Animals, Environment, Society

Wichita Restaurant Under Fire For Lion Dish On Menu

Chef Jason Febres at the Taste & See restaurant in Wichita seems confused by all of the commotion over his menu. Febres triggered an international outcry with his announcement that he would be serving up Lion for a special on the menu with kangaroo, alpaca, crocodile and water buffalo. After the restaurant was deluged with objections from animal rights activists, environmentalists, and human beings, Febres withdrew the item saying “We did took a second look … and realized that yes, it can be a little shocking and disturbing for some people.”

Perhaps the second and third look should have occurred immediately after the idea came to him. Febres added “I did felt [sic] touched and didn’t mean to offend anybody so I decided to make it right and substitute the Lion course.”

Here is the most troubling aspect of the story: the dinner was quickly sold out.

Febres insists that this would have been “farm-raised lion meat” and not anything wild. In response to the criticism, he said “It’s just ignorance” and noted that the African lion is not endangered.

If you recall, we discussed the plan of an Arizona restaurant last year to serve lion tacos.

The controversy is a real-life version of the movie “The Freshman” where people would pay a premium price to eat the last of a species.

Here is the question. If you are a meat eater, is there a moral difference between eating a water buffalo or kangaroo and a cow? If you can eat a water buffalo, what is the moral line in not eating a lion raised in captivity?

Source: Kansas

Kudos: Mark Volker

31 thoughts on “Wichita Restaurant Under Fire For Lion Dish On Menu”

  2. Shelley,

    I don’t think it’s a good idea to kill animals just to put their head on a platter.

  4. In addition, there are health risks associated with certain types of feline meat. For instance, it’s extremely hazardous to eat cougar meat, though some idiots do so–probably because of some kind of macho insecurity.

  5. By the way, ‘farm raised’ does not make the act ‘better’. Lions are a vulnerable species, so any lions being raised should solely be raised specifically for species preservation–not for spoiled people with too much money.

    This supper is for jaded appetites who have lost all concept of what it means to “have a life”.

    And this chef is bolstering his mediocre cooking skills by using exotic meats.

    A truly great chef can make a memorable meal of what’s easily available. It’s only the mediocre chefs that have to use exotic ingredients.

  7. Lottakatz contributed:
    “That very expensive Japanese delicacy, whale-sperm sushi”
    ~+~
    Hopefully that form of sushi comes with a warning about also having the Salmon Roe with it. Might lead to 9 months of indigestion and a rather horrid “outcome”.

  8. Meat is meat. An animal suffers when it dies in one way or another. To the animal, from his/her perspective, dying is dredful. The animal does not want to die. This is the same if the animal is a cow, farm raised lion, domestic sperm whale, or pet vegetarian vulture with an identity crisis.

    Some animals eat other animals, Some eat plants, some both. A plant would want to live but lacking a brain, it cannot beg to differ. Unlike certain lichens, animals cannot live by bread minerals alone. We need meat/plants to live.

    A farm raised animal does not lack a brain, it has concerns as mentioned in the first paragraph.

    If we choose to eat meat, we choose to eat meat. If we choose to eat only plants, we choose to only eat plants. Animals other than we don’t care about the prey they chew upon, other than how soon dinner time arrives. The prey is just something to chew on. Herbivores do not care about the suffering of plants, only where the next meal is.

    Like it or not, this is the nature of the beasts.

  9. Raff, well you know the only whales they take on their yearly hunts are for scientific study, it couldn’t be from them. 😉

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