I am so thankful that this is ending. I know I probably shouldn't say this, but I do think it's just not respectful to have any holiday or festival that completely centers around eating or parading dead animals. Also, thankfully, the comments on the article did not load for me. You know what's also awful too, though? My friend left Google's Safe Mode off, and one of the first pictures I saw when I searched images for "Dog" was a dog carcass under the web address "dog-meat.net" with the description "before eating, the carcass must be deboned" or something sickening like that. I was shaking for a good five minutes.
Thank you for posting this though. It's good to see that there is at least SOME hope for this world.
Mostly because I used to frown on consumption of horses, until I went into an Italian deli and had salami. I never knew the meat is so rich and silky. From there I found out Quebec, France, Belgium, Netherlands purchase their meat from American and British horse fanciers; and the whole "toxic" thing is a myth pioneered by pet owners. So, I am not going to knock on the wood of dog-consumption until I walked a mile in their shoe!
In the 19702 I took an anthropology of food class. People eat all sorts of things. I suppose the grubs grown on human flesh taste just fine to those accustomed to it, but the look on that dogs face in the photo broke my heart. I suppose the difference b/t eating a companion (e.g. a dog) and a stranger (a cow) is our ability to recognize them as sentient. There must be a line to be drawn somewhere.
Of course. I know of people from the "Old Country" who won't butcher a hog just because unless it died of natural causes, because to them-- the hog is a family pet.
Isn't salami a reference to the processing, not the ingredients? Because several of the German cold-cuts which are not pork at the base are referred to as salami.
When I was in the Philippines (a few years ago) a news report announced the arrest of a dog butchering ring that was dealing in dog meat for Christmas dinner. Even though it was banned it still goes on. My wife tried to explain it by saying "only poor people eat it." I seriously doubt the dogs that were confiscated during the arrest ended up being rehomed. Most likely they were euthanized.
It's the norm in most asian countries to serve dog as food. When I was back in Vietnam in Dec 2008 - Jan 2009, my family and I took a tour throughout Vietnam and when we headed up North to Ha Noi I saw on the back of a moped a cage filled with about 8 dogs. I couldn't bare to look anymore because I knew what their fate was. Our tour guide also asked us if we wanted to go to a place to try their rare delicacy of dog meat. I refused and took a huge stand on it so my family also stood by me told our tour guide to take us onto the next tourist spot.
@souggy Salami is cured and salty. Definitely never "silky". I've never heard of horse salami. lol. Straeca is actually served a lot in the North. I watched an Australian couple eat it in Venice. I don't think they had any idea what they were doing. Cracked me up.
Heh. Not going to argue. It was sold as salami di cavallo, whether or not it's a fraud-- it's too late (for obvious reasons). It was four years ago. I do know the French have their own version made of donkey called saucisson à l'âne
Bear salami is good though. Same for bear pepperoni-- and no, both are not Italian in origin. It's what butchers do with the meat up here when the hunters haul in the carcass.
@souggy Eow I still can't believe you ate it! lol. My family eats some funky things: tripe, pig's feet, trachea. I'm half American. My stomache goes in knots just thinking about it. Koda loves all of that though. I got Bear sausage for Koda last year. I took it out of the skin and fed it to him raw. Looked kind've rich. Is it?
I'm interested to try some of these unorthodox (for me and my culture) meats. I'll try bear, horse, or most other things... but not dog. At the root of it, it's definitely emotional. I know a dog has no more right to live than a cow or a pig, but I will eat pork and beef. There is some ethical justification for not eating carnivores, though, as it requires significantly more resources to raise a carnivore than an herbivore. Vegan diets are the most economical and eco-friendly, and if you are going to eat meat, you ought to eat an herbivore. The prey/predator biomass ratio in the wild is roughly 10:1 (which remains fairly constant all over the world and throughout history) for a reason. You can feed a lot of people with plants. If you feed those plants to an herbivore for the meat, you can feed a lot fewer people with the resulting meat. If you feed those herbivores to a carnivore, you can feed even less people with the carnivore meat, and so on.
Anyway, it's discussions like these that are a major reason in my decision to take up hunting. Since I have made the choice to be an omnivore, I have decided that I should eat meat sparingly and the meat I do eat should come from animals who have led normal, healthy lives. They should be harvested in a way that's ethical and has low environmental impact. So, all this has led me to hunting. That way, I can interact with the local ecosystem as a predator and leave it intact.
