# Chinese restaurants using cats...UL? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 18, 1999, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chinese-restaurants-using-cats-ul/2731 "1999-08-18T01:03:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![pricciar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f4b2a3/32.png) [@pricciar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pricciar)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 1999, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chinese-restaurants-using-cats-ul/2731/21 "1999-08-18T23:25:00Z")
Like I said, I have heard the story often, but I have never ever seen a newspaper report on it. The snopes site seems to say the same thing, no places were it actually happened are mentioned there (they do mention that china and korea consider dog and cat a delicacy) So, until I read an article where it actually happened, I will remain skeptical. pat ---
**Author:** ![MrKnowItAll](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrknowitall/32/87_2.png) [@MrKnowItAll](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrKnowItAll)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 1999, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chinese-restaurants-using-cats-ul/2731/22 "1999-08-18T23:51:00Z")
First, I agree with a couple of the previous posts that points out the difficulty in serving cat. In fact, thats the arguement I usually use to defuse these stories when I hear them. Restaurants almost always get their meat from suppliers, already butchered, skinned, and cut up. If a restaurant were to serve cat, they would have to do all these things themselves, in addition to catching the large number of cats required in the first place. Second, newspapers are not immune to printing ULs. It’s happened before, it will happen again. Remember, no souce of information is totally trustworthy. Be willing to question anything that doesn’t make sense. * * * Carpe hoc! ---
**Author:** ![Big\_Iron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e36b37/32.png) [@Big\_Iron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Big_Iron)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 1999, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chinese-restaurants-using-cats-ul/2731/23 "1999-08-19T00:33:00Z")
Having poked around a bit more, I am willing to return to the more skeptical side regarding this story. I was fairly certain I’d seen a report on a restaurant/dog-preparation flap somewhat recently, but I can’t locate it and it may well have been BS. I still have no doubt that immigrants from Korea and SE Asia have eaten dog in the US, and I would be surprised if at least one or two restaurants hadn’t done that, but at bottom, given the number of fake reports, it certainly qualifies as predominantly an urban legend. Here’s the Snopes article on the subject: [http://www.snopes.com/horrors/food/chinese.htm](http://www.snopes.com/horrors/food/chinese.htm) ---
**Author:** ![MrKnowItAll](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrknowitall/32/87_2.png) [@MrKnowItAll](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrKnowItAll)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 1999, 1:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chinese-restaurants-using-cats-ul/2731/24 "1999-08-19T01:11:00Z")
Just a quick question for anybody who _knows_. (I’m not interested in "I heard"s or "I think"s.) Is serving dog or cat actually illegal? ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 1999, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chinese-restaurants-using-cats-ul/2731/25 "1999-08-19T01:32:00Z")
I remember reading a newspaper article about a man who bought a dog at the pound, took it home, shot it, then served it at a barbeque. As I recall he did this as a joke (although apparently he and several of his guests did eat some). He was being charged with cruelty to animals, but there were arguments about whether he had in fact broken any laws. According to the article, there were no specific laws forbidding eating dogmeat and some people were arguing that it was no crueler to buy, kill, and eat a dog than it was to do the same to a pig or chicken. ---
**Author:** ![Doug\_Bowe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/df788c/32.png) [@Doug\_Bowe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doug_Bowe)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 1999, 4:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chinese-restaurants-using-cats-ul/2731/26 "1999-08-19T04:50:00Z")
Tonight Leno got about 1 minute of material on a bill in the South Korean legislature that would make the consumption of dog meat in that country legal. ---
**Author:** ![pricciar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f4b2a3/32.png) [@pricciar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pricciar)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 1999, 6:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chinese-restaurants-using-cats-ul/2731/27 "1999-08-19T06:35:00Z")
Big Iron, Glad you found the Skeptical side. Not to be rude, but I already posted that site and quoted from the article. Geez, I feel almost invisible. Oh, well. Thinking of the horse meat comment, last year on the California initiative ballot I remember there being one that made the sale of horse to be used in food as illegal. It passed, so now people can’t sell horses to be used in food. I don’t know about glue, though. (Ha, I am sure they don’t do that anymore, do they?) pat ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 1999, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chinese-restaurants-using-cats-ul/2731/28 "1999-08-19T16:37:00Z")
Wasn’t there a bit of a dust-up in S. Calif. a few years back, as recent Asian immigrants were eating dogs and/or cats and upsetting their neighbors? They weren’t serving them in restuarants, but I recall seeing on the news that there was a lot of anti-Asian prompted both by fear of new immigrants and their “forign” eating habits. Imagine going to India and ordering a steak! ---
**Author:** ![Doctor\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doctor_jackson/32/32_2.png) [@Doctor\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doctor_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 1999, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chinese-restaurants-using-cats-ul/2731/29 "1999-08-19T18:05:00Z")
I dunno, I always figured if you ate it, enjoyed it, and it’s doesn’t kill you, then who cares what it was? * * * The overwhelming majority of people have more than the average (mean) number of legs. – E. Grebenik ---
