The cat is our sacred animal.
Taken from Smh.com
There’s no way it’s as popular as dog, but it does exist. Both are mostly eaten by northerners, or former northereners who have moved south. There is definitely some conflict now as the Vietnamese have gotten more affluent and many now raise cats and dogs as pets, and love them as much as westerners do. I knew a kid in Hanoi some years ago whose pet cat was kidnapped, probably to be food, and he was just devastated. My wife’s family in the south has lost several dogs for the same reason.
On the other hand, Vietnamese eat a lot of things we don’t. Aside from the kidnapping of pets, it’s not really worse than eating other kinds of animals, right? The anecdotes in the OP could apply to other animals as well. Generally speaking, food animals probably have it better in Vietnam since there isn’t as much industrial meat production there (yet).
I saw that the dogs eaten are specially bred for the purpose, and have minimal hair for easy preparation. Not completely hairless though like some breeds of the Americas. Do they use just any old cat?
There’s that old joke about Chinese restaurants serving cat in place of chicken. If that were the case, you’d know that you were eating cat because they’d charge you more for the privilege.
Korea, Vietnam, and China–where dog is consumed–do not use only “farm-bred” dogs for that purpose.
Cats are also eaten by the Bozo people of Mali. We were warned not to let our cat outside. I also remember seeing 10-12 dogs being taken to market in one of the villages we went through. I’m assuming they weren’t up for adoption. I don’t know why the outrage, as not every country has the same sensibilities that America does. Just because we believe a certain way doesn’t make it universally right. Poor and starving people don’t have the option of being picky.
Chefguy: Much of the outrage comes from the processes used in preparing the dog or cat for consumption. I’ll just touch on one: The myth is that the more the animal suffers during its dispatch, the more adrenaline will be in the animal’s muscles; the more adrenaline in the animal’s muscles, the better it is for the eater’s “stamina”. (For stamina read long-lasting erection; sexual prowess.) That leads to such niceties as the dog (or cat) being burned alive.
…as if the thought of Mittens making anyone catch wood wasn’t sick enough… :dubious:
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