One man’s poison is another one’s choice of delicacy

James Mukangi who was arrested on June 21, 2018 skinning a cat in an open field belonging to Kenya Railways Corporation in the outskirts of Nakuru town. [Kennedy Gachuhi, Standard]

There is an ancient saying that ‘cats have nine lives’. Well, that is only true until they cross the path of James Mukangi Kimani, who confessed to selling cat meat to samosa vendors in Nakuru. His ‘business’ was exposed when he was found skinning one of the cats he had slaughtered in some field.

Kimani confessed to having slaughtered more than 1,000 cats and selling the meat to vendors and hotels since 2012. Under the Kenyan law, cat meat is ‘not fit for consumption’ and Kimani was sentenced to three years by a Nakuru Court. He was found guilty of slaughtering the cat as meat for human consumption in a manner deceptive, as consumers had no knowledge of the type of meat they were eating.

But Kimani would have been hailed as a shrewd businessman of unmatched acumen in Guangzhou, China. In Guangzhou, they have special restaurants for ‘boiled alive cat’ as a special attraction. Its health benefits include a cure for asthma.

Classy dish

Kimani would have been at home in South Korea, a country where, according to an article in The Conversation, meat customers specifically look for “pedigree” cats. Here, it is mostly consumed by middle-aged working class women for its perceived health benefits.

Because cats are agile creatures, their meat and bones are thought to cure rheumatism - and working Korean women need it to ensure they remain in good health long into their 60s or 70s in order to support themselves financially.

In 2012, the then Finance Minister Robinson Githae advised Kenyans on their ‘peculiar’ eating habits. According to Githae, there was no need of dying of hunger in the face of many food options. “For example, in Tanzania, they eat rats. But in this country, if you tell people to eat rats, they will not eat,” said Githae.

Maybe it is high time we truly took his advice and diversified on matters food.

Across the globe, different cultures have traditional foods that no foreigner would dare try even on their death bed. In July 2014, when a man was caught slaughtering a dog on the Naivasha-Mai Mahiu Road, he went on to admit that he had been eating dog meat and termed it a delicacy. He did not seem to understand what the fuss was all about.

In January last year, a family of three was arrested in Meru for slaughtering a dog for supper. They claimed they had no food and did not want to die of hunger when the dog roamed nearby. But in South Korea, it is estimated that as many as 2 million dogs are eaten in the country every year.

Health benefits

Eating dog meat is thought to regulate body temperatures, and consumption reaches its annual peak during summer.

However, it is also consumed steadily throughout the year, especially in the contexts of all-male social gatherings. The adrenaline in its blood helps increase the sexual stamina of the person who consumes the flesh, usually in the form of a soup or stew, they say.

Older men often take younger male employees to dog meat restaurants as a way of strengthening the social ties between company workers, what locally would be company bonding sessions.

In China, the annual dog meat festival is underway. The festival started on June 21. The 10-day event, during which more than 10,000 dogs are eaten, takes place in Yulin, a city in the Guangxi province of China.

But what is wrong with cat or dog meat? According to the Chairman of the Veterinary Association Sam Kahariri cat meat is not bad for human consumption, at least scientifically.

He says the cat is not considered a food animal in Kenya and this is why eating it is considered bizarre. He says animals should be inspected before they are slaughtered because some carry unknown diseases, which humans may contract if they consume the meat.

“No person shall, except in an emergency, slaughter any animal which has not been inspected by a vet or an inspection officer. Any person who contravenes this regulation shall be guilty of an offence,” says Mr Kahariri.?

While you may flinch at the thought of steaming dog or cat soup, in Nigeria, live snakes and snake meat are sold in open markets and people come from far and wide to purchase to prepare a delicacy known as snake pepper soup.

Snails command high prices as a delicacy in Nigeria and other west African countries as well. Some are collected in the wild, though the population has reportedly declined in recent years, thanks to deforestation, pesticide use, and over-harvesting.

Rosemary Odinga, the daughter of former Prime Minister Raila Odinga, is one of the most prominent snail farmers in Africa – thanks to former Nigerian President Olesegun Obasanjo.

In Hong Kong, snake soup is considered a health supplement. It contains meats of at least two types of snakes as the main ingredients.

Tasty insects

Some restaurants in Japan serve bullfrogs that have been stabbed, beheaded but still twitch on the plate. The meal starts with eating the frog’s beating heart.

For the French, the lower half of a frog is a delicacy. Those who have eaten frog legs describe them as something close to chicken and fish. A Chinese restaurant in the ancient city of Yogyakarta serves cobra meat in the form of hamburger patties. Some customers claim the food can cure skin diseases, asthma and increase sexual virility.

In Western Kenya and parts of Nyanza, crickets and other insects are common sights on dinner tables. Unlike the known sources of protein such as fish and meat, crickets convert most of their feed into edible protein.

Not everyone will welcome this dish, but to those in Western and Nyanza, insects such as termites (tsitswa) and crickets (onjiri) are the way to go.