Even the Mongolians, and Russians, and other Slavic and Central Asian groups, eat horsemeat with great pleasure, despite having a tradition of military horsemanship going back hundreds and hundreds of years with the best cavalry units and horse-breeders in the world, and men trusting their very lives to the horses they rode into battle. And even these people never had any problem with eating horse.
Some areas really do not have many sources of protein. Dog was an occasional specialty in some parts of Cameroon. These were also the parts that were too dense of rain forest to raise livestock successfully. People have dogs around for other reasons (mostly protection, never for companionship) and now and then the dog population starts looking a little high and people’s stomachs a little empty.
I wager that is how a lot of dog-eating cultures got started, and now it has simply become tradition.
Heh. I was just about to say that everything tastes good when it’s barbecued. Mmmmm, cows, pigs, chickens, dogs, horse…grill’em up and eat’em up! Yummy. Like I said in that moment as a child, when I first truly understood what meat really was, “Cool. Let’s kill something and eat it.”
I’ve eaten dog pleanty of times. The first one was curiousity. The next half dozen times was because it was there, and it was delicious. Granted, there was nothing exceptional about it. And had they used pork instead of dog in the soup, I most likely wouldn’t have noticed. So basically, its a complete nonissue to me. Dog or no dog. If it’s good soup, I’ll eat it.
My wife on the other hand has never eaten dog, nor will she. Not because of the dog=pet thing, but because she says that dogs are peasant food. I guess its the same as some westerner who raises his/her nose at mac n cheese.
Oh, and FTR, I wouldn’t have any beef (he he he he) with some culture eating their dead. Why the fuck would it bother me what other cultures do. Provided it doesn’t involve oppression, torture or harm to its living.
“ivan astikov, what type of pet dog do you have?” Muffin asks hungrily.
Here’s a question, if a dog dies in a train wreck is it okay to eat it?
How recently did it die?
I agree with this and would like to add onto it. Plenty of my neighbors raise animals with whom they are quite friendly. They give them names, cuddle the babies, and brag about how big and healthy they are. Once those critters have gotten big enough, they’re cheerfully slaughtered without a second thought about it and consumed.
This is in America.
They do this with cows and pigs every year. Yes, there are huge factory farms that produce the meat in the grocery store with which no one has a personal relationship, but plenty of normal, non-“primitive” Westerners see nothing wrong with eating animals that they raised, even after feeding piglets a bottle by hand.
To draw some artificial line between rural America and our practices with meat and other countries, simply based off of the animals that are being eaten, is ridiculous. I eat a largely vegan diet now, but in the past I’ve eaten veal, lamb, and cat. Cuteness has no effect on taste.
(Though in defense of stupid meat, lamb is my favorite.)
I’ve had dog before. I had to go out of my way to get it. I was curious about it and it was pretty mediocre. I’d eat it if there weren’t alternative meat sources. Pigs are highly intelligent, cute and make great pets. They are also delicious.
Next time I find myself in a place that serves dog, I am going to order double, just because of this thread and the idiotic arguments you have made herein. You will be directly responsible for the consumption of a dog.
At the moment in China, all restaurants are being discouraged from serving dog throughout the period of the Olympic Games, as has happened before in Seoul in 88, and during the 2002 World Cup; it’s obvious the governments of both countries accept it is offensive. Human Cultures do not live in some sort of vacuum, and if a minority upsets the majority deliberately, it should be persuaded to change its ways. Or am I barking up the wrong tree?
Bullshit. Restaurants have been and are discouraged from serving dog because the governments involved knew there would be (undeserved) bad publicity stemming from our ignorance of others’ cultures if they didn’t. The same ignorance you are showing in this thread.
Bollocks! If it is such a popular dish, how come they don’t have fast food outlets trying to tout their tastes on the rest of the world? Because Kentucky Fried Dog doesn’t quite have the same ring to it, that’s why.
I have to go to a convention meeting, so I will hold off enjoying the lambasting you are going to get for that last statement until I get back this afternoon.
I also noticed this in the Wikipedia article
If the people who practice this tradition are having doubts, is it surprising that I might have them also?
I’ll look forward to it, Czarcasm! The Defenders Against Ignorance are already riding ahead of you, to meet me! 
Dogs Not Food, 'Tis True?
It’s worth noting that, at least in Korea, dog is considered a “stamina” food. In this case, stamina referring to sexual performance.
(The soup is pretty good, but the dog meat itself is pretty fatty… don’t think I’d purposely consume it again.)
Bolding mine.
Is anyone still going to tell me there is no ignorance involved in the eating of dog?