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[mentor_LEE]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/fo...staurant-to-serve-World-Cup-lion-burgers.html

World Cup 2010: US restaurant to serve World Cup lion burgers
A US restaurant is to serve burgers made with real lion meat during the World Cup, causing outrage among wildlife campaigners.


Nick Allen in Los Angeles
Published: 10:04AM BST 23 Jun 2010
World Cup 2010: US restaurant to serve World Cup lion burgers
A spokesman for the US Department of Agriculture said lion meat was uncommon but not illegal Photo: REUTERS

The Il Vinaio restaurant near Phoenix, Arizona, is offering a "lion burger" for $21 (£14), served with spicy homemade crisps and roast corn on the cob.

The restaurant has already received a bomb threat and hundreds of angry emails from animal rights activists.

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Owner Cameron Selogie said the decision to serve the lion burgers was a tribute to South Africa, host nation of the World Cup.

He said: "In Africa they do eat lions, so I assume if it's OK for Africans to eat lions then it should be OK for us." Mr Selogie added: "We thought that since the World Cup was in Africa that the lion burger might be interesting for some of our more adventurous customers." The meat is from a lion that was raised at a free range farm in Illinois, which is regulated by the US Department of Agriculture.

Mr Selogie said he had explained to protesters that African lions are on the protected list, but not endangered.

He said: "Most of them, when we tell them the facts, that this is farm raised and it doesn't hurt the endangered animals, seem pretty reasonable." The restaurant ordered 10 pounds of African lion meat from the farm and it is mixed with ground beef to make a "lion burger." The restaurant is to serve about 15 burgers on Wednesday and the same on Thursday as part of its World Cup celebrations. Animal rights activists are expected to protest outside.

A spokesman for the US Department of Agriculture said lion meat was uncommon but not illegal.

Susan Cooper, a regular customer at the restaurant and an animal-rights activist, told the Arizona Republic: "I'm thoroughly disgusted to say the least. What's next? Dogs? Cats?"

Dr Grey Stafford with the World Wildlife Zoo told Fox 10 News in Phoenix: "Of all the plentiful things to eat in this country, for someone to request that or to offer that, I was rather stunned."

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[mentor_LEE]

http://www.aolnews.com/article/despite-roars-of-protest-lion-burgers-stay-on-menu/19527954


Despite Protests, Lion Burgers King of the Menu
Updated: 1 day 10 hours ago
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Terence Neilan

Terence Neilan Contributor
AOL News
(June 23) --The idea to put lion meat burgers on an Arizona restaurant's menu has met with threatening protests. But it's also attracted such an eager list of customers that the owner had to double the amount of meat on order -- and now he's sold out.

Cameron Selogie decided to serve African lion meat tonight and Thursday to mark the World Cup soccer competition in South Africa. But it wasn't his idea, according to his wife, Cindy, who told AOL News today that the request came from their customers.

"He got so many requests for it that even I was pretty shocked myself," she said. "It's been a hit, believe it or not."

Well, not with everyone.

After the idea became general knowledge, the Il Vinaio restaurant in the Phoenix suburb of Mesa received more than 150 angry e-mails, and a bomb threat was among scores of comments posted on a local website.

A local animal activist, Susan Cooper, said she was "thoroughly disgusted to say the least," The Arizona Republic reported. "I've gotten information around to the animal community, and everyone is thoroughly disgusted, too."

Except, that is, the customers who apparently can't wait to get a taste.

"At first we decided to buy 5 pounds of lion meat from a farm in Illinois, which would be enough to serve 20 burgers," Cindy Selogie said.

But after posting news of the burger on its e-mail newsletter club, so many orders poured in that the restaurant increased the order to 10 pounds.

"So that now we'll serve 20 burgers each night and still we're sold out, so we've even set up a standby list," she said.

The burgers will be served with corn, spiced kettle chips and wine for $21 apiece.

And how will they taste? "I ate one last night, and I honestly wouldn't be able to tell the difference from a regular burger," she said. "It's not chewy, it's not gamey. It was very tasty."

