The diss track of the summer is about raw octopus
Of all the summer diss we could have expected, this one about raw octopus was the one we never would have imagined.
Matteo Bassetti VS Puglia
The bone of contention is octopus. Or rather, raw octopus. Bassetti warns on social media that it absolutely shouldn't be eaten. We don't know why Bassetti woke up one morning and decided to create content on the topic, but according to him, biting into a freshly caught raw octopus is "one of the crazy fads of the summer." Thankfully, we hadn't yet spotted it, because we can't really blame the doctor for the fact that it's silly (like many fads that go viral for a while).
"Eating raw octopus carries serious health risks linked to the presence of dangerous parasites such as Anisakis and bacteria capable of causing serious gastrointestinal infections, unless it is first subjected to a proper thermal shock treatment," explains Bassetti, and he's certainly right, given that he's the doctor here.
The fact is, however, that what Bassetti claims is a summer fad fueled by social media is, for many Apulians, an ancient tradition. And no, Puglia isn't about to be called demented by an infectious disease specialist.
The back-and-forth over raw octopus
The comments from Apulians—or rather, from Bari—under Bassetti's post are all there to explain how this is a widespread, ancient practice that, at least as far as they can remember, has generally never caused any harm. Furthermore, many of them responded to the post with videos of themselves provocatively biting into their raw octopus breakfast on the beach, just to piss off the doctor a little.
And it worked, indeed, as Bassetti posted a second video on the topic on his social media channels, explaining that eating raw octopus may be a Puglian tradition, but not all traditions have to be followed.
"In Italy, approximately 35% of the adult population (aged 16 to 65) is considered functionally illiterate, a figure higher than the OECD average of around 26%," Bassetti writes on this new content. "This is evident from many things, including eating live, raw octopus and being proud of it!"
In short, besides being demented, the Apulians are now also illiterate. Let it not be said that Bassetti isn't good at fanning the flames.