Grousing over noodle soup

Guambat has been under the weather for an unusually long time. His eating preferences have turned to the absolutely bland, like meatloaf and mash or chicken noodle soup.

It was his preference for the latter that made this article stand out:

Hokkaido gov't carried recipes for endangered bird on website

The Hokkaido Prefectural Government has been found to have carried on its website recipes to cook an endangered bird as part of an introductory guide to hunting, leading the regional government to delete the page containing the recipes for being "inappropriate."

On the online page, "Hazel grouse soba noodles" was introduced along with various recipes for other wild animals including Yezo deer. Furthermore, the description of hazel grouses reportedly read, "You can make a sophisticated, tasty soup broth from the birds," recommending that they are delicious when used in soba noodles, zoni (soup with rice cakes and vegetables), and samgyetang (Korean soup usually containing glutinous rice-stuffed chicken).

Hazel grouses are small wild birds that inhabit only Hokkaido Prefecture in Japan. The species used to be generally approved for human consumption, and today they are still available for hunting under the Wildlife Protection and Hunting Law. Due to a downward trend in the number of hazel grouses, however, the Hokkaido Prefectural Government registered the birds as a "scarce species" in its 2001 "Red Data Book" for threatened wild animals.

Mmmmmm, Hazel Grouse Noodle Soup