The Rat Man of Treviso
I’ve just finished reading The City of Falling Angels, by John Berendt. It’s about Venice in the late 1990’s, right after the Fenice opera house burned down in 1996. Mr. Berendt chronicles some of the people that he meets during his stay in Venice, and at a party, he met The Rat Man of Treviso.
Now, here’s something to think about. The Rat Man, Massimo Donadon, is the worldwide king of rat poison, marketed under the name of Bocaraton.
He insists that the secret to his successful rat poison is that he alters it according to where it will be used. For instance, in Germany where people eat wurstel and Weiner Schnitzel, his rat poison includes 45% pork fat, his French rat poison includes butter, in America it includes vanilla, granola, popcorn and margarine, in Italy it includes olive oil, honey, pasta, espresso, green apple juice and Nutella.
A few years later Mr. Berendt runs into the Rat Man at another party, and Signor Donadon confides that he has had to change his American rat poison formula to include plastic. Seems American rats like the taste of plastic because that is what Americans eat: junk food, which according to the Rat King, equals plastic.
See, I told you it was something to think about. Blech.
Interesting! Not surprised about the plastic…yuck. On a side note, I am probably related to The Rat Man, Massimo Donadon. My maiden name is Donadon, and my great grandfather was from that area. I have been told that the Donadon name originated in Treviso, and that there aren’t very many Donadons, even in Italy. Hmmm…
Absolutely. Interesting world…