© Richard Mullins
Michael Fortunato bites into a $35 lion taco at Taco Fusion in Tampa. It's a meat that doesn't sit well with some people.
Michael Fortunato bites into a $35 lion taco at Taco Fusion in Tampa. It's a meat that doesn't sit well with some people.
We're getting all kinds of threats over it, said Ryan Gougeon, owner of Taco Fusion on Bay to Bay Boulevard in Tampa that put lion meat on their taco menu this week. Controversy soon erupted and social media exploded with criticism that anyone would serve lion meat.
Now we're getting bomb threats, and everything else. Some guy just called and said he'd kidnap me and grind me up for a taco. There are so many coming in we aren't counting.
Besides serving the standard chicken tacos and a giant nacho platter, the Taco Fusion restaurant specializes in all sorts of exotic meats: Gator, elk, bear, zebra and kangaroo. The lion meat taco is priced at $35 apiece, and has been selling well.
The lion meat is authentic, Gougeon said, and comes from a farm that raises the animals for meat. Such a practice is legal in the United States because lions are only considered threatened, and not endangered.
