Hannibal wouldn't be a fan of Chicago's local food scene, according to Mads Mikkelsen (but, then again, he's a cannibal)

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Hannibal Lecter is not one for the local cuisine, it seems. Or… at least, not the kind that’s served up in everyday restaurants.

Appearing onstage at C2E2 Saturday afternoon during the Face Your Fear: The Cast of Hannibal panel hosted by Popverse’s own Tiffany Babb, Mads Mikkelsen was asked whether, if Hannibal visited the Windy City himself, he’d prefer an Italian beef sandwich, deep dish pizza, or a Chicago-style hot dog. It’s safe to say that his response was not entirely expected.

“I gotta be honest here, all of these dishes seem… rude,” the actor joked. “It’s just, I mean… Hannibal does not eat food like that. It’s just not happening.” He did, however, admit that “you can get away with the hot dog thingy in a different manner, maybe that would be the choice.”

That’s only fair; after all, it wasn’t specified what kind of meat would be in the hot dog…

If you’re worried that Mikkelsen might have alienated the crowd by dissing the local dishes — which judging by the cheers definitely didn’t happen — he did attempt to win them back later in the panel, when asked how he was enjoying the city himself. “I haven’t seen much of Chicago,” he said, having just mentioned that he’d only just arrived, “but what I see here, I really like.” Hugh Dancy, sharing the stage with Mikkelsen joked that he was being “shameless” in pandering to the audience with that answer.

Want to see more for yourself? Popverse members have the chance to watch the full panel for themselves on demand, or for those who prefer to read things, there’s also our liveblog of the panel as it happened.

Re-live the majesty of C2E2 with our the C2E2 2024 Main Stage panel videos on-demand, all the major things Popverse found at the Chicago show, and C2E2 2024's best cosplay.