Dormouse stew? Oh, we wouldn’t serve that, sir. It would be against the law. This is rat

Fifteen Italian restaurateurs face criminal charges after food inspectors were served dormouse stew and braised dormice in wine and red pepper sauce.

The edible or fat dormouse (Glis glis) was a delicacy in Ancient Rome, when it was fattened on walnuts, and is still much appreciated in parts of Italy. However, it is now a protected species and when food inspectors raided an autumn festival in Calabria they found several rodent casseroles.



In their defence the restaurateurs say that there were actually rats in the stew.
Alessandro Bettosi, the Forestry Corps officer who led the raid, declined to give details of the case for fear of compromising continuing investigations into the illegal hunting network. He said that the accused chefs claimed that their dishes contained rats, which are not protected species, rather than dormice. The defendants hoped to escape with a fine for the lesser offence of contravening public health laws.

The link contains a recipe for macaroni with dormouse and thrush sauce.