A new dieting trend is showing its stripes in the UK: zebra steak. Fitness pros are adding zebra steaks to their diets. Zebra meat has one tenth of the fat found in beef steaks, and contains around one third less calories. MuscleFood.com reports that athletes including boxers Carl Froch and David Haye and British Olympic sprinter Iwan Thomas are eating zebra.
The only breed that can be legally farmed for the “sweeter than beef” meat is the Burchell’s zebra in South Africa. It’s named after the explorer and naturalist William John Burchell. As a young man, Burchell traveled extensively in South Africa between 1810 and 1815, collecting over 50,000 specimens including animal skins, plants, insects and fish. An army art is named after him, too. So is a local brand of cider. But the Burchell zebra may be the biggest part of his legacy, if the trend continues.
A wild male Burchell’s Zebra (Equus quagga burchellii) in Etosha Park, Namibia. 2006. Flickr photo: Rui Ornelas
