Subscribe now

Feedback: Why smoke in the kitchen could leave your goose cooked

Feedback is our weekly column of bizarre stories, implausible advertising claims, confusing instructions and more

18 December 2018

bird in kitchen cartoon

Paul McDevitt

Nested dishes

TURKEYS may vote for Christmas, but what about canaries? Festive-minded Robert Campbell recently purchased a couple of roasting dishes from Lidl. The attached notes warn him not to “overheat your cooking utensils, so as to avoid smoke which can be dangerous for small animals (e.g. birds) with especially sensitive respiratory systems. We recommend not keeping birds in the kitchen!”.

Robert says he was unaware that kitchens were off limits for birds, while Feedback wonders why it is up to the vendors of kitchenware to raise awareness of this danger and not, say, the vendors of small birds.…

Sign up to our weekly newsletter

Receive a weekly dose of discovery in your inbox. We'll also keep you up to date with New Scientist events and special offers.

Sign up

To continue reading, subscribe today with our introductory offers

Popular articles

Trending New Scientist articles

Piano Exit Overlay Banner Mobile Piano Exit Overlay Banner Desktop