I've just been given a copy of a book a pal has unearthed called The Wild Foods of Great Britain.
It's by a bloke called L C R Cameron and was first published in 1917 by George Routledge and Sons and it's stuffed with recipes aimed at country dwellers who wanted to use the countryside to supplement their food during the First World War.
It certainly demonstrates how our eating habits have changed. Badgers, red squirrels and brown rats are among the many species of animals and plants it recommends we tuck into.
Badger hams, apparently, when cured by smoking - ideally over a birchwood fire - are a "decided delicacy" and can be eaten hot or cold.
As for the brown rat, it's the young that's recommended by the book as a "toothsome article of diet".
It says: "Use a simple stuffing made of breadcrumbs, a sprinkling of sweet herbs and a little pepper and salt, mixed with the liver and heart of the rat, and roasted for a few minutes in a quick oven."
The writer says it proved to be "a delicate dish, not unlike snipe in flavour."
I can't exactly see this stuff getting on Ready Steady Cook, can you?
More recipes to follow. Once I've stopped feeling sick.
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