Is ‘wild boar’ really all that wild?

Where exactly does “wild game” come from?

Well, according to Diner’s Journal, a New York Times blog, it’s might not necessarily be from our own backyard and it’s very unlikely that it’s actually 100 percent “wild.”

“Federal law forbids the commercial sale of indigenous American wildlife that isn’t being raised in special circumstances,” writes blogger Frank Bruni. “So you can get the kind of bison that was once endangered, but only because it’s being bred — and the herds of it perpetuated — in controlled circumstances that do not amount to wilderness. You can get so-called wild turkeys. Same explanation.”

It turns out “wild boar” is the name of a breed of hog and says nothing about how the animal lived or died.

This begs the question. When we eat wild game at local restaurants around here, how local is it really?

“You hear servers introduce pheasant as ‘game.’ You order venison, its popularity resurgent, and maybe you think you’re getting a beast shot in a forest not far away,” Bruni writes. ”Food that’s local and seasonal is what so many chefs are aiming for, after all. But that venison is probably coming from an enormous ranch in New Zealand that exists solely for the raising, feeding and killing of deer.”

That’s food for thought.