TV chef dropped for cat recipe comments

[kenny]

Cooking cat?

Partial Snip

Rome, Italy (CNN) -- Italy's state-owned television broadcaster has dropped a popular chef for sharing a recipe with viewers to cook cat.
Beppe Bigazzi told CNN that while he would miss collaborating with the RAI-Uno TV network, he would not apologize for his comments because they reflected historical facts, not just his opinion.

He blamed the furor on animal rights activists saying "It's their problem, not mine!"

During a live broadcast February 10, the grandfatherly Italian cooking expert noted that in decades past, Italians in the region of Tuscany did eat cat meat.
Bigazzi, 77, told viewers there was a saying for this time of year that "if you don't have meat, kill the cat."

The popular TV chef then went on to describe how you can tenderize the meat by letting it soak for three days in running spring water.

...

He told viewers he had dined on cat many times and that the meat tasted better than chicken or rabbit.

...

Andy DiPaula told CNN: "I think the real question which has been raised in a lot of people's minds is, after all, if cats, why not rabbits, why not lambs, why not protect them as well?"

 

[yssie]

Date: 2/25/2010 4:48:14 PM
Author:kenny
Cooking cat?

Partial Snip

Rome, Italy (CNN) -- Italy's state-owned television broadcaster has dropped a popular chef for sharing a recipe with viewers to cook cat.
Beppe Bigazzi told CNN that while he would miss collaborating with the RAI-Uno TV network, he would not apologize for his comments because they reflected historical facts, not just his opinion.

He blamed the furor on animal rights activists saying 'It's their problem, not mine!'

During a live broadcast February 10, the grandfatherly Italian cooking expert noted that in decades past, Italians in the region of Tuscany did eat cat meat.
Bigazzi, 77, told viewers there was a saying for this time of year that 'if you don't have meat, kill the cat.'

The popular TV chef then went on to describe how you can tenderize the meat by letting it soak for three days in running spring water.

...

He told viewers he had dined on cat many times and that the meat tasted better than chicken or rabbit.

...

Andy DiPaula told CNN: 'I think the real question which has been raised in a lot of people's minds is, after all, if cats, why not rabbits, why not lambs, why not protect them as well?'

This.


I sure wouldn't do it, but I can't really condemn other people for it when they might have pet chickens or pigs whose siblings I dined on last night.

 

[somethingshiny]

The chef is historically accurate. There is no reason to be fired for telling a fact.

I have a theory that it''s just because it was "cat" and not another animal. Would he have been dropped if he mentioned that people have eaten their own horses? Probably not. What if he shared a dog recipe? (which we know is a popular food in some countries) What about rats? They''ve been eaten for centuries.

I''m so tired of PC. Especially when it gets in the way of truth.

 

[Steel]

Smells like PR.

People eat all kinds of food, nothing new to report there.

Thanks for sharing anyhoo!

 

[MichelleCarmen]

What would cat taste like? Hmmmm. . ."kitty, kitty, kitty. . ."

 

[kenny]

The story made the news because sooooooo many people have cats and love them.
A cat recipe story catches more eyes than a horsemeat story would.


When it comes to cuisine, most of us draw a line at animals we love.
It is not rational.
It is emotional.

I love my parrot, but I eat chicken and turkey.
I would not eat parrot.
That's too close to home.

 

[MichelleCarmen]

Date: 2/25/2010 5:40:48 PM
Author: kenny
The story made the news because sooooooo many people have cats and love them.
A cat recipe story catches more eyes than a horsemeat story would.

We just draw a line with animals we love.
It is not rational.
It is emotions.

I love my parrot, but I eat chicken and turkey.
I would not eat parrot.
That''s too close to home.

After adopting my first fish in July, I quit eating fish. Haven''t had any in, what, seven months? One of the bettas is looking a bit plump, though, and might be ready for frying up.

 

[kenny]

Date: 2/25/2010 5:43:15 PM
Author: MC
After adopting my first fish in July, I quit eating fish. Haven''t had any in, what, seven months? One of the bettas is looking a bit plump, though, and might be ready for frying up.

They''re small so you betta have several.

 

[MichelleCarmen]

Date: 2/25/2010 5:44:55 PM
Author: kenny

Date: 2/25/2010 5:43:15 PM
Author: MC
After adopting my first fish in July, I quit eating fish. Haven''t had any in, what, seven months? One of the bettas is looking a bit plump, though, and might be ready for frying up.

They''re small so you betta have several.

You betta I do. Five of them, in fact. Shish Kabob!

 

[Steel]

Date: 2/25/2010 5:40:48 PM
Author: kenny
The story made the news because sooooooo many people have cats and love them.
A cat recipe story catches more eyes than a horsemeat story would.


When it comes to cuisine, most of us draw a line at animals we love.
It is not rational.
It is emotional.

I love my parrot, but I eat chicken and turkey.
I would not eat parrot.
That''s too close to home.

