The Right Animal in the Right Place

If you ever feel like things couldn't be worse, or the outlook bleak, all you have to do is a little research in the past and read what it was like in times and places under graver circumstances. One example is the 1870 siege of Paris by the Prussian Army. Count Bismark was determined to get the French provinces he wanted even if he had to starve the inhabitants of the unlucky French capital. In the 1871 book, Diary Of The Besieged Resident In Paris, life in the surrounded capital went along in typical French style; strolls through parks in which soldiers drilled, riding merry-go-rounds while cannons boomed the distance, and the disappearance of horses, then dogs, even elephants from the zoo, and cats were detailed as the city slowly starved. One section of the diary describes the serving of cat, Parisian-style:

"October 19th. Each person now receives 100 grammes of meat per diem, the system of distribution being that every one has to wait on an average two hours before he receives his meat at the door of a butcher's shop. I dine habitually at a bouillon; there horse-flesh is eaten in the place of beef, and cat is called rabbit. Both, however, are excellent, and the former is a little sweeter than beef, but in other respects much like it; the latter something between rabbit and squirrel, with a flavour all its own. It is delicious. I recommend those who have cats with philoprogenitive proclivities, instead of drowning the kittens, to eat them. Either smothered in onions or in a ragout they are excellent. When I return to London I shall frequently treat myself to one of these domestic animals, and ever feel grateful to Bismarck for having taught me that cat served up for dinner is the right animal in the right place."

It can be much worse.