Pet Birds in the Kitchen
Have you ever thought of keeping a bird in the kitchen? I admit the thought had not occurred to me until this morning. Nor have I ever encountered anyone in the habit of having canaries in the kitchen.
Yesterday I bought some new saucepans. I wanted non-stick and the nicest I could find in León, the main shopping town near my home in Guanajuato, Mexico, were made by an Italian company.
So this morning as I unpacked them, I glanced at the instructions which were pretty routine: don’t use metal implements, etc.
Then came the warning at the end. “For safety, please keep pet birds out of the kitchen. Birds’ respiratory systems are sensitive to many kinds of household fumes.”
Hmm. Does this mean that Italians are enthusiastic pet bird keepers? Should I think of them chatting to the parakeet as they boil the pasta?
