An impressively well-preserved fossil of a bison, the Blue Babe, was first discovered by gold miners in 1979 and handed over to scientists as a rare find. Thus, the fossil became the only known example of a Pleistocene bison recovered from permafrost. But that didn’t stop gastronomically savvy researchers from preparing a Pleistocene-era bison as a stew.
The extraordinary dinner party, held on April 6, 1994, took place at the Alaska home of paleontologist Dale Guthrie, who was instrumental in the delivery of Blue Babe and led research on it. Initial analyzes of the bison showed the remains to be about 36,000 years old, but with more modern research it was determined to be closer to 50,000 years old.
Blue Babe’s rapid transition to an icy structure after his death meant that his muscle tissue was preserved in a manner similar to cured meat with fat and bone marrow. Because of the abundance of meat preserved, the research team decided to present some of the findings at a dinner party.
“To culminate and celebrate Eirik Granqvist’s work with [the taxidermist] Blue Babe, we had bison stew for dinner for him and guest lecturer Bjorn Kurten,” Guthrie wrote of the event. and boiled in a pot with meat and vegetables. We had Blue Babe for dinner. The meat had aged well but was still a bit tough and gave the stew a strong Pleistocene flavor. Still, no one there wanted to miss him.”
When asked why they prefer stew, Guthrie told Atlas Obscura, “Making a neck steak didn’t sound like such a good idea,” he added. and none of us saw any adverse effects from eating.”
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