In desperate times, people have been known to resort to cooking and eating cats, but under normal conditions there is no cuisine that chooses to do so, except in China and Vietnam. Cat meat was eaten, for example, during the famine in the Siege of Leningrad. In 1996, a place that served cat meat was supposedly discovered by the Argentine press in a shanty town in Rosario, but in fact the meal had been set up by media from Buenos Aires.In 2008, it was reported that cats were a staple part of the local diet Guangdong, China, with many cats being shipped down from the north and one Guangzhou-based business receiving up to 10,000 cats per day from different parts of China. Protesters in other parts of China have urged the Guangzhou provincial government to crack down on cat traders and restaurants that serve cat meat, although no law says it is illegal to eat cats.
The term "roof-hare" (roof-rabbit, German Dachhase) applies to cat meat presented as that of a hare, another pest (or pet) used as a source of meat. Subtracting the skin, feet, head and tail, hares and cats are practically identical. The only way to distinguish them is by looking at the processus hamatus of the feline scapula, which should have a processus suprahamatus. Dar gato por liebre ("to pass off a cat as a hare") is an expression common to many Spanish-speaking countries, equivalent to "to pull the wool over someone's eyes" derived from this basic scam. There is an equivalent Portuguese expression Comprar gato por lebre, meaning "to buy a cat as a hare". More specifically, in Brazil, cat meat is seen as repulsive and people often shun barbecue establishments suspected of selling cat meat. The expression churrasco de gato ("cat barbecue") is largely used in Brazil with a humorous note, especially for roadside stands that offer grilled meat on a stick (often coated with farofa), due to their poor hygiene conditions and the fact that the source of the meat is mostly unknown. Cases of passing off cat meat as lamb shish kabab in less reputable shops, are also regularly reported in Egypt. "Kitten cakes" and "buy three shawarma - assemble a kitten" are common Russian urban jokes about the suspect origin of food from street vendors' stalls.
The inhabitants of Vicenza in northern Italy are reputed to eat cats, although the practice has been out of use for decades.
During the so called Bad Times of hunger in Europe during and after World War I and World War II roof-rabbit was a common food. Those who thought that they were eating Australian Rabbits were really eating European cats.
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