Chef Thrown Off TV For Cat Casserole Recipe

Don’t expect Beppe Bigazzi, the erstwhile host of a popular cooking show on Italian television, to make a guest appearance on Top Chef anytime soon. The cook is in serious hot water; he was suspended indefinitely from his TV gig for grossing out the viewers and the country by singing the praises of cat stew, which he claims is a specialty of Tuscan cuisine.

“Cat, soaked for three days in the running water of a stream” in Tuscany “comes out with its meat white, and I assure you — I have eaten it many times — that it is a delicacy,” Bigazzi said on a recent broadcast. [AP]

Here’s a video of the incident, with subtitles. Bigazzi’s co-host looks understandably shocked by his comments: