Victory! African lion meat is off Wichita’s “Taste and See” exotic dinner menu

For several weeks Chef Jason Febres promoted his “Ultimate Dining Experience” a meal of exotic meats including African lion at Taste and See restaurant in Wichita, KS.  Listening to concerns from compassionate consumers, Chef Febres made the responsible choice and removed African lion from the menu.

The Kansas City Star reported that Chef Febres took to his Facebook page and said, “We did took a second look ... and realized that yes, it can be a little shocking and disturbing for some people. ... I did felt touched and didn’t mean to offend anybody so I decided to make it right and substitute the Lion course.”

Taste and See is now the fifth restaurant that we know of in the United States that has proposed serving African lion meat on its menu in the past year.  With the exception of The Burger Guru in New York, all other restaurants pulled lion meat from their menus after public outcry. This is a clear indication that there is truly no market for African lion meat in the United States.

While we wait for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to make their decision on whether to list African lions as Endangered under the US Endangered Species Act, it is our responsibility to help protect lions.  We would like to thank everyone who helped with this effort and showed their support by making this happen.  Without the help of IFAW members and other wildlife lovers voicing their concerns Chef Febres may never have removed lion from his exotic meat menu.

Wild lion populations are crashing with a suspected 50% decline in the past twenty years.  Americans don’t need a government listing to tell us what we already know:  serving the meat of imperiled and regal African lions as a novelty is just wrong.  We thank Chef Febres for removing African lion meat from his “Ultimate Dining Experience” menu and hope this ends this unwelcome trend with American restaurants. 

-- JF