Forget lentils – low carbon cuisine is all about grey squirrel lasagne.

That’s according to Borough Market’s Native restaurant, which has added the dish to their menu in a bid to provide a more sustainable choice of meat for diners looking to minimise their environmental footprint.

The owners say squirrel is similar in taste to rabbit and unlike many other kinds of meat, doesn’t require intensive agricultural practices to produce – the squirrels in question are being culled anyway to protect other species and the restaurant simply makes use of them.

Chef Ivan Tisdall-Downes replaces pasta in the lasagne with sheets of celeriac and uses squirrel offal to make game parfait.

He said: “Squirrel is one of the most sustainable proteins you can cook really.

“I think sustainable eating is becoming more popular now. More and more people are more conscious of their carbon footprint and the damaging additives that get put in their food.”