{"id":146742,"date":"2026-02-07T00:28:27","date_gmt":"2026-02-07T00:28:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/146742\/"},"modified":"2026-02-07T00:28:27","modified_gmt":"2026-02-07T00:28:27","slug":"florida-cold-snap-creativity-leads-to-iguana-pizza-and-tacos-on-menu","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/146742\/","title":{"rendered":"Florida cold snap, creativity leads to iguana pizza and tacos on menu"},"content":{"rendered":"

While cold-stunned iguanas<\/a> are falling out of trees in Florida, some people are using the opportunity to cook up eclectic dishes.<\/p>\n

Bucks Coal Fired, a pizza joint in North Palm Beach, whipped up an iguana pizza this week and posted it on Instagram<\/a>. Franky, the manager, called it the \u201cEverglades Pizza.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ryan Izquierdo, a local content creator, walked into the shop carrying dead iguanas in his arms and told Franky to make him an \u201ciguana pizza now.\u201d<\/p>\n

Franky\u2019s response? \u201c(Expletive) no.\u201d<\/p>\n

Spoiler: He made it anyway.<\/p>\n

\"Green<\/p>\n

Green iguanas living in Southwest Florida appear to be “frozen” as Miami temperatures plunged to freezing.<\/p>\n

How to make an iguana pizza<\/p>\n

To make the iguana pizza, Franky first rolled out the pizza dough. Then he drizzled some olive oil on top, followed by cheese, chunked bacon, venison meat and topped it off with iguana meat.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is the first iguana pizza in the history of mankind,\u201d Franky said as he turned to put it in the oven. Once the pizza was done baking, he finished it off with some ranch.<\/p>\n

Izquierdo took a bite of the pie and said it tasted \u201clike frog leg.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a little bit sweet. Can\u2019t really describe it,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

Vicente Dibripo, the shop’s manager, told USA TODAY they’re hoping to add the pizza to the menu in the near future.<\/p>\n

Another Florida content creator had a similar idea. But instead of making pizza, he made tacos.<\/p>\n

Gray Davis said the lizard has a nickname: \u201cchicken of the trees.\u201d He found his iguana stunned on the ground and with it, over 20 eggs.<\/p>\n

\u201cBy removing this one iguana, we actually saved the environment from over 20 iguanas come spring, he said in his TikTok video<\/a> that has racked up over 3 million views. He added he decided to cook the tacos to avoid wasting the meat.<\/p>\n

How to make iguana tacos<\/p>\n

To make the tacos, Davis boiled a pot of water with onion, garlic, bay leaf and salt. After it came to a low simmer, he added the iguana meat and boiled it on a low heat for 30 minutes. After that, he added the iguana eggs and let them soft-boil.<\/p>\n

Then, he put the iguana eggs, avocado, garlic cloves, lime juice, and olive oil into a blender to make a sauce.<\/p>\n

The iguana meat was later fried in a pan. Once the tacos were assembled, he topped them with pickled red onions, jalapeno and cilantro.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat right there is a Florida man taco,\u201d Davis said. \u201cIf you can\u2019t beat ’em, eat ’em.\u201d<\/p>\n

Recent freezing temperatures in Florida have caused iguanas to go into a state of torpor, where they temporarily lose muscle control and appear \u201cfrozen.\u201d This can cause them to fall out of trees.<\/p>\n

On Jan. 30, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission issued an executive order<\/a> outlining special regulations designed to temporarily allow people to remove live, cold-stunned green iguanas from the wild without a permit and bring them directly to five designated agency offices to be humanely killed.<\/p>\n

In some instances, they might be transferred to permittees for live animal sales.<\/p>\n

The animals can recover from their cold-stunned state. Members of the public are advised to wear protective gear when catching iguanas.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s legal to eat the animals, but at your own risk.<\/p>\n

Michelle Del Rey is a trending news reporter. Reach her at mdelrey@usatoday.com<\/p>\n

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Iguana meat on pizza and tacos after Florida cold snap stuns lizards<\/a><\/p>\n