Chef removes octopus from menu in honour of 'Paul'

20 Jul 2010

Spanish chef Jose Andres Alonso has removed octopus from his menu out of respect for 'Paul the octopus' who became famous for predicting the outcomes of this year's World Cup in South Africa. The chef withdrew octopus from the menus in his restaurants in Los Angeles and Washington after Paul, who was born in Weymouth, England, and spent two years in a zoo in Dusseldorf, Germany, became an internet sensation. Paul's predictions were correct for the majority of the matches, including the final.

Some might accuse the chef of being superstitious, but he felt it wrong to be cooking octopus while one of them was foreseeing his country's success in the competition. He stated: "This may sound like a joke, but after seeing Paul the octopus point to Spain as the winner you would understand. I don't think many people are going to eat octopus for a while." Andres is famous in the USA for his restaurants and television show 'Made in Spain."

Sadly, Paul will not be predicting the outcome of the Euro 2012 competition because the average octopus life expectancy is three years.

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