Wild Venison Project
The Wild Venison Project is a not for profit movement for chefs and restaurateurs set up by renowned restaurateur, chef and conservationist Mike Robinson and The Country Food Trust.
Manage and eat more wild deer, thereby protecting young trees and crops and feeding those in need with the healthiest meat there is.
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About US
The Wild Venison Project was launched January 2023, promoting the use of wild venison in restaurants and donating this sustainable and extremely lean meat to alleviating food poverty. The Wild Venison Project is a not for profit movement for chefs and restaurateurs set up by renowned restaurateur, chef and conservationist Mike Robinson and The Country Food Trust.
Our Aim
The Wild Venison Project, led by renowned restaurateur, chef, and conservationist Mike Robinson and The Country Food Trust, aims to increase the consumption of wild venison in UK restaurants while also donating this sustainable, protein-rich meat to children and families living in food poverty. The project’s mission is to double the amount of wild venison used in English restaurants and ensure that as much as possible is donated to those in need.
Due to two years of low culling during the pandemic, Britain is facing an exponential increase in wild deer numbers, resulting in a loss of biodiversity, damage to woodlands, destruction of young tree plantations, and significant losses to agricultural crops. Meanwhile, the number of people in food poverty is also increasing, with an estimated 13.1 million people in the UK struggling to feed themselves. The Country Food Trust has already donated over 2.8 million meals to people in need since its inception in 2015.
By doubling the demand for venison through a grass-roots, chef-led revolution, the Wild Venison Project aims to solve a significant problem, create a sustainable food resource, feed millions in need, and help protect trees to counter climate change. Mike’s collective experiences as a chef, restaurateur, deer manager, and venison retailer, along with The Country Food Trust’s charitable efforts, provide a unique perspective on this issue. The project hopes that the hospitality industry will support this movement and make wild venison the meat of the next decade while also helping to feed people in need.
An Open Letter to Chefs
I think all of us agree that to see a really viable future for our industry, it is critical that restaurants utilize the most sustainable, environmentally aware, and humanely gathered ingredients in our restaurants as possible. The ideal protein should have had a great life, a humane end, should produce minimal methane, be extremely healthy, have a high protein to fat level and be supremely delicious to eat. It should also be desirable to the consumer and not seen as niche. There is one meat that fulfils all these criteria here in the UK – Wild Venison.
