Welcome to Meowsings of an Opinionated Pussycat!
Earlier this year a study, by researchers at the University of Minnesota, found that feline-less people were 30 to 40 percent more likely to die of cardiovascular disease than those with cats.
No wonder...
–90 million cats are owned in the United States
–36 percent of U.S. households (or 38.4 million) own at least one cat
Cats have been used in some hospitals and nursing homes as therapy for the bedridden and ill!
The warmth of our furry bodies and open, purring friendship has a remarkable influence on a human's state of mind for the better.
Cat ownership helps children to learn responsibility and develop a greater capacity for empathy at an early age.
Cats also offer protection against certain physical conditions. If adopted before or shortly after a child is born, owning a cat reduces the risk of developing animal allergies, asthma, and possibly other illnesses as well.
Ain't this stuff cool, or what? ;-D
I get all warm and fuzzy just thinking about this stuff!
It is also well known that making the right nutritional choices in ones life are also an important part of the existence of your Human.
If they don't eat right, well, soon the Human starts having medical issues that if not taken care of, well let's just not go there.
Anyway, in one part of the world some humans have taken the notion of Healthy Living Thru Cats to a strange extreme. (There ARE other parts of the world with similar issues, and I'll get to them further along in the story.)
The Gastronomical Festival of the Cat is an annual two-day event near Lima where locals consume fried cat — including legs and tails — to help cure bronchial disease, a British newspaper reported yesterday.
A 63-year-old local woman with 17 children and 70 grandchildren told a Spanish TV station that she also credits cat meat for keeping her fertile. (See below for the link to the Sun's story, and the Video)
The Gastronomical Festival of the WHAT???
Hold on a second! My evening nap is gonna have to wait awhile.
This bears further investigation.
PETA is supposed to be in an uproar over this but, for the life of me, I couldn't find anything on their website to prove it.
Also known as the 'Massacre of the Moggies' – this event sees townsfolk in Canete, Peru, chow down on their feline pets for two days!
These folks believe that Cat Burgers, and eating fried legs, and tails, are also a sort of aphrodisiac.
The Peruvian Cats are bred especially for this festival – which takes place at the end of September on the Day of Santa Ifigenia.
Now, um, just who in the Sam Hill is Santa Efigenia?
The name is also known as Iphigene in Brazil, where there is an historic church by that name.
The Festival Gastronomico del Gato is held every Sept. 21st in honor of this gal who is supposedly the Patron Saint of the Black Arts.
She was apparently an ancient Ethiopian woman made a saint by the Catholic Church, and became the Patron Saint of Slaves, as well, which explains why the small African descendant minority in Peru flock to this place to celebrate their unique forms of art, dancing, music, chow down, and share recipes.
When asked why cats? a spokesperson said, because they aren’t kitties anymore.
The African descendants ate Cat to survive.
Yeah, so?
Just because your Great-Great-Great-Great GrandPappy just adored the wife's special family recipe so much that he made sure it was passed down to you does that mean you have to try it?
Some things are best left in the past, this Kitty thinks. ;-D
This town is a farming community? Then why don't they stick to farming, and let the Cats keep the vermin off the premises in peace?
Justine Hankins, of The Guardian, in England, thinks this story is the perfect way to distract her fellow Brits from the woes of the current Financial Crisis aflicting their country, and many other parts of the world.
She tsk, tsks about The Sun using pictures of cute kittens to illustrate their sensational tale, then writes:
"The minutiae of the economic calamity we're all facing is both terrifying and tedious in equal measure and, frankly, I think we've all had it just about up to here. So it must have been bliss to stumble across a story that brilliantly combines two staples of tabloid journalism: pictures of baby animals being cute and tales of foreigners doing the funniest things.
Here we go again. Another shock horror story about people from other cultures who just don't understand the difference between animals you cuddle and animals you cover in sauce. Cats are pets, cows are dinner – we know the rules, so why doesn't everyone else? The inevitable outcry over consumption of the wrong sort of animal is just as inevitably followed by accusations of western cultural imperialism and hypocrisy from people who take themselves terribly seriously."
The reason everyone else doesn't understand "the rules" I suppose is that, among other things the Humans have this saying about Rules Being Made to be Broken...oh, and besides some Humans keep cows as pets, and all of India worships the ground they walk on...or something to that effect. ;-D
Humans can go on guilt trips over their feelings about the cultural practices of other peoples all they want, but I'm not Human, I'm a Cat, and some of my distant cousins could be the ones being tossed into the pot, or slipped between Sesame Seed Buns, and slathered in sauce with pickles, and lettuce on top!
Continue reading "Meowsings of an Opinionated Pussycat 19: Healthy Living Thru Cats Edition" »
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