Dog meat off menu during Beijing Olympics

[Elaine]

Saw this story on MSNBC this morning... http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/25633945/
Dog meat off the menu during Beijing Olympics

BEIJING - Canine cuisine is being sent to the doghouse during next month’s Beijing Olympic Games.
Dog meat has been struck from the menus of officially designated Olympic restaurants, and Beijing tourism officials are telling other outlets to discourage consumers from ordering dishes made from dogs, the official Xinhua News Agency reported Friday.
Waiters and waitresses should “patiently” suggest other options to diners who order dog, it said, quoting city tourism bureau Vice Director Xiong Yumei.

'Fragrant meat'
Dog, known in Chinese as “xiangrou,” or “fragrant meat,” is eaten by some Chinese for its purported health-giving qualities. Beijing isn’t the first Olympic host to slap a ban on the dish.
South Korea banned dog meat during the 1988 Seoul Olympics by invoking a law prohibiting the sale of “foods deemed unsightly.” After the Olympics, the ban was not strictly enforced. Dog meat is also eaten in some other Asian countries, including Vietnam, the Philippines and Laos.

Don’t know about you, but I’m not getting a warm fuzzy feeling knowing they’ve decided to hide the fact that they eat dog. :mad:

Now, I would agree that it’s hypocritical of me to abhor the mere thought of eating a dog (while I sit here eating left over chicken salad for breakfast)... but dogs are unique. Dogs willingly serve man in a myriad of ways, as guide dogs and service dogs, offering companionship and protection... willingly devoting their lives to us, in exchange for a kind word and a loving pat. Seems to me that the mere complexity of our relationships with our dogs should elevate them to a status that would permanently remove them from our dinner table.

Seems obvious that the Chinese (and other cultures) are well aware that Westerners are repulsed by the mere thought of eating dogs and cats. In their day to day lives, our opinions are of no consequence, but when they want our money... our millions and millions of tourist dollars for an event like the Olympics... they will make an effort to hide what they do (not change the behavior mind you, just hide it). Maybe it’s just me, but I have even less desire to visit China than before reading this article.

[dobesign]

I think it's all in your perspective. We worship our dogs, and would NEVER consider eating them, but in India, they worship cows, and we run "Beef it's what's for dinner" slogans. I agree that they shouldn't "hide" their culture, but at the same time we shouldn't judge their culture. Sure, they want our money, heck, with these gas proces, WE want our money. Americans have a habit of Americanizing the world. Dog show people giggle when they attend cat shows. Differences shouldn't be barred, but rather celebrated. Isn't that why the Olympics move? To share the many cultures of the world WITH the world? Maybe we could simply acknowledge the differences, and just have the cultural maturity to say, "Fragrant meat? No thanks. I prefer my dogs alive." Besides, for any that have lived with a Doberman, "fragrant" goes without saying, but the fragrant smell Tungsten shares is nothing like lavender or hibiscus...:eek:.

[sorthund]

It has been a known fact for a long time that several Asian cultures eat dogs.

I agree with Brenna. It's not for us to judge other cultures and what they eat. I have a Macaw, and some places in this world they eat them, not having the slightest idea they're endangered. It's food that's available to them. A lot of cultures don't see dogs like we do. Their dogs fulfill jobs, work all day, sleep outside and have to find their own food, and some people eat them. Some people eat Guneapigs and monkeys.
However, I do think it's good that they try to discourage that the menus include dog, because so many cultures will be getting together in one place. They should try to "generalize" the food available during the Olympics.

[Elaine]

I’m all for tolerance of cultural differences... but this exceeds my threshold for YUCK!!! I am not saying I want to judge them... I’m saying want nothing to do with them. I am not even remotely interested in the “culture ” of people who, in 2008, eat dogs, any more that I am appreciative of cultures that subjugate and enslave women. To be brutally honest here (and very unPC), the Chinese know it's replusive, that's why they're hiding it. Personally, I think there is something very hypocritical about taking them off the menu for the Olympics. It’s fake. If the Olympics are meant to showcase their culture to the world... then show Chinese culture as it really is. If its so appealing to eat dog, then why hide it?

Btw, I can’t imagine people in India hiding their reverence for a cow simply to appeal to tourists.

[andyhilt27]

Titan's escapade in the flower box made him more fragrant.:D

I see eating dog no different than eating pork. Pigs love affection just as much if not more than dogs. They have been said to be more intelligent as well. And to be quite honest and barbaric, bacon never tasted so good after chasing piglets around all day. We are animals, most of us being omnivores. My instinct for meat may be higher than some. A pack of hungry wolves will most certainly eat you, so I say it is okay to eat dogs if they aren't your pets.:D

By the way, Elk is out of this world!!!!

[sorthund]

I do love meat too, Andy. Grew up eating all kinds, some with my knowledge others not. I remember having "chicken" as a 4 year old, but was later told it was actually rabbit. Fried eel is very good too, but that would be a fish, I guess....

[Elaine]

Titan's escapade in the flower box made him more fragrant.:D
:D:D:D As angry as I was this morning at Titan, it never occurred to me to eat him!!! :p:p

[andyhilt27]

I was once tricked into eating tripe. Actually I ate it numerous times before they told me what it was. I suppose if I were very very hungry I would eat it again. I wasn't too crazy about this mystery meat before knowing what it was.

[andyhilt27]

:D:D:D As angry as I was this morning at Titan, it never occurred to me to eat him!!! :p:p

You must of had a full belly. Now if you were angry and hungry well....:D

[dobesign]

I personally get grossed out when I have to put bait/liver in my mouth. Ewwww. That's the septic tank of the body. Yuck!:p I think after this forum, no dog, no cow, no chicken, no fish...okay. It's Cap'n Crunch for me from now on!!!!! Kidding. Froot Loops are okay, too.:eek::D

[Elaine]

two words: Cocoa Krispies

[sorthund]

I was once tricked into eating tripe. Actually I ate it numerous times before they told me what it was. I suppose if I were very very hungry I would eat it again. I wasn't too crazy about this mystery meat before knowing what it was.

Omg, that must have been washed and cleaned tripe. It couldn't have been "green tripe", right? :eek:

[Elaine]

Isn't tripe what the sell in the south as Chittlins (or chitterlings)?


from this website http://www.ochef.com/462.htm

How to Cook Chitterlings

How long do I cook chitterlings?

Chitterlings, or the small intestines of a freshly slaughtered pig, are generally cut into 2-inch segments, covered with water, brought to a boil, covered, and then reduced to a simmer for three to four hours.

[andyhilt27]

Isn't tripe what the sell in the south as Chittlins (or chitterlings)?


from this website http://www.ochef.com/462.htm

How to Cook Chitterlings

How long do I cook chitterlings?

Chitterlings, or the small intestines of a freshly slaughtered pig, are generally cut into 2-inch segments, covered with water, brought to a boil, covered, and then reduced to a simmer for three to four hours.

Tripe is the first 3 stomachs of a cow I believe. Never had chittlins that I know of.

[andyhilt27]

I personally get grossed out when I have to put bait/liver in my mouth. Ewwww. That's the septic tank of the body. Yuck!:p I think after this forum, no dog, no cow, no chicken, no fish...okay. It's Cap'n Crunch for me from now on!!!!! Kidding. Froot Loops are okay, too.:eek::D

I hope you are talking about Peanut Butter Cap'n Crunch!!!! Little balls of heaven submersed in milk! My favorite.

[andyhilt27]

Omg, that must have been washed and cleaned tripe. It couldn't have been "green tripe", right? :eek:

I hope it was not green tripe. Ignorance is bliss and I do not care to find out.:D

[sorthund]

You would have known - it smells like s***, dogs love it, makes most people gag (it is not sold for human consumption). No you had the cleaned kind which is only the empty clean stomach.

[Ann Lanier]

I think diet may depend on how hungry one is. In Hong Kong I saw dogs in little bitty cages suspended under the bows of houseboats, being fattened (oh ewwwww) for food. However they also eat snakes and insects. But millions of Chinese have been starved by their own government. I guess roasting meat of whatever origin trumps grass and hot water.

For their part, Chinese cannot understand why we savor rotten moldy milk, in the form of some very fragrant and famous cheese!

Personally I can't understand fuzzy vegetables (okra!) I recently watched a documentary on a tribe in Africa which washes their hair in cow urine to achieve the lovely orange color it imparts. I suppose if everyone smells like cow urine, it might blunt the aromatic effect.... but in a land with little water, hmmmm, is necessity the mother of invention? And some squirmy horrid grubs are considered a delicacy by the Australian Aborigines. Do you die first or take your protein where ya find it?

When in France, as in Greece, the heads of the recently butchered animals are also on display, for sale. In France liver pate is on nearly every menu. And a salad I ate had itty bitty octopus tentