“Cat’s in The Ladle” and Other Food Myths

Have you heard rumors about restaurants? Juicy rumors about restaurants serving cat meat, rat infestation, or dead animals in sandwiches? This hearsay pops up from time to time. Twisting our taste buds and cracking the gears in our stomachs and minds. We know what these rumors do to us: we spread the word quickly without reasoning the validity of the gossip.

Think about the restaurants that have to battle the rumor and fight to keep patronage. These myths, malicious rumors, often cripple their short term business and have the potential to hurt the longevity of their restaurant. Most of the time, the rumors are false. Why do these tales surface?

With this legend, as with all, it is important to break the story into the following parts: who is the rumor about? Who is it told to? And then, why is it told?

According to Snopes.com, the complaint of foreign objects in food is most often against one of the bigger restaurant chains and is for monetary gain—the accusers are trying to extort money. However, the accusers, in their moment of self-indulged brilliance, imagine a quick cash payout and fail to realize that when the claim is false, the process is a form of extortion. The accusers will file a claim with the police department in hopes of making their claim “legitimate.” This is where the get rich quick scheme goes horribly wrong—it all comes out in the wash so to say. As the claim is investigated by the legal system and by the restaurant and as the claim is found false, the shysters are quickly charged with filing false police reports and grand larceny. They then scramble and try to drop their charges against the restaurant, but it is too late.

Other restaurant myths are aimed at non-chains or against specific ethnicities. These claims are results of xenophobia—fear of foreigners. When I was young, my town of Desoto, Missouri got its first Chinese Restaurant. The restaurant, owned by a very nice and wonderful Chinese family, was clean and friendly. The restaurant thrived; we had nothing but pizza and burgers before they moved to town.  As their business grew, the bottom line of the local restaurants began to fall. Stories of filth and the serving of cat meat, both of which were not true, surfaced.

Xenophobic rumors are common in small towns throughout the country. These tales are usually started by territorial business owners in the same town who are losing customers. The loss of income is combated with vicious hearsay. The target of the rumor can do nothing more than wait out the gossip.

What kind of rumors have your heard about restaurants in your own town?