They seem to have bad luck with dead birds in foodstuffs in the U.K., what with that whole “Sing a Song of Sixpence” thing and now this, the tale of a Gloucestershire couple who were just sitting down to a nice steak dinner under dimmed lights when one of them discovered a large, stanky, and dead Blackcap European warbler on his plate. “My first reaction,” says James Watson, “was why have I got a soggy fishcake on my plate?” But that was no soggy fishcake, and so the couple complained to retailer Tesco and were compensated with a £200 gift card, which is much better than the simple apology another British couple received the last time this exact same thing happened. Which, in a way, says something about the sorry state of cooking skills — why aren’t these people washing their greens before use? That’s still the best way to beat salmonella, after all. Also, why wouldn’t they dress greens the old-fashioned way, by evenly distributing vinaigrette to all the leafy things inside a bowl? It’s much easier to spot a dead, five-inch bird that way. Also, eating under mood-lighting, we get it, but was this salad made in the dark, too? Only the warbler knows for sure, and he isn’t singing anymore. [Daily Mail, Earlier]
