It's not unusual for innovative cuisine to emerge from strange circumstances, but a North Palm Beach pizzeria is challenging palates with a particularly unexpected ingredient. At Bucks Coal Fired Pizza, a new, non-traditional pizza topping has sent the Internet into a frenzy. Named "The Everglades," the pizza is openly flaunting a topping of iguana meat. Amid falling temperatures that hit Florida and caused iguanas to rain down stunned from their perches, the initiative to use iguana meat presents a bizarre solution to the state's invasive species problem.
While the restaurant isn't saying goodbye to classic toppings anytime soon, the inclusion of iguana meat comes with the territory. After officials with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission allowed people to collect and turn in cold-stunned iguanas, avid hunter and content creator Ryan Izquierdo stepped in with something different. In a statement obtained by WSVN, a cook at Bucks Coal Fired celebrated their new menu item, “For the star of the show, iguana. This is the first iguana pizza in the history of mankind." Izquierdo himself provided the iguana meat, and the restaurant's dish became so popular that the owners are on the hunt for more iguana suppliers.
Viral attention swooped in after CBS12 News featured Ryan Izquierdo and the pizzeria owner assembling the now-famous "Everglades pizza." Izquierdo explained the ingredients laid out on the pie: "Iguana, venison, alligator, bacon, white pizza with cheese, finished with ranch," he reported during a CBS12 News interview. Izquierdo, who has several viral posts showing him eating iguana, claims they taste just like chicken.
The iguana content was a byproduct of unforeseen circumstances. Explaining how the unique dish came to be, Izquierdo told CBS12 News, "So I woke up Saturday morning, and I thought it’d be a great opportunity to go and document it, educate people on what’s going on." The project was timed perfect, with his capture of over 100 iguanas before midday leading to immediate viral success. Then, the idea to create a themed pizza was born out of an online exchange: "I messaged my buddy Frankie, who owns Bucks Coal Fired Pizza, and we came up with this genius idea to make an iguana pizza," Izquierdo said.
However, controversy and questions arose quickly as Internet viewers wondered about the legality and safety of consuming iguana meat. Florida law permits the humane killing of invasive iguanas, but restaurants face much stiffer food safety regulations. Izquierdo clarified, "You cannot do that. It’s illegal." The rules generally prevent restaurants from selling or cooking meat that has not come from approved and inspected sources, which is why the iguana pizza was made solely for documentary purposes and is, as highlighted in an interview by CBS12, “Right now, it is absolutely not for sale.” The owner of Bucks Coal Fired Pizza confirmed that the iguana pizza won't be making the menu anytime soon. Izquierdo sees value in the spotlight his iguana videos have acquired, hoping to educate people about the environmental impact of green iguanas in Florida. According to him, they contribute to significant agricultural and landscaping damage, causing "millions of dollars of damage to just Palm Beach County every single year."
