What's for Christmas Day dinner

[bigtree]

Summer Brennan @summerbrennan 9m
In honor of Christmas next week, I present to you this Parisian Christmas menu from Restaurant Voisin of 25 December 1870, during the Siege of Paris, when supplies were blocked and they resorted to eating the zoo animals.

Link to tweet

___The Christmas Day 1870 menu at Paris’s long-gone Voisin restaurant is famous. Emblazoned with the words “99TH DAY OF THE SIEGE,” it is quintessentially French—many-coursed and accompanied with some of the finest wines available. But a second look reveals some discrepancies.

The starter was stuffed donkey’s head, probably served cold, with radishes, butter, and sardines. Intriguing, but not totally exotic. The soup course, however, is startling—a choice between red bean soup with croutons, and broth of elephant.

https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/paris-siege-eating-zoo-animals

[sprinkleeninow]

1. Vulgar. Make some macaroni and cheese...

[jmowreader]

8. Out of what?

Seriously: the zoo animals were all that was left. These guys were eating fucking rats, and there was no food for the zoo animals. So, their options were (1) let the animals in the zoo starve to death and (2) shoot them and eat their flesh.

[Laffy Kat]

2. Stuffed donkey head?

Nope.

[LeftInTX]

3. Eww!!!

Couldn't they just grab a can of Chef Boy R Dee? Or become vegans?

Cats flanked with rats??? Good gawd!!! Could you cook the pathogens out???

[smirkymonkey]

4. I think I would rather eat snow.

Ugh. Sounds disgusting. Enough to make one become a vegetarian for life.

[Sucha NastyWoman]

5. A boat load of animals were killed in the making of this Christmas dinner

What would baby Jesus say?!?

[Retrograde]

7. Paris was under siege

Normal supplies of meat and vegetables were not being delivered. The Paris Zoo was not able to feed its animals - especially the carnivores. While this menu was cuisine for people with money, ordinary Parisians were eating cats, dogs, and rats. It wasn't exotic meats for novelty's sake.

[Raine]

6. UGH, I could've certainly done without reading this so gross! 🤢 🤮 nt

[JI7]

9. Looks like they could have made an ok meal without the animals

beans , mushrooms, radishes , green peas , butter, pepper sauce, etc

[N_E_1 for Tennis]

10. I was told ...

When in the Army doing some survival training...The difference between eating something and not eating something is usually 24 hours.

If you are hungry enough to seriously consider chowing down on something but are disgusted at the thought of eating it when that hunger grows the disgust drops away.

[Hortensis]

12. Real hunger is apparently unimaginable to some, while fear of starvation...

I was often hungry as a child, though I don't remember suffering because I wasn't starving and getting me fed was my mom's worry, not mine. But that's my best guess as to why I'm not silly about this. Food is an existential requirement.

So, @24 hours beyond seriously hungry. Feels believable. In my gut.

[Hortensis]

11. I love Atlas Obscura! Rat was pricier than cat? Who'da thought.

I'd have chosen to try the broth of elephant. Unless I was too hungry to wait another course for more solid food.

Thanks, Bigtree. Just realized I have no idea what we're having for Christmas dinner. Time to get on the stick.

[DFW]

13. In the immortal words of the soon-to-be-deposed Napoleon III

Non, merci!

Though not a wine fan, I can imagine that today, some wine experts would kill to taste a vintage 1840s Mouton Rothschild that was twenty-five years old.

Come to think of it, I know someone who wrote a novel around that very subject!

[Thyla]

14. Could be worse

At least there are no sprouts.

Kangaroo stew could be nice, not the best way of cooking it but it's a good eating meat.