Tastes like Chicken...

7/29/10
So today I’m preoccupied with the idea that a local eatery may be providing cat meat in their chicken meals. I’ve eaten there several times, and to me it’s always been chicken (and the fried chicken is amazing actually), but you know how people talk, and upon discussion of determining a lunch stop my friend decided to tell me what her friend told her one day. I don’t know what kind of person examines the bones of their devoured meal, but apparently he did, and decided, ‘gosh, this doesn’t look like a chicken bone.’ So he asked one of the workers. Of course she denied it would be anything but chicken at first, but I guess he continued to press the matter until she said something along the lines of ‘okay, it’s actually turkey.’ But come on people, aside from turkeys typically being freakishly larger than chickens, why would someone lie about that? Turkey is perfectly acceptable & desirable to American students. Plus, one day they had run out of stewed chicken and asked if turkey would be okay. I accepted that, and it was a much different preparation. I won’t get it again because of the way the bones were cut (I’m afraid to choke on a piece), but still, turkey is fine.

That being said, now I don’t even know how the subject of cat came up, but someone believes that’s what they serve. Being that I’ve never eaten cat or even dreamt of such a thing, I don’t even know if it’s feasible to think that cat meat could pass for chicken. It seems to me it would be more like beef. In any case, I’m contemplating going semi-veggie for the remainder of my island time. I’ve thought about asking my cleaning lady, whom I trust would be honest with me if I asked her too, but I’m afraid to know the truth. I feel like if I heard I’d eaten a cat I would vomit and cry, and just generally be traumatized for life. It’s hard enough to think that the kitten I was ready to adopt was probably taken for that reason (though I console myself with the fact that it would be dumb to eat such a small animal rather than get a full-grown one. Yes, I know it’s dumb. Ignorance is bliss I tell you.). However, I think at my next chance I will at least ask her the chances that local eateries would lie about the origin of the meat that they serve us. Just to be certain that I’m not over-reacting. I have a feeling I’ll be eating a lot more lentils and beans, and bringing back an abundance of canned chicken breast over the next break. Oh blessed island adventures.