As you’re planning meals to share with friends and family during the Thanksgiving holiday, or just to experiment with at home, here’s a wild idea: Why not serve up a dish made with invasive plants or animals, like autumn olives, kudzu or blue catfish?

It may sound odd, but it just may help protect our environment, says ecology professor Jacob Barney, who directs Virginia Tech’s Invasive Species Collaborative.

Barney said one way to create conversations around the dinner table with your friends and family to talk about invasive species, is to serve them a meal that features one. “You’re taking something that is otherwise damaging to the environment and you’re turning it into something positive,” Barney explained.

Even if it comes from something damaging to the environment, like autumn olive, for example, an orange fruit that grows in the fall. Barney said it can be cooked into a tart sauce, similar to cranberry sauce, or other recipes that use sour fruit. Most autumn olives die off after the frost, but some may still be growing on bushes.

Christine Kueter

Barney said there are also thousands of other ingredients you can purchase at the store or online, that are invasive somewhere on the planet. Like Kudzu, blue catfish, or feral hogs.

“You can actually find some things in our local grocery stores that are known to be invasive somewhere else and are still farmed or are raised,” Barney said.

The discouraging truth is Virginia is not winning the battle to wipe out invasive species. In fact, said Barney, it’s virtually impossible to eliminate pests once they arrive.

“Because there’s a saying that for the most part successful invasion is forever,” Barney said. “In other words, once something becomes established, it’s pretty much impossible to get rid of on a permanent basis, so prevention is really key.”

Preventing the spread can include being cautious if you purchase plants from out of state, or travel—making sure you know what pests may be trying to hitch a ride. And not buying invasive plants for your yard.

Barney said cooking up invasive species probably won’t do much towards reducing their numbers from the environment, but it can help spark conversation about preventing the spread of things like spotted lanternfly, garlic mustard, and ash borer.

Every fall, Barney invites his ecology students to prepare a dish with an invasive species. They’ll gather in December to sample each other’s dishes.

To hear what they make this year, tune back in to RadioIQ next month.