Cat meat is meat prepared from domestic cats for human consumption. Some countries serve cat meat as a regular food, whereas others have only consumed some cat meat in desperation during wartime or poverty.
Africa
Prehistoric human feces have contained bones from the wild cat of Africa.
In some cultures of Cameroon, there is a special ceremony featuring cat-eating that is thought to bring good luck.
Asia
China
According to Humane Society International, Agence France-Presse, and the BBC, cat meat is not widely eaten in China. But in Guangdong and Guangxi provinces of the Lingnan cultural region, some—especially older—people consider cat flesh a good warming food during winter months. The Associated Press reported in 2008 that people in southern China's Guangdong province (population just over 113 million) ate 10,000 cats per day.
In Guangdong, cat meat is a main ingredient in the traditional dish "dragon, tiger, phoenix" (snake, cat, chicken), which is said to fortify the body.
Organized cat-collectors supply the southern restaurants with animals that often originate in Henan, Hubei, Anhui, and Jiangsu provinces. On January 26, 2010, China launched its first draft proposal to protect the country's animals from maltreatment, including a measure to jail people—for periods up to 15 days—for eating cat or dog meat.
With the increase of cats as pets in China, opposition towards the traditional use of cats for food has grown. In June 2006, approximately 40 activists stormed the Fangji Cat Meatball Restaurant in Shenzhen, forcing it to shut down. Expanded to more than 40 member societies, the Chinese Animal Protection Network in January 2006 began organizing well-publicized protests against dog and cat consumption, starting in Guangzhou, following up in more than ten other cities "with very optimal response from public." Beijing News reported in 2014 and 2015 of Beijing and Tianjin authorities, respectively, discovering feral, and stray cats to be used as part of the cat meat trade, which drew outrage from many Chinese netizens. A 2015 Animals Asia survey found that at least more than 70-80% of Chinese respondents agreed it was not acceptable to eat dogs and cats if they had been abused or tortured during feeding and slaughter.
Japan
In Japan, cats were sometimes eaten until the end of the Edo period. In Okinawa, it was believed to be effective against costochondritis, bronchitis, lung disease, and hemorrhoids, and was eaten in the form of soups, such as Maya-no-Ushiru.
India
According to HuffPost and a few Indian news outlets in 2016, cat meat was being served as mutton in parts of Chennai and being consumed mainly by the Narikuravar community in the city. There had been allegations made online in the same year that some Narikuravar people were hunting feral and stray cats for their meat in Bengaluru.
Cat meat is a traditional protein consumed in the diet of the Irula people of southern India.
Indonesia
Cat meat has been featured at the Extreme Market in the North Sulawesi city of Tomohon.
Korea
In Korea, cat meat was historically brewed into a tonic as a folk remedy for neuralgia and arthritis, not commonly as food. Modern consumption is seen and more likely to be in the form of cat soup, though the number of people who consume cat soup is considered minimal, compared to a relatively popular dog meat. Julien Dugnoille wrote in The Conversation that cat meat is mostly consumed by middle-aged working-class women for perceived health benefits, and that usually 10 cats are needed to produce a small bottle of cat, or goyangi, soju (an alcoholic elixir thought to keep arthritis at bay for a few weeks at a time). According to In Defense of Animals, 100,000 cats are killed yearly to make cat soju in South Korea. Cats are not farmed for their meat in the country, so the trade involves ferals and strays. Nonetheless, the trade is mostly done underground, and the great majority of the population is not even aware that cat consumption is common in the country. Moreover, eating cat meat is highly stigmatized throughout the country, unlike eating dog meat, which is often criticized but not universally stigmatized.
Malaysia
According to the Malaysian branch of Friends of the Earth, cat meat is not illegal in Malaysia. The organisation reported that some Vietnamese nationals had been selling dog and cat meat in a couple of cities, an allegation repeated by Coconuts Media. According to The Star in 2012, cat meat was popular among some Myanmar nationals in the country.