Beppe Bigazzi, one of the presenters of the daytime TV show, “La Prova del Cuoco” [“The Cook’s Challenge”] was suspended on Monday for explaining on the show how cat meat used to be cooked in Italy.
Bigazzi, who has written several cookery books and champions local food traditions, says that he was only trying to give viewers an insight into the ways of the past. In his home area of the Valdarno everyone ate cat meat instead of rabbit in the 1950s and 1960s, he says, especially at this time of year. Bigazzi quotes the proverb,
“A berlingaccio chi non ha ciccia ammazza il gatto” - “On Fat Thursday [the Thursday before the end of Carnival] people who don’t have meat kill the cat.”
The following video shows Bigazzi describing how to cook cats:
Italy’s Rai uno received thousands of protests immediately after the programme and Francesca Martini, the Under-Secretary for Labour and Health, has said that Bigazzi could be jailed for up to eighteen month for encouraging cruelty to animals. She has pointed out that cooking cat meat is also illegal for health and safety reasons and has called Bigazzi’s actions shameful.
Meanwhile Enpa, the Italian Federation for the Protection of Animals, has welcomed the television channel’s prompt action.
It is estimated that 7.5 million cats are kept as pets in Italy. World Cat Day is on February 17th.
Francesca Martini is also prominent in a campaign to ban the sale and consumption of horsemeat in Italy. She has recently introduced a bill to “respect the dignity of the horse”. She has the backing of Agriculture Minister Luca Zaia, who says that horses should be protected in the same way as cats and dogs. People back in Mr Zaia’s home region of the Veneto, though, are not happy about this, as horsemeat is regarded as a delicacy there.
Italy’s national consumption of horsemeat is 48,000 metric tonnes a year, making it the largest in Europe. The country imports horses from Poland and Eastern Europe for culinary purposes.
Do you think Rai uno were right to suspend Mr Bigazzi?
Are you in favour of a ban on horsemeat?