All that being said, I've been talking to some people who hunt coyotes and wolves. They are abundant enough that killing them does absolutely no harm to the ecosystem and is often beneficial. From a conservation/wildlife management perspective, it makes sense in many situations to shoot wild canines. I also know that a coyote is no different from a deer or rabbit in its right to life. Even so, I really couldn't bring myself to shoot wild dogs. I mean, they just look way too much like my own dogs. Emotionally, I just couldn't handle it, unless I really was starving.
Hmmm.....well, we do have plenty of festivals that center around eating dead animals. Thanksgiving comes to mind right away.
But I'm still glad they stopped the festival, and it would be nice if humane slaughter of animals for food could be....well, universal! (And I'm not letting the US off the hook on that; the meat industry has plenty of inhumane practices here too). But I know that the ways I saw some animals slaughtered in markets in a a couple of places in China disturbed me enough that I ended up not eating meat there. I understand different cuisine and cultural practices, but I felt purposely keeping an animal alive while butchering it was just cruel.
I have also been to Vietnam, and in Hanoi and further north in Sapa, there was dog served. We took a group of college students, and did have a dinner of dog one night. I did not eat it, though most people did. I just couldn't get past the idea of it, myself. It's not my position to tell people what to eat; I just knew I didn't feel I could eat it myself. And I did have a bad moment in Sapa, when I saw a puppy butchered for the market. It was done quickly though, thankfully.
heidi, I share your take wild canids, and I also like your idea about eating meat, but I'm not a hunter and probably won't become one. I would, however, like to raise my own chickens at least some day, so I was guaranteeing the animals had a good life.
Re: bear....I've had really good bear meat in alaska when the bears have been eating blueberries. I've also eaten bear that wasn't so good. But I don't like game that has a "gamey" taste.
I know its not moraly good but man I love whale meat. Every time I go back home, its first on my menue to eat. I buy the canned stuff and eat with a hot bowle of koshihikari rice... I hunger...
My Dad used to tell me that during the war when food was scarce some did eat dog but its almost unheard of to find dog served in Japan. I went to Hongkong as a kid and I remember seeing cats, dogs, and rats hanging in the meat store.
If it really came down to it, if it meant the survival of me or a dog... Yeah. If anything else was available then I'd pass on the dog. But if it were MY dogs, no, I wouldn't eat them.
My ex had cat in China and he said it was very good. He very much hates cats and that's putting it lightly, so eating one was like, revenge for him. I never really told him that I like cats and didn't like to listen to him talk about eating cats and all that since he was so morbid about it.
Anyways, I agree on the preference of eating wild meat to factory farmed meat but right now I can't hunt so I'm stuck with the stuff I get at the grocery store. However, recently I've been eating a whole lot less meat and a lot more fruits, veggies and whole foods in general and while I won't do the vegetarian/vegan thing (yet), I don't find that I "crave" or "need" meat like a lot of people claim. When we have meals with meat in it I take a lot less and end up giving more to the dogs after dinner. I do plan on raising my own meat sometime down the road, probably chickens and rabbits, but mostly for my dogs instead of myself.
@Losech - It is odd how that happens isn't it? When I became a vegetarian, I never craved meat again. The weird thing is that when I had tried to become one years before, I didn't last two days. I think it's just a matter of not thinking about it or viewing it as the end of the world, or something.
I've heard/read a recurring theme in people who want to make conscientious meat choices. Most people don't like factory farms, but it's really hard to get away from that. Definitely very hard. I've wanted to quit the factory farm habit for years, and I'm going hunting for the first time this Friday (duck). Hunting takes a lot of effort to get into in the first place and I suspect it will take me a few years to be proficient enough at it that it's a viable meat source.
Up until now, I've just tried to eat a quasi-vegetarian/vegan diet. The good news is that the more people there are wanting a better way, the easier it will get to have that way.
Maybe I just hit my meat quota young. Was raised in a hunting family. If it had fur feathers or fins I have probably eaten it. I became vegan in 1988 and never looked back.
Eating meat and animal products from a grocery store is supporting grotesquely inhumane treatment of animals, despite the work of Dr. Grandin and her stairway to heaven. I feel it is more humane (what a ridiculous word considering humans are the least humane of creatures) to consume animals who are hunted IF the hunter is ethical. After living in Vermont for 25 deer hunting seasons, however, I discovered there are scads of "hunters" who seem to think that macho is drinking and shooting for a week - black and white deer being good targets since their color stands out and they don't run away, but anything that moves works.
