Roadkill Food Festival
With a population just over 1,000 people, the small town of Marlington, West Virginia held their annual Roadkill Cookoff Festival which welcomed well over 10,000 people locally and from around the country. It is a bright day for a struggling economy which sees more than half the adult population without jobs. West Virginia finds itself being one of America’s poorest states with a large percentage living in poverty.
Despite the bleak picture of the town, residents are surprisingly upbeat and very generous with the little they might have to offer. The festival brings the community together where native car collision casualties such as black bear, squirrel, possum, boar, and quail are cooked up in creative and delicious ways. People have learned to live off the land here and wasting any food seems foolish, so although some may object to the eating of these types of animals it may be more humane and resourceful than what comes from our local supermarket.
