Mokutanya, a Japanese restaurant in Burlingame, California, specializes in kushiyaki, food grilled on skewers. On May 16^th they added an “exotic fare” offering two days a week. Including skewers of lion meat. ($70 a skewer.)

They probably weren’t totally surprised by the avalanche of anger. But all publicity is good publicity! They surely knew about the restaurant in Florida that offered lion tacos – got a lot of news coverage – and took lion tacos off the menu again. All publicity is fantastic publicity!

News outlets wrote about this novelty. A Mokutanya employee mentioned that they had ordered a single shipment of lion meat, and expected it to last two or three weeks. A quick run of lion delicacies to get your name in front of the public: brilliant!

Or not. Mokutanya’s Facebook page went wild. People objected because lions are threatened and some populations are endangered, because eating predators is ecologically senseless, because the way the lion was farmed and killed is cruel, because the meat wasn’t USDA-inspected, because lions are so awesome it’s creepy of us to eat lion on skewers (it’s a monkey thing but not in a good way), and because it’s not authentically Japanese.

(And I say that any place that will serve lion meat on skewers will not hesitate to seethe a kid in its mother’s milk. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.)

The restaurant got 200 phone calls on May 18. Some civil requests to stop serving lion meat, some threats to rape and kill.

Maybe the angry calls and the Facebook attacks (most removed by now) convinced Mokutanya that there is such a thing as bad publicity. While some indicated interest in eating lion, more people said things like “Disgusting” “U sik fvks!” “subhuman” “nauseating” “morally bankrupt” “depraved sense of greed” and, cruelest of all, “desperately uncool.” Many said they would never go to Mokutanya and would tell their friends to stay away too. And a lot of people, many Japanese, were horrified at the idea that this might pass as Japanese cuisine.

On May 19^th Mokutanya posted this on Facebook:

As of tonight, we will stop the sale of our lion meat skewers for an idefinite [sic] period of time. The decision was based upon the fact that the public at this moment is not ready for this type of offering, which is obviously voiced out on our Facebook page. Mokutanya would like to take this opportunity to apologize to those that may have been offended from this event.

Jason Li 5/18/2013

Terrible apology. By saying that the public “at this moment is not ready,” Li’s blaming them. They’re not as advanced, enlightened, or educated as he is. He hints that he might sell lion skewers again, after that indefinite period. The sentence about those who “may have been offended” is also a loser. “May have been?” Sir, they called you a sik fvk! They were definitely offended.

Some Facebook commenters expressed relief and thanks. Some said they didn’t care if Mokutanya served lion, but if so, “please remove any Japanese words from your restaurant’s name and stop calling this place Japanese.” Some angrily expressed their wish to eat lion skewers in a free country and attacked those who differed, criticizing their character, their sexual choices, and their waistlines.

Also angry about the reversal was exotic meat supplier Anshu Pathak, source of the lion meat. He proclaimed that Mokutanya still has peacock (skewered, I assume) on the menu, and that he is the source of said peacock flesh. He says they will soon offer swan, which he will be selling them. “This is NOT a publicity stunt,” he wrote.

“If you are a restaurant owner in USA and if you are proud of your self and able take HEAT from uneducated fanatic people, please contact me. I will support your restaurant. I will sell you on credit without credit check.”

People on the Mokutanya Facebook lion meat thread, still a-roar, quickly noted that many have complained about Panshak’s business practices. Panshak deals in various exotic foods, and has been sued by Harry & David for using the name “Fruit of the Month Club.” Meanwhile he is suing other people he says ripped off his “Cheese of the Month” idea. I don’t want to go into it except that I would feel bad if anyone said of me, as they did of Panshak, “This guy conned me for $50 for custard apples.”