The funny thing is that as of next year DH and I hope to rear and kill chickens for domestic food. We love our 3 laying hens and feel terrible buying chicken from the supermarket knowing that the poor sods had had a terrible life. So we have almost stopped buying it. We don''t love the idea of growing and killing the chickens but feel strongly that by picking up the chicken at the market - we are ''killing'' one anyway. By rearing them we are guaranteed that they will have almost twice the length of life and a million times quality life of an intensively reared chooken. So for me is is emotional & rational that we start getting more emotionally involved with the life and death of our food.

 

[yssie]

Date: 2/25/2010 5:49:25 PM
Author: MC

Date: 2/25/2010 5:44:55 PM
Author: kenny

Date: 2/25/2010 5:43:15 PM
Author: MC
After adopting my first fish in July, I quit eating fish. Haven''t had any in, what, seven months? One of the bettas is looking a bit plump, though, and might be ready for frying up.

They''re small so you betta have several.

You betta I do. Five of them, in fact. Shish Kabob!

 

[lovegem]

Date: 2/25/2010 5:49:25 PM
Author: MC

Date: 2/25/2010 5:44:55 PM

Author: kenny

Date: 2/25/2010 5:43:15 PM

Author: MC

After adopting my first fish in July, I quit eating fish. Haven''t had any in, what, seven months? One of the bettas is looking a bit plump, though, and might be ready for frying up.

They''re small so you betta have several.

You betta I do. Five of them, in fact. Shish Kabob!

Butter up and deep fried. Crunchy!

 

[lovegem]

Date: 2/25/2010 5:40:48 PM
Author: kenny


I love my parrot, but I eat chicken and turkey.

I would not eat parrot.

That's too close to home.

It is just more economical to eat a chicken and a turkey than a parrot. $1.99 may gets you 1 lb of chicken.. 1 lb of parrot can cost you $999. Parrots are just too expensive to feast on.

 

[jewelz617]

Ha! Of all the horrible things going on in the world, THIS is what people decide to worry about?

How about stop worrying about some old man''s comments about eating CATS and focusing on how children all over the world are dying because they are eating NOTHING?

 

[Aloros]

Date: 2/25/2010 5:53:40 PM
Author: Steal

The funny thing is that as of next year DH and I hope to rear and kill chickens for domestic food. We love our 3 laying hens and feel terrible buying chicken from the supermarket knowing that the poor sods had had a terrible life. So we have almost stopped buying it. We don''t love the idea of growing and killing the chickens but feel strongly that by picking up the chicken at the market - we are ''killing'' one anyway. By rearing them we are guaranteed that they will have almost twice the length of life and a million times quality life of an intensively reared chooken. So for me is is emotional & rational that we start getting more emotionally involved with the life and death of our food.

Steal, I am right there with you! My DH and I raise and slaughter our own quails, and may be getting some ducks next year. It''s not easy to do, but I feel sometimes that''s the point! It''s easy for us to ignore the suffering of the food that we eat when we don''t have to see it. At least I know our animals are kept in nice conditions, get treats, get to enjoy the sunshine, and suffer a quick and painless death. And homegrown food...

! Have you seen Food, Inc.? Great documentary about the way food is produced nowadays.

But back to the original topic, I don''t think he should have been removed from the program, and I love my kitty.

 

[Asu]

Bigazzi can say anything he want,what he has done was sooo wrong.No excuse.i know that many years ago cat meat was eaten,but now it''s illegal,so he should have know better than to talk about this on public tv.and if it was not enough,he talked a lot about cat''s "delicious white meat" and about how much strays taste better than domestic cats because the food we give to our domestic cat ruin the meat taste.In a country where black cats are still see by a lot of stupid people as "evil" and killed for this,he talked about how good strays cats taste.How smart

 

[MissMina]

Before I saw this I was seriously considering naming the
new kitten we are getting "Oishii" (Delicious in Japanese).

 

[Cehrabehra]

Date: 2/25/2010 5:40:48 PM
Author: kenny
The story made the news because sooooooo many people have cats and love them.

A cat recipe story catches more eyes than a horsemeat story would.



When it comes to cuisine, most of us draw a line at animals we love.

It is not rational.

It is emotional.


I love my parrot, but I eat chicken and turkey.

I would not eat parrot.

That''s too close to home.

I try to be open. I have not had rabbit yet but I may someday despite having owned them as pets. I love duck and lamb. I tried donkey recently and didn''t like it - probably because of a mental block but I was able to remove the block enough to taste it.

But I''ve told my driver that when I leave china I still will not have eaten dog or cat. And as much as I am more a cat person than a dog person I would probably eat cat before dog. Dunno why - probably because dogs are kinda gross to me alive lol

In all seriousness though - I don''t think there''s a problem with what he said or what he shared, but if he had the dead cat up on the board, cutting it up - I think maybe that could cross a line. Also - what are the laws in Italy about cat meat NOW? Historically talking about it, sharing recipes - that''s one thing... cooking one in front of people, that''s another matter and I don''t know the legalities anyway.