uirrels are hunted as wild game in certain regions of the United States. Recipes calling for squirrel, for example Brunswick stew, appear in cookbooks, including James Beard's American Cookery and pre-1997 copies of The Joy of Cooking. Squirrel meat can be substituted for rabbit or chicken in many recipes. Although squirrel meat is low in fat content, unlike most game meat it has been found by the American Heart Association to be high in cholesterol. In many areas of the US squirrels are still hunted for food, as they were in earlier years. Squirrel meat was an ingredient in the original recipe for Brunswick stew, a popular dish in various parts of the Southern U.S. Other similar stews were also based on squirrel meat, including burgoo and Southern Illinois chowder. Squirrels Unlimited host a World Championship Squirrel cook-off each year in Bentonville, Arkansas. In the UK For most of the history of the United Kingdom, squirrel has been a meat not commonly eaten, and even scorned by many. In the early 21st century however, wild squirrel has become a more popular meat to cook with, showing up in restaurants and shops more often in Britain as a fashionable alternative meat. Specifically, Britons are cooking with the invasive gray squirrel, which is praised for its low fat content and the fact that it comes from free range sources. Additionally, the novelty of a meat considered unusual or special has contributed to the spread of squirrel consumption. Due to the difficulty of a clean kill and other factors, the majority of squirrel eaten in the UK is acquired from professional hunters, trappers and gamekeepers. Some Britons are eating the gray squirrel as a direct attempt to help the native red squirrel, which has been dwindling since the 19th-century introduction of the gray squirrel, resulting in dramatic habitat loss for the indigenous red squir