Cameron Selogie ordered the lion meat from a free-range farm in Illinois regulated by the Department of Agriculture. He told The Arizona Republic he had inspected the place to make sure it was humane. The restaurant owner said he had told protesters that African lions are on the protected list but that they are not endangered.

Selogie and his wife are ready to cope with protesters who are still unhappy with the decision.

The police station is "almost at our back door," Cindy Selogie said, "so we gave them a head's up about picketers turning up outside tonight and tomorrow.

"I respect the protesters' opinions," she added, "because we're animal lovers, too. But it is what it is."
Filed under: Nation, Weird News, Sports, Top Stories

 

[mentor_LEE]

http://newshawksreview.com/lion-burger-with-fries-order-up-in-mesa-arizona/934/

Lion Burger with Fries – Order Up! In Mesa, Arizona
Sold Out!

You are not going to get a Lion Burger, even if you want one.

Jerome Foegal the Manager at il Vinaio Restaurant in Mesa, AZ says they’ve been sold out for a week. It was Foegal’s idea to serve Lion Burgers. The restaurant has many adventurous regular diners. Foegal says he asked some of the regulars who attend their monthly wine pairing dinner if they’d like some Lion and it was an “overwhelmingly positive.” He and Chef de Cuisine James Bacon ordered the Lion. It comes from a farm in Illinois, it’s rendered at a USDA approved plant, inspected 3 times, is of African lineage, but born in the USA. The Lion Burger meal Wednesday night and Thursday night was totally booked, “in a matter of minutes.”

Here’s the big question, what does it taste like? Foegal says, “It’s really tasty. It’s got a firmer texture. It’s 95% lean meat so we cut it with a little bit of ground beef. It’s got a nice chew to it, similar to elk or wild boar. It does taste like wild meat.”

Foegal says they’ve received some threats, death threats and a bomb threat, phone calls where he was called some, “fairly nasty names.” He says they knew this was something that was going to polarize people and they didn’t alert the press to any of this. One of the customers on their email club, who is an animal activist read the email and alerted the media. One lady came into the restaurant and said that she has a cat and it’s of African lion descent and she was sad they were doing this. Jerome was unfailingly understanding and polite to her.

Everyone who works at the restaurant is behind this, they are all “consumers of the food at our restaurant.”

The Chef did not go out and get a special recipe. The meat was brought in on Tuesday and they began experimenting with it. Tasting and trying were how the day was spent. It’s won’t be served with any sauces on it but will be served with something on the side to spread on it. “We want that first bite to be that real Lion Burger flavor,” according to Foegal.

Side dishes will be roasted sweet corn and the house chips. These are potatoes sliced long ways, very thin in a mandolin, flash fried, add a little sea salt, a little ground pepper a little spice, and there you go.

No kidding, Lion Burger and Fries, order Up!

Sarah Wilson is a server at the restaurant and she said, “the Lion Burger had a different texture. It has a really nice taste to it, I wasn’t expecting the taste. They’d said it was between fillet mingnon and lamb. It did have very nice taste, it wasn’t gamey and all we had was salt and pepper on it. And it was definitely a good experience.”

People have come into the restaurant today asking for Lion Burger and they’ve been turned away. One man came all the way from Lake Havasu City and Sarah had to give him the bad news, “No Lion Burger for you, sorry.”

Chef James said the press coverage was, “Way more than I expected. I didn’t expect to be on 3 different news broadcasts and be yelled at by animal activists from all over the country. It’s just an exotic meat, no different than antelope or caribou, or reindeer, that’s eaten every day all over the world.” This is Chef James first time working with Lion. It is an extremely lean cut of meat so it is a culinary challenge to work with it. “We have a lot of adventurous eaters in our restaurant. Their interested in trying something different. Lion is definitely a different meal than you’re going to get every day.”

Manager Jerome and Chef James say they’ll probably serve 30 to 40 Lion Burgers in the two evenings. And if this goes really well, they just might do it again.

The website for il Vinaio is http://ilvinaio.com