Bushmeat on the Menu

Untangling the influences of hunger, wealth, and international commerce

At a market in a warehouse, a dozen or so vendors display tables stacked with smoked meat priced from $5 to $8 per pound. Sellers cheerfully answer questions about their wares, which come from monkeys, small antelopes, and rodents such as the cane rat. Biologist Justin Brashares, who studies wild animals that are hunted for meat in Ghana, paid a visit to this market last year, not in rural Africa, but in New York City.