Italian TV chef: Cat meat 'a delight'

ROME, Feb. 16 (UPI) -- An Italian chef has been suspended from his position as a TV food expert for telling the television audience about the wonders of "tender, white cat meat."

Beppe Bigazzi, 77, was suspended indefinitely from TV program "The Cooks' Challenge" for explaining how to tenderize cat meat by leaving it under running water for three days before cooking it into "a delight," The Daily Telegraph reported Tuesday.

The Italian Animal Protection Agency called for Bigazzi to be permanently removed from the program.

"Anyone who goes on television to promote the taste of cat meat is guilty of instigating viewers to commit an act of cruelty to animals, a crime punishable by up to 18 months in prison," the group said in a statement.

Bigazzi later said he was talking about cats that were cooked in Tuscany, Italy, during food shortages of the 1930s and 1940s. He said he was not recommending people today cook cats.

"I was just talking about an old tradition," he said.