Culinary Poll #56: Cats on the Menu

[Daniel Rogov]

Simple enough: Would you eat a cat?

Before voting and commenting, please read the short article at http://www.mail.com/intl/Article.aspx/w ... w?pageid=1

[Ryan M]

I can't restrain a grimace just thinking about the question.

[Linda R. (NC)]

To me that is like asking if one would eat their children.

[Robin Garr]

To me that is like asking if one would eat their children.

Restated, though, perhaps Rogov should ask if one would eat somebody else's children.

(I voted "disgusting," by the way, despite being extremely adventurous about food and willing to try most things that other humans eat. Cats and dogs, by virtue of their status as companion animals, fall into a separate category from farm animals or game, and I find it hard to imagine how anyone with a speck of humanity could feel otherwise.

Of course, I haven't yet clicked and read Rogov's link.

[Daniel Rogov]

Ah.......most curious after reading several of the above posts to see how folks feel that I will vote.

Best, Curious and Smiling
Rogov

[Shel T]

Hmmm, our 3 cats are definitely 'not amused', and asked for an 'equal time' poll asking if members would eat recently fired senile food show hosts or restaurant critics...

[Mike Filigenzi]

What can I say? I would probably be able to do this, at least someplace where this was a common practice. I love our cats (and I wouldn't eat them) but I find pigs to be equally compelling and I eat pork without hesitation.

[Karen/NoCA]

Never! This brought back memories of childhood when I discovered the rabbit I was eating were the same bunnies I came home from school and played with. I always wondered why grandpa kept so many rabbits back behind the chicken houses.
The thought of eating cat disgusts me, and when you think about it (I try not to think about it) eating any animal is sad, especially the way they are raised and killed.

[Matilda L]

I would prefer not to eat cat, thanks. They're carnivores, and from what I've read, carnivores usually have a rank taste. However, having always voted "No way" on any other poll about eating cats, this time I voted "Possibly, but would hesitate". In China, there is a thing called "Dragon Tiger and Phoenix Soup", which involves cooking snake, cat and chicken together. If I was travelling in the country of its origin, I might try it. But for an everyday choice, no thanks.

[Mike Filigenzi]

FWIW, here's a YouTube video of at least part of this incident...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uuxBGgPvEYE

[James Roscoe]

This is a silly poll and deserves a silly response. That anyone takes it seriously is beyond my ken.

[Frank Deis]

Butchers in England centuries ago used to require that when hunters brought in hares/rabbits, the head had to remain attached, and I believe that when the animals were sold the head was attached. The reason is that the anatomy, and in fact the flavor, of a rabbit is quite close to that of a cat. When I made an "authentic" paella which included rabbit, I had a moment of real discomfort handling the rabbit carcass because it was so reminiscent of petting a cat.

I think it is interesting that people expect food taboos to be related to religion. But horses are consumed with gusto in Italy and France, which are of course Christian countries, and the taboo against eating horses actually seems to go back to earlier religions, with the Teutonic countries prejudiced against it. Cats have been eaten in many Christian countries as well. (I don't remember any mention of the cat the Old Testament but I haven't seen anything about Jews eating cats...)

There is a good (and long) article on the subject. I hesitate to provide the URL because some of the descriptions are a bit gruesome, especially about how cats are treated in Asia. Still it is relevant and anyone half decent at Google could find it on their own. You've been warned, if you are squeamish (or in love with your cat) you might not want to click.

http://www.messybeast.com/eat-cats.htm

[Daniel Rogov]

Frank, Hi....

Points well made! I'm holding off towards the time when the poll starts rolling down in order to post my own views but did want to comment on cats and the Old Testament. Indeed cats are not mentioned specifically but are considered non-kosher and therefore not consumed by observant Jews because they do not have cloven hooves and do not chew their cud.

Best
Rogov

[Frank Deis]

And of course Moses led the Jews out of Egypt, where cats were considered sacred...

[Daniel Rogov]

Frank, Hi....

Indeed sacred enough that several were placed still alive in the tombs of the pharaohs in order to keep them company on their voyage to where it was to where dead pharoahs went. For many years archaeologists thought those were the skeletons of rabbits or rats that they found. To the credit of the Egyptians, however, they did place a generous supply of food in the burial chambers for the cats. One presumes that when the cats reached paradise they no longer had to worry about food.

Best
Rogov

[Jo Ann Henderson]

In my estimation, all creatures have the potential to become a gourmet meal, if pepared well. I don't know that I would knowingly eat a cat, but I don't rule it out. During the evacuation of refugees from VietNam, Seattle was one of the locations where many of them found their homes. Not long after their arrival there were articles in our community newspapers about the issues surrounding their resettlement after it was discovered some had set traps and were eating the squirrels. I remember the alarm from my mother (who had a CockerPoodle), and she began to keep her pooch inside. We were in an Asian restaurant (I abolutely love and favor SE Asian cuisine), when I told her the size and shape of the bone in our meal did no look familiar to me (too small for a chicken; too large for pigeon) -- could she make it out. She didn't eat another bite! Whatever it was -- taste like chicken to me! It's all in your head.

