My mom used to tell me to at least try a bite of a new food before I declared I didn’t like it. Probably a good idea. Never could eat boiled Okra. But mom never did serve any “Baby Tiger.” In Vietnam, “Baby Tiger” is a nice name for cat. Yep. I’m sure some of our old Vietnam veterans may know that baby tiger is a popular dish in Vietnam and parts of China.

No wait. Some of you are already getting ahead of me in this story. I am not in any way suggesting this as a way for Allen to get rid of a few hundred excess cats. I’m sure that Quick Pic could come up with and put out a decent Tiger Burger. I’m simply writing about a dish in Vietnam. Dishes made of cats are very popular in parts of Asia, especially Vietnam. Vietnam has already eaten up the excess cats there so they are now bringing in large semis loaded with live cats from China where they fetch a pretty penny--uh Dong. A street cat is said to be worth about 2 pounds British. It would be as easy as picking up beer cans here in Allen. That’s a pricey cat and for that I might sell off one or two of my yard cats that hang around my house. I’d want dollars though, not Dongs.

Surprisingly, it is illegal in Vietnam to cook, serve or traffic in cats. It’s considered animal abuse and while the cats may all be against this strange eating habit, it’s hard to do anything about it. Vietnam’s Le Duc Chinh, head enforcement officer in this world of tasty cats has had little success in stopping the trade. The field officers he sent out didn’t make one arrest. When more officers were dispatched to spy on the cat officers, they were observed sitting in a restaurant and — you guessed it, eating cat and noodle dishes. They admitted that they thought it was delicious and didn’t have the heart to make an arrest. Well, no wonder when you are exposed to mouthwatering dishes of “Cat Hot Pot, Deep Fried Baby Tiger, Stir Fried Cat, or the favorite, Noodles and Cat.”

One of Vietnam’s busiest cat restaurants is located across the street from the big Samsung Factory in old Saigon (now Ho Chi Min City). Samsung workers flock to their daily lunch of fried cat or baby tiger pot pie with a good glass of rice wine. Cat with noodles are a special and economical dish at the Samsung cafe. I don’t know how many times these Samsung factory workers wash their hands a day to remove vestiges of their cat lunch (probably no more often than do the cooks) but you may want to keep your cell phone away from your cat. It could change his attitude toward you in a hurry if he thinks for a moment you have been eating cat for lunch. Also, I noticed that when I drop my Samsung phone it always lands face down. Just saying.

Now this: In a related news note from Vietnam, a semi load of “Live Baby Tigers” was wrecked and the carnage was terrible. Sadly, many died at the scene while a few escaped. The truckload of crated cats came from China and its driver was arrested and fined 7.5 million Dong (about $500 USD). That’s a lot of Dong.

I know this story will leave some of my more enterprising readers with the question of: “How can this story help me get in the cat business?” Don’t know. If you do start capturing local cats don’t blame me if you can’t get your baby tiger café going. I might suggest you go southeast of Lehigh – down that way. And I doubt that Allen is ready for a cat café — but a school lunchroom might be a prospect.

Finally, don’t forget it’s back to church this Sunday in Allen’s Gymnasium. Afterward back-tochurchers will be treated to a free bowl of chilli. Results of a big chilli cook-off by the men of the church. I haven’t noticed any change in the cat population yet so just relax and enjoy. Our chilli is usually fairly safe.

Wayne Bullard, DPh

waynebullard@gmail.com