Join the discussion
Write your take first — we'll ask for email only when you're ready to publish.
- Hacker News
- so much for Chinese eating dogs, it's way more prevalent in Korea than in China, even if you wanted dog meat in Beijing you have the best odds finding it in Korean restaurant
personally was never interested in dog meat, tried snake, didn't like, ants/crickets meh, bush rat is OK probably better than frog, donkey already better than pork, but my favorite is (Sichuanese) bullfrog, such a shame we don't eat them in Europe, amazing combo of great fish like meat with easy bones like chicken
by Markoff - I met someone at a party in San Francisco who had been an American soldier stuck in a place without support in Afghanistan with his squad. He said dog bbq was pretty good, especially the ribs.by comrade1234
- Other than in terms of human opinion, in what sense is eating dog less ethical than eating cow or pig? I love my dog, don't intend to eat her, and don't want anyone else to eat her. But given my fondness for eating cows and pigs, I can't justify a dog meat ban on my friends and neighbors.
I'm a fool who looks for coherence and reason in the laws I'm forced to obey. Which would be an odd thing to find in a democracy.
by delichon - I traveled to Catalonia some time ago, and of course I expected to meet some very traditional and unfamiliar cuisines and traditions. Ultimately, I ate so well that I gained 15 pounds. Needless to say, I had no trouble adapting to their foreign customs!
One thing I noticed is how markedly different their "Chinese restaurants" were. One of the English translations of a dish was "like ants crawling on a tree" and while it wasn't real ants, piqued my curiosity about what sort of dish would evoke that flavor?
The horchata was considered a national treasure, and I came to find out that it is nothing like the Latin American drink, being made instead from a plant called "tiger nuts". When I informed my fiancée that Mexicans flavored it with cinnamon, she said that sounded strange but delicious.
We went shopping in a Carrefour and I was sort of haunted by the pigs legs curing out in the open air. Of course we also saw room-temperature chicken eggs. Fiancée took me to an aisle full of olives and said I could choose any. There were nearly hundreds of varieties which bewildered me so much that I couldn't choose at all!
The most gross-out tradition of theirs was the "caganer" or "shitting boy" on Christmas, with a corresponding poop log, that is ultimately beaten with sticks for fun and candy: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ti%C3%B3_de_Nadal
But more to the point, my fiancée helped me sample various sausages, and pointed out that one particularly large sausage was horsemeat. And coming from rather conventional USA Midwestern stock, I had never consumed horsemeat at all, almost as if it were taboo or simply unavailable as a food item. And yeah, it wasn't bad, and really I think any choices of meat, deep down, are simply cultural conventions and/or taboos.
- If you were actually looking for coherence you would consider that both are unethical.
The only reason you’re not actually adhering to coherence, as you said, is your fondness for eating cows and pigs.
Thats hardly a justification for an unethical act.
by adjejmxbdjdn - > Other than in terms of human opinion
That's the point though. We don't eat horse either in many areas, for the same reason. Ever heard the phrase, "cattle, not pets" when referring to managing systems? As humans, we tend to form bonds with specific individual dogs, cats, horses, etc. But cattle, not really. That's not to say the animal doesn't have the ability, but they don't easily fit into our lifestyle. (I can let a dog loose in my house while I go to work - a cow, not so much.)
- Specifically for South Korea:
Most horrifically, there is a widely held belief that in order to produce tender meat, dogs should have high adrenaline levels right before they die. To achieve this, dogs are sadistically made to experience extreme fear and suffering in the lead up to their deaths.
https://awionline.org/awi-quarterly/winter-2012/friend-or-fo...
by jerlam - Absolutely right. Pigs, for example, are not less intelligent or affectionate than dogs.by whyage
- My main opposition would be eating carnivore meat seems wasteful in resources, and also it tastes bad. Even bear that eat lots of berries never tasted appetizing to me.
But I don't have a big problem with people eating dog as long as they are well cared for and humanely slaughtered like any other farm animals.
by AngryData - Yeah I think a lot of folks in the west suffer from cognitive dissonance when it comes to animals, the meat industry, and morals.
Curious what dog meat even tastes like / why someone would choose dog meat over beef/pork/chicken.
by googaar