Oysters, on the other hand, are another matter altogether!

[Mike_F]

One of my students tells the story of how he found himself in Bangkok bargaining for 3 live kittens at the marketplace, because the young lady he was traveling with was determined to save them. A price was set, and while Eran rummaged through his backpack for the money, the butcher turned around, and quickly and efficiently despatched, cleaned and skinned the purchase. Eran looked up from the backpack to see a plastic bag of skinned carcasses ready for cooking, a girlfriend undergoing a nervous breakdown, and a Thai butcher trying to understand why the crazy farangs were upset by his provision of complete service...

As to the question in the poll, I have had enough servings of rabbit in Europe and meat of unknown origin in South East Asia to make it statistically almost certain that cat was consumed. Not sure I would order it knowingly however.

[Frank Deis]

Mike, that is a great and horrible story...

I'm pretty sure I'm going to be re-telling it in the future.

The Koreans are rather proud of eating dog, at least when they are at home. I think it is supposed to enhance virility or something. Over here you see restaurants devoted to "black goat" which seems to be a culturally mandated replacement for the original meat. I don't think any culture is particularly proud of eating cats although the Italian guy Rogov cites seems to take a certain pride in the old Italian custom.

I see dogs and cats as capable of great intelligence and affection and I would have a lot of trouble eating either one. I put "probably not" because while traveling, it might turn out to be unavoidable.

Then again pigs and horses and perhaps even cows and goats are capable of being intelligent and affectionate. "Charlotte's Web" comes to mind ("SOME PIG!"). So it is perhaps just our distance from the basics that makes us more willing to eat them.

I think for my sanity I have to think of chickens as mindless meat producing robots. I never really met a chicken I liked...

However I had a pet Tilapia that left me with very uncomfortable feelings about today's fad for eating their flesh. My friends know better than to order the Tilapia when dining with me.

[Matilda L]

I think I'd find it hard to eat something I'd had a personal relationship with but having had pet lambs, pet goats, and hand-reared calves as a child didn't put me off eating the meat of their fellows. I was quite fond of the chickens in our backyard pen when I was a kid, gave them all names, noticed that they all had their own personalities. But I seem to recall we ate a number of them.

[Joel D Parker]

I think that if Tel Aviv were under siege from all sides with no access to the sea (heaven forbid), we would eventually have no choice but to eat our mangy, diseased, street cats. And I might add that we Tel Avivians would fare quite well for a couple of weeks. I think we might run out of wasabi pretty quickly though.

[Tim York]

I voted "disgusting". However in some circumstances, one can't be sure. I have been told that in the last terrible year of Nazi occupation in 44/45, the Dutch used to regale themselves with "roof hare" (dakhaas; Dutch speakers, forgive the spelling, please) which was an euphemism for cat .

[Daniel Rogov]

I have been told that in the last terrible year of Nazi occupation in 44/45, the Dutch used to regale themselves with "roof hare" (dakhaas; Dutch speakers, forgive the spelling, please) which was an euphemism for cat.

And during the period of the Directoire, when hunger was rampant throughout Paris, the first thing to go were the cats. And after the cats were distinctly in shortage the government published a short booklet on how to properly and safely prepare the meat of rats. Fortunately for the Parisiens, the Directoire came to its end before the city's vast number of rats had "vanished", for who knows what they would have eaten then. Oh yes.....during that time there were very few pigeons to be seen in Paris.

Best
Rogov

[Shel T]

I voted "disgusting". However in some circumstances, one can't be sure. I have been told that in the last terrible year of Nazi occupation in 44/45, the Dutch used to regale themselves with "roof hare" (dakhaas; Dutch speakers, forgive the spelling, please) which was an euphemism for cat .

I agree that under 'extreme' circumstances, all bets are off, E.G. cannibalism when no other food source is available, and historically, has happened many times.
My understanding of this poll was, would you eat cat under 'normal' circumstances, to which my answer was an emphatic NO.
Yes, I do understand that eating cats, dogs, live monkey brains is routine in some parts of the world. So is mutilation, scarring, slavery and don't wanna participate in any of those either.
As thin as the patina of 'civilization' is, it and its set of societal rules for decorum and comportment are my preference.
Theorum: That what most opposition 'cultures' have in common is mutual disgust...
LOL, anybody care to disprove that!

[Daniel Rogov]

My understanding of this poll was, would you eat cat under 'normal' circumstances...

Shell, You understood correctly. The abberations are simply a side-step.

Theorum: That what most opposition 'cultures' have in common is mutual disgust...
LOL, anybody care to disprove that!

Not I. But I must ask, in what manner is dining on cats related to decorum?

Best
Rogov