In Some Countries, Cats ARE on the Menu; Is Haiti One Of Them?

Is there a Haitian ‘Joy of Cooking Cats’ cookbook?

Katharine Valentino
Bouncin’ and Behavin’ Blogs
3 min readSep 19, 2024

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Photo by Laura Ohlman on Unsplash

Go on now. Get on over to Springfield, Ohio. Find one of those Haitians. The Ohio governor says Springfield has made “a great resurgence with a lot of companies coming in” because of those Haitians. There are a lot of them working those jobs, maybe 12,000 of them, maybe even 20,000. So you should have no trouble finding one.

Ask him in his language where that “Joy of Cooking Cats” cookbook is. Here, I’ll help you out with the translation: “Kote liv ‘Sou Entènèt Jwèt Kè Kontan Nan Kwit Manje Chat’ ann Ayiti?”

Someone commenting on a recent article of mine, Why Are We Talking About Illegals Eating Cats and Dogs?, wrote, “[T]hey do eat cats but guess what theres nothing wrong with others cultures culinary preferences its racist to vilify eating ‘differently.’”

I was momentarily put off by the lack of grammar in the comment but then realized I was assuming that Haitians don’t eat “chat.”My assumption was based on my own status as one of J.D. Vance’s cat ladies, who loves purrs and pets and doesn’t mind a bit of cat hair getting into what is actually being cooked. But I had no proof.

So, I looked it up:

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Katharine Valentino
Bouncin’ and Behavin’ Blogs

Still trying for the words to help us do & feel good things. Owner of Reviews for Medium Featured Books. I write life stories & about politics / social issues.