Joe Wilson admits it. Men like to brag. And that's what inspired the World Champion Squirrel Cookoff, now in its fifth year in Bentonville.
"If a guy has a dog, he has the best dog. If he's cookin' squirrel, he cooks the best squirrel," Wilson says with a laugh. "That's what started this thing. But since then, it's morphed into something more important than just bragging."
FAQ
World Champion
Squirrel Cookoff
WHEN — 9 a.m.-3:30 p.m. Saturday
WHERE — North side of the Bentonville square
COST — Free
INFO — squirrelcookoff.com
Wilson says the national attention that came to the Squirrel Cookoff -- thanks to a visit from "Bizarre Foods" host Andrew Zimmern -- has given the organization a platform to "try to promote the culinary value of wild game. A lot of people think that hunters just go out and kill stuff. They don't know what we do with the meat. So we're taking the smallest legal game meat and turning it into meals to feed our community.
"The first year we did the event, everybody who came to it was a hunter," he continues. "Now, just because of the great place we live, we have people from all over the world who are in town and stumble across it. They do ask, 'Why not just go to the store?'
"I've been hunting since before I got into school. It's something I've raised my children into as well. I think it's important to know where our food comes from, whether it's catching fish or hunting animals or foraging for mushrooms or berries."
Passersby on the north side of the Bentonville square on Saturday can watch more than 30 teams from 11 states compete and sample their creations. As a bonus, Wilson adds with another chuckle, "our stuff is 100 percent organic and free range. We call it 'tree to table.' If you want organic, we've got it. There's nothing more organic than wild game."
And, Wilson says, he has something important to brag about now.
"We've raised a lot of money for charity -- for veterans and children."
-- Becca Martin-Brown
NAN What's Up on 09/09/2016