**Author:** ![Big\_Iron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e36b37/32.png) [@Big\_Iron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Big_Iron)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 1999, 7:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chinese-restaurants-using-cats-ul/2731/30 "1999-08-20T07:10:00Z")
[[Big Iron, Glad you found the Skeptical side. Not to be rude, but I already posted that site and quoted from the article. Geez, I feel almost invisible. Oh, well.]] pricciar I’m sorry … I’ll just look sad and say “d’oh.” ---
**Author:** ![Lissa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/85f322/32.png) [@Lissa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lissa)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 1999, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chinese-restaurants-using-cats-ul/2731/31 "1999-08-21T01:38:00Z")
pricciar, I remember my mother reading the story to us from the _Columbus Dispatch_ one morning in horrified amusement. As I recall, the resturant’s trash was full of dog skins. Don’t remember exactly why they were going through the trash, though. So, I went to search the _Dispatch_ archives, only to find that they’ve changed their site since my last visit, and now only archive articles from the last 60 days. Thus, I can’t prove it, but I’m stickin’ to my story. ---
**Author:** ![furt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/439d5e/32.png) [@furt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/furt)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 1999, 3:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chinese-restaurants-using-cats-ul/2731/32 "1999-08-21T03:31:00Z")
okay, I’m going to weigh in here, since I live in Taiwan (which is NOT part of China, but that’s another issue; and BTW anybody interested in a thread on thaT?). First off, many people in asia DO eat a lot of things Americans wouldn’t consider–I’ve had snake, chicken embryos, hog penises, etc. I’ve had dog and liked it (a cross between beef and turkey, IMO). There is a saying about Cantonese (people of South China) that they’ll eat anytiing with legs but the table. While most young people are partial to western eating habits, for older folks, stray dogs are fair game, and they find our pickiness a little silly. I doubt people would try to pass off cats as chickens on a regular basis, for reasons of meat cost, taste, etc. BUT if you’re talking about “it happened one time in this one restaurant,” I gotta say I find it extremely plausible. * * * “It all started with marbles in school…” ---
**Author:** ![Sonic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c37758/32.png) [@Sonic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sonic)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 1999, 10:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chinese-restaurants-using-cats-ul/2731/33 "1999-08-22T22:35:00Z")
I’ve never heard anything about cats being used, but I did see a special on the Discovery channel about the Chinese cooking with rats. (Sounds tempting…) I think it was a restraunt in China that was famous for their tasty rodent dishes. They acctually showed them skinning the rats, boiling them, and the satisfied costomers who were completely aware of what they were eating. **Sonic picks up another fried “chicken” wing and keeps on eating…** ---
**Author:** ![Sonic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c37758/32.png) [@Sonic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sonic)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 1999, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chinese-restaurants-using-cats-ul/2731/34 "1999-08-22T22:45:00Z")
I also heard of thing they’re doing there, and it’s sopposedly going to be the next sushi type craze. It sounds really cruel if ya ask me. First of all, the fish is alive the entire time you’re eating it. They have to knock the fish unconcious, and skin it so it has just a small membrame covering it’s internal organs, leaving the head and tail fully entact though. Then, they cook the strips of meat they skinned off and lay it out in front of the fish. Finally to serve it, they prop it’s head and tail up with a toothpick to give it that “i’m ready for my close up” look. The poor thing has to watch itself being eaten the whole time. ---
**Author:** ![gene](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/43a26b/32.png) [@gene](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gene)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 1999, 1:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chinese-restaurants-using-cats-ul/2731/35 "1999-08-23T13:16:00Z")
The most bizarre form of protein has to be the Japanese liking for FUGU (the japanese blowfish). This stuff costs like crazy (over $200.00 for a plate in Tokyo), and is reputed to taste like “chicken”. Why anyone would endanger his life to eat this stuff is beyond me-but they do. My brother works for a Japanese company, and I met his (japanese) manager once in New York. I had just seen an item in the NY Times, where the NYC Board of Health had allowed a restaurant in manhatten to serve fugu. He commented that his cousin in japan loves the stuff-he knows when to stop eating when his tongue becomes paralyzed. Seriously-to all of you who want to try this exotic form of protein: if the chef who cleans the fish isn’t careful, he may puncture the liver-this allows the toxin to seep into the tissues-rersulting in a swift death (via paralysis of the diaphragm) for the diners. Don’t say I didn’t warn ya! ---
**Author:** ![Akatsukami](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ea666f/32.png) [@Akatsukami](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Akatsukami)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 1999, 1:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chinese-restaurants-using-cats-ul/2731/36 "1999-08-23T13:23:00Z")
gene opines: > [@](#): > > The most bizarre form of protein has to be the Japanese liking for FUGU (the japanese blowfish). This stuff costs like crazy (over $200.00 for a plate in Tokyo), and is reputed to taste like “chicken”. Why anyone would endanger his life to eat this stuff is beyond me-but they do. ## It’s because the toxin in the organs is _psychoactive_. Too little cleaning will kill the diner; too much, and said diner might as well have a piece of scrod on his plate. The secret, as with so many other things in life, is to hit just the correct, happy medium. “Kings die, and leave their crowns to their sons. Shmuel HaKatan took all the treasures in the world, and went away.” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chinese-restaurants-using-cats-ul/2731.md?page=1)