So rather than let this one go to waste, we're going to make tacos."
Although Davis did show the cold-stunned iguana he chose to turn into taco meat, he skipped out on showing the actual process of it. Instead, he cut right to making use of the meat, the skin, and the 20 eggs he found once he opened the iguana up.
"You guys know that I like to waste as little as possible," he said. "Any leftovers are used as crab trap bait."
From there, Davis went ahead and showed the process of cooking the meat, prepping other ingredients, and blending the eggs with avocado to create a sauce.
"Now that right there is a Florida man taco," he said.
@gray.davis Would you try Iguana Tacos? ? ? #fyp #foryoupagе #catchandcook #iguana
♬ original sound - Gray Davis
Viewers debate whether iguana tacos are ethical—or just wild
Considering iguana isn't normally something you find on the menu or at the local grocery store, a lot of people's knee-jerk reactions were definitely to be at least a little weirded out. At the same time, it was apparent that Davis knows what he's doing.
"Everybody is hating but this is the definition of ethical meat eating," wrote @kayjaypea.
"When he said iguana tacos I busted out laughing so hard but the laughter came to a shrieking halt once I realized he was serious," @thejpshow1 said.
The whole situation is just so outside of the norm for many people watching that most of the responses just wound up being jokes.
"sorry you lost me at blending 20 iguana eggs in a blender to dip their mothers body into," said @springazalea.
"21 souls in one meal is crazy," one commenter agreed, while another admitted, "With the way this economy is, I'd be scooping up those iguanas by the dozen!"
Perhaps pretty much anything can be a taco if you want it badly enough—or if you live in Florida.
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