We don’t know why West Africa is currently suffering from the largest outbreak of Ebola, but humans were almost certainly first infected through contact with “bush meat”.
The virus, which causes internal and external bleeding and is often fatal, is spread through close contact with the sweat, blood and organs of infected animals.
Wild animals killed in the forest are an African delicacy known as bush meat, and many of these illegally-hunted creatures, including chimpanzees, gorillas, fruit bats, monkeys, forest antelope and porcupines, carry Ebola. Every year, 7,500 tonnes of bush meat is imported into Britain, according to wildlife charity the Born Free Foundation.
Food critic Charles Campion, who has investigated the sale of bush meat in London markets, says that African immigrants buy the black-market meats for a taste of home.
“Bush meat is nostalgia for Africans,” he says. “You dry and smoke the meat and smuggle it into Britain, where it becomes dinner. People I spoke to said you can eat other meats instead, just like you can make spaghetti bolognese using meat other than beef, but it’s just not quite right. When you make a bush meat dish, it tastes proper, they said.”
Monkeys, gorillas and chimpanzees are considered a delicacy, known for their tender meat, while a large cane rat, known as the grasscutter, is cooked according to traditional recipes.
“It’s stew – you’ve got a boiling pot and put things in it. It doesn’t taste like chicken, that I can tell you,” says Campion.
But carrying bush meat into Britain is illegal for health and safety reasons and to protect animal welfare. There’s no oversight into cleanliness of the meat, and the methods of transportation are often unsafe.
The animals are usually poorly smoked, says Campion, and with a “dubious provenance”. The dried meats are transported to Britain in suitcases – “it’s not especially hygienic,” he says.
A 2010 investigation into bush meat in Europe found 270 tonnes coming through Paris’s Charles de Gaulle airport alone. Researchers discovered 11 different types of bush meat from African forests, including whole sheep and calves that were wrapped in plastic and kept in holdalls during flights.
Once the bush meat arrives in Britain, street markets and Africa restaurants are thought to stock the black market goods, keeping them hidden under the counter for familiar customers. Six butchers and food stores in Ridley Road Market, Dalston, were discovered selling illicit rat meat by a BBC investigation in 2010, and Campion says he knows of Hendon restaurants that sell bush meat.
“I was rather too white [to be served],” he says. “But I’d heard the negotiations before hand so I knew they were selling it.”
The meat can cost £20 per kg, and research from the Zoological Society of London found that a 4kg monkey can cost £85.
Will Travers, president of the wildlife charity the Born Free Foundation, says the UK government should do more to prevent bush meat from leaving Africa. Court cases should hand down higher penalties for those convicted of importing the illicit meat, he says, and the government should create a database record of all illegal wildlife imports.
Mr Travers says we need to work with the leaders of communities where bush meat is a traditional or prestigious food, and “explain the risks and encourage them to alert their respective communities to try and reduce demand.”
So no matter how curious you are, don’t accept any offerings of monkey meat. Chicken may be boring, but at least there’s no risk of Ebola.