Greetings. Snoops and Kommando here. Welcome to this month’s Cat Forum. We are going to talk about the distressing habit humans have when it comes to naming their food.
It started when Mom and our human brother went to Stratford, Ontario, to see a play. They said they were also going to a cat café. We were a little distressed at first. Sushi bars serve sushi, and oyster bars serve oysters. Mom explained that they were visiting cats, not eating them. They got to cuddle cats and sit with them, so all was good. Although they did smell a little weird when they got home.
But it got us to thinking about how strange human minds are sometimes. Mom has a recipe for Cats Head Biscuits. We were mortified. She was going to cut the head off some poor cat? Well, no. It’s just a big biscuit that’s supposed to be big as a cat’s head because of the flour they use.
There are a lot of other foods that sound like someone’s eating parts of animals when they’re not. We can’t figure out the names. We’re meat eaters, and they aren’t even the tastiest part of the animal.
- Beavertails – fried dough stretched to resemble a beaver tail (Canada)
- Elephant Ears – fried flattened dough, topped with melted butter, cinnamon and sugar (North America)
- Monkey Bread – pieces of sweet dough covered with cinnamon, sugar, butter, and pecans, baked in a pan then pulled apart and eaten (Hungary)
And what’s the deal with buffalo wings and chicken fingers? Everyone knows that buffaloes don’t have wings and chickens don’t have fingers. If chickens did have fingers, they’d be disgusting. Have you seen what they do with their feet?
- Buffalo wings – deep-fried chicken wing section coated with a vinegar-cayenne pepper sauce
- Chicken fingers – pieces of chicken breast meat that are coated and deep fried
We thought that ants on a log might be tasty. Do you know what that is? Raisins, peanut butter, and celery! No ants at all.
Welsh Rabbit? No rabbit, just cheese and bread.
Sweetbread? Not sweet and not a bread.
Mincemeat? No meat.
Egg Cream? No egg and no cream.
Ladyfinger? No lady, no finger.
We could go on, but we’re tired.
Now do you understand why we sniff everything you give us?
(We followed Mr. Google to British foods because, apparently, they have a lot of funny names. We can’t tell you. We couldn’t figure out which ones were food. If we go back, we’ll study the language first.)
Mom wants us to apologize for not getting out to visit lately. It would have been her 30th anniversary last week, and she’s been useless not keeping up with things. We’ll apologize for her. We can’t do anything without her signing us in. So, it’s not our fault. But we have missed you.
Right, human foods have really weird names. We just have to be careful and sniff before eating anything. Warm hugs to your mom.
Kosmo,
a cat in faraway Finland.
Originally, mincemeat DID have meat in it. I think you will find that when you research British food. Maybe the meatless variety is an American development. Purrs !
Thanks for the update. We’re sure it’s MUCH better with meat. Purrs, Snoops and Kommando Kitty
Mol, yes the whole of the UK is littered with foods that sound like you don’t want to eat them, EVER! So many names for the same item too. Humans, you just can’t live with them, they take ages to train and yet you can’t live without them either—well not unless you want to do your own litter box and food shopping 😉
Purrs
ERin
Especially the litter. We barely like to get our paws dirty when we have to. Much less clean it. Purrs, Snoops and Kommando Kitty
There are a lot of confusing foods out there. Sending your mom hugs, I can’t imagine her sadness right now. XO
Thank you. Mom has been feeling better lately. Our sis-fer got married this weekend.
Thanks for the heads up…good advice! I always regard any food offered with great suspicion…here’s an English one for you…”toad in the hole.” No holes…no toads…just sausages in batter! 🤔 🐸
Definitely false advertising. Toads in a hole would be a lot more interesting. Purrs, Snoops and Kommando Kitty