Italian TV-chef fired for cat recipe

crazyquik · Feb 25, 2010

Not sure if this goes in Current Events, or Food

http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/europe...ex.html?hpt=T2

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.

Interviewed at his apartment in Rome, Bigazzi told CNN: "It was a custom [to eat cat] all over Italy."

"In Parmas the cat was nicknamed 'the rabbit that runs on roofs,' in Liguria, the cat is nicknamed 'the rabbit with short ears, in Piemento it is called the 'rabbit that meows.' Today we are scandalized by this. Why? Because times have changed. The cat has become a domestic animal. This was not the case before."

Bigazzi says that his father was imprisoned by the Russians and his farm family scraped by on what they could during the war. "The chickens were for selling," he said. "The rabbits were for selling. The cat was more difficult to sell, so we ate cat. I have no shame of it."

pabloj · Feb 25, 2010

Vicentini magnagati

poliziano · Feb 25, 2010

Veronesi tuti mati....and it goes on.

Don't they eat squirrels, possums and other delicacies in some areas of the US?

http://www.backwoodsbound.com/zsquir.html

holymadness · Feb 25, 2010

And dogs in China!!1

I'm a bit peckish myself, where's the RJcat hiding?

imageWIS · Feb 25, 2010

The Romans used to eat Dormouse as a delicacy.

RJman · Feb 25, 2010

Originally Posted by holymadness

And dogs in China!!1

I'm a bit peckish myself, where's the RJ cat hiding?
I thought we were e-friends. I was about to offer you membership in the Posse.

Anyway, my understanding is the chef, who is 88 years old and should probably be given a lot of leeway in what he might say nowadays, was referring to the food they used to have to make during periods of great privation in WWII. I know of people having had to eat much worse at that time.

MrG · Feb 25, 2010

Eh. I've never understood why it's OK to eat certain animals, but not others. I'd try it if it were offered.

holymadness · Feb 25, 2010

It is a well known fact that anyone over the age of 85 cannot be held accountable for their actions. Doubly so in a country where a man who regularly hires 18 year old prostitutes was elected president three times.

You have also given me an excellent idea for a cooking show: The Great War Chef. Specializing in dishes made from dead horse, fallen comrade, trench rat, and mud, the Great War Chef keeps gastronomy alive in the unlikeliest of places!

RJman · Feb 25, 2010

Originally Posted by holymadness

You have also given me an excellent idea for a cooking show: The Great War Chef. Specializing in dishes made from dead horse, fallen comrade, trench rat, and mud, the Great War Chef keeps gastronomy alive in the unlikeliest of places!
I wonder what erstwhile member Kaga would think of this idea.

Mud is how Beggarman Chicken was invented, no?

Roikins · Feb 25, 2010

Can't wait for the Cat Adventure Threak.

poliziano · Feb 25, 2010

Originally Posted by holymadness

It is a well known fact that anyone over the age of 85 cannot be held accountable for their actions. Doubly so in a country where a man who regularly hires 18 year old prostitutes was elected president three times.

While in other countries, presidents marry prostitutes (although disguised as something else: models? singers? ....?

Carla Bruni, anyone?

DNW · Feb 25, 2010

Originally Posted by Roikins

Can't wait for the Cat Adventure Threak.

I think the nicknames are quite misleading. Cat tastes nothing like rabbit. Culinarily, cat is probably the last item on your menu, and you wouldn't want to eat it unless all the other items have already been eaten.

cldpsu · Feb 25, 2010

Beh, Ã¨ ovvio che non si puÃ² parlare cosÃ¬. C'Ã¨ molta gente amorata con degli animali, ed anche se lui lÃ¬ ha mangiati durante la guerra o negli anni 70, non Ã¨ giusto adesso e nessuno vuole sapere come fu, a meno che sia davvero carnivoro. Cosa pensano gli italiani?

poliziano · Feb 25, 2010

Che vuoi che pensino gli italiani? Mr. Bigazzi e' un vecchio, saccente trombone che pontifica a vanvera.
I gatti ovviamente non sono mangiati ma questo non vuol dire che non sia successo durante i tempi di miseria, soprattutto nell'immediato dopoguerra.
Sono sicuro che gli italiani hanno ben altro a cui pensare (mentre i francesi rimangono i soliti stronzi).

RJman · Feb 25, 2010

Originally Posted by poliziano

While in other countries, presidents marry prostitutes (although disguised as something else: models? singers? ....?

Carla Bruni, anyone?

Bruni is batsh!t insane and scary, but as she comes from a superrich family I don't think she was a prostitute masquerading as a model...

Italian TV-chef fired for cat recipe

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