Two gourmets sit at home and drink their coffee. It’s the same brand they have been drinking every day for the past two years. “What will we have for lunch today,” one wonders aloud while gazing out the window. They realize they have been alternating between the same two lean protein sources for about as long, too.

As their drinks cool and each sip tastes blander, they consider holding patterns with quiet dread. One gourmet shudders to think that this stuck, nondescript feeling has extended to food and drink—once, the pair’s greatest joys. In flavorless futility, they seek a way to close the curtain on this tragicomedy of taste.

When it comes to lean protein, are you also searching for something different?

A new series from the UF/IFAS Department of Family, Youth and Community Sciences is a splendid introduction to wild game meat that focuses mainly on food safety during hunting, harvesting, cooking, and consumption.

The series offers helpful notes on food safety principles, aging for cooked meat tenderness, flavor, nutrition, processing steps, carcass cutting, shelf life, and freezing and thawing recommendations. The publications also discuss chronic wasting disease, spoilage microorganisms, and prevention of cross-contamination and foodborne illness. (A separate article from the UF/IFAS Department of Wildlife Ecology and Conservation addresses the topic of SARS-CoV-2 in white-tailed deer.)

To learn more about different meat products, health and nutrition, and food safety, just Ask IFAS.

2