@shishiinu assuming that the string of words you list are carcasses, many have died so you can avoid your feared 'death by veggies'.
Comments
Sorry, I was multi-tasking [poorly]
I'm just really happy that people in China are speaking out about this. Glad those dogs were saved too.
Thank you for posting this though. It's good to see that there is at least SOME hope for this world.
Mostly because I used to frown on consumption of horses, until I went into an Italian deli and had salami. I never knew the meat is so rich and silky. From there I found out Quebec, France, Belgium, Netherlands purchase their meat from American and British horse fanciers; and the whole "toxic" thing is a myth pioneered by pet owners. So, I am not going to knock on the wood of dog-consumption until I walked a mile in their shoe!
Bear salami is good though. Same for bear pepperoni-- and no, both are not Italian in origin. It's what butchers do with the meat up here when the hunters haul in the carcass.
But again, like how not everyone like boar meat... some don't like bear meat either.
And this is why I'm fat. One mention of good food gets me drooling :P
Anyway, it's discussions like these that are a major reason in my decision to take up hunting. Since I have made the choice to be an omnivore, I have decided that I should eat meat sparingly and the meat I do eat should come from animals who have led normal, healthy lives. They should be harvested in a way that's ethical and has low environmental impact. So, all this has led me to hunting. That way, I can interact with the local ecosystem as a predator and leave it intact.
All that being said, I've been talking to some people who hunt coyotes and wolves. They are abundant enough that killing them does absolutely no harm to the ecosystem and is often beneficial. From a conservation/wildlife management perspective, it makes sense in many situations to shoot wild canines. I also know that a coyote is no different from a deer or rabbit in its right to life. Even so, I really couldn't bring myself to shoot wild dogs. I mean, they just look way too much like my own dogs. Emotionally, I just couldn't handle it, unless I really was starving.
But I'm still glad they stopped the festival, and it would be nice if humane slaughter of animals for food could be....well, universal! (And I'm not letting the US off the hook on that; the meat industry has plenty of inhumane practices here too). But I know that the ways I saw some animals slaughtered in markets in a a couple of places in China disturbed me enough that I ended up not eating meat there. I understand different cuisine and cultural practices, but I felt purposely keeping an animal alive while butchering it was just cruel.
I have also been to Vietnam, and in Hanoi and further north in Sapa, there was dog served. We took a group of college students, and did have a dinner of dog one night. I did not eat it, though most people did. I just couldn't get past the idea of it, myself. It's not my position to tell people what to eat; I just knew I didn't feel I could eat it myself. And I did have a bad moment in Sapa, when I saw a puppy butchered for the market. It was done quickly though, thankfully.
heidi, I share your take wild canids, and I also like your idea about eating meat, but I'm not a hunter and probably won't become one. I would, however, like to raise my own chickens at least some day, so I was guaranteeing the animals had a good life.
Re: bear....I've had really good bear meat in alaska when the bears have been eating blueberries. I've also eaten bear that wasn't so good. But I don't like game that has a "gamey" taste.
My Dad used to tell me that during the war when food was scarce some did eat dog but its almost unheard of to find dog served in Japan. I went to Hongkong as a kid and I remember seeing cats, dogs, and rats hanging in the meat store.
Lots of people celebrate without eating dead animals. Food made without animals has evolved into high cuisine and can be very festive.
My ex had cat in China and he said it was very good. He very much hates cats and that's putting it lightly, so eating one was like, revenge for him. I never really told him that I like cats and didn't like to listen to him talk about eating cats and all that since he was so morbid about it.
Anyways, I agree on the preference of eating wild meat to factory farmed meat but right now I can't hunt so I'm stuck with the stuff I get at the grocery store.
However, recently I've been eating a whole lot less meat and a lot more fruits, veggies and whole foods in general and while I won't do the vegetarian/vegan thing (yet), I don't find that I "crave" or "need" meat like a lot of people claim. When we have meals with meat in it I take a lot less and end up giving more to the dogs after dinner.
I do plan on raising my own meat sometime down the road, probably chickens and rabbits, but mostly for my dogs instead of myself.
Up until now, I've just tried to eat a quasi-vegetarian/vegan diet. The good news is that the more people there are wanting a better way, the easier it will get to have that way.
@hondru, it did take me a awhile before I killed my first game but if you have a good teacher its much easier.
@shishiinu assuming that the string of words you list are carcasses, many have died so you can avoid your feared 'death by veggies'.