Pennsylvania has many food traditions: scrapple, cheesesteaks, whoopie pies, Farm Show milkshakes, pretzels, roadkill.

You might think the latter does not belong, but you'd be wrong.

This year, Pennsylvanians submitted more than 3,300 permits to the state's Game Commission, asking for the right to eat roadkill, according to a report by Dan McQuade at Deadspin.

And as McQuade added: "Others surely ate roadkill deer without letting the state know about it."

If Pennsylvania drivers hit a deer or turkey, they are legally allowed to keep the carcass. However, they must call their regional game commission office within 24 hours to get a permit.

The permit is free and a formality, but keeping inedible parts of the animal costs money, according to Deadspin. To avoid the costs, the inedible parts have to be given to the state or disposed.

Game Commission spokesperson Travis Lau told Pittsburgh's WESA-FM:

"Those are valuable food sources," he said. "And it is a valuable use of our wildlife resource to allow that animal that's been killed to now get to somebody who might be in need or who otherwise wants it for food."

The 3,300 permits typical for Pennsylvania, and most requests came from the southeastern and southwestern corners of the state, Lau said.