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  • Cat meat.

    “Cats were sometimes eaten as a famine food during harsh winters, poor harvests, and wartime. Cat gained notoriety as ‘roof rabbit’ in Central Europe’s hard times during and between World War I and World War II.”

                    — “Cat meat”. Wikipedia.

    “A little meat is on sale at prohibitive prices. House cats are sold under the more appetizing title of roof rabbit.”

                    — “Arrival of American Flour at Riga Ends the Bolsheviki Reign of Terror”. United States Bulletin, Vol. 3, No. 593. 1919 June 23 (page 13)

    “Cat has also been eaten in Britain. During wartime rationing, cats found their way into ‘rabbit’ stews/pies and hence earned themselves the nickname ‘roof-rabbit’. . . . The following rhyme summed up the keeping of cats in peace-time and the eating of them in times of hardship.

            Oh kittens, in our hours of ease

            Uncertain toys and full of fleas,

            When pain and anguish hang o’er men,

            We turn you into sausage then.

                    — Sarah Hartwell. “Cats—Friend or Food?

    September 3, 2011