Florida’s Everglades Pizza went viral after a cold snap left invasive iguanas temporarily immobilised. Here’s how a North Palm Beach restaurant created the unusual dish, why wildlife officials became involved and what happened after regulatory concerns emerged. (Image: instagram.com/ryan_izquierdo/)
Nicknamed the Everglades Pizza, or the Florida Man Pizza, the dish emerged after a cold snap sent temperatures plunging across South Florida in early 2026.
The restaurant named the creation “The Everglades”, while the collaboration also became known online as the Florida Man Pizza. An unusual pizza from Florida has caught attention for an ingredient that rarely appears on restaurant menus: iguana meat. The sudden chill left some iguanas unable to move properly, causing them to lose their grip on trees and fall to the ground. At Bucks Coal Fired in North Palm Beach, Florida, local iguana trapper Ryan Izquierdo teamed up with the restaurant to create the unusual pizza. The result quickly attracted attention online, with reactions ranging from curiosity to outright disgust. But behind the viral food trend lies a bigger story about Florida’s invasive wildlife, unusual weather and the rules governing what restaurants can serve. The pizza was created at Bucks Coal Fired, where Izquierdo brought iguana meat for an unusual culinary experiment. The toppings included iguana leg and tail meat, venison, bacon, parmesan, olive oil and ranch dressing. It was certainly not an ordinary pizza combination, even for a restaurant willing to experiment with unusual meats. Speaking to PEOPLE, Izquierdo described the iguana meat as tasting similar to frog legs, with a slightly sweet flavour. His reaction helped fuel online curiosity about whether this unusual ingredient could become a talking point in adventurous food culture.
He reportedly collected more than 90 on January 30 before collaborating with the restaurant. Because an animal can legally be removed from the wild, does that mean its meat can automatically be sold as food, the story also raised a practical question: just. Izquierdo had been trapping iguanas and documenting his work online. The reaction was divided. Some people were intrigued by the idea of eating an invasive species, while others found the dish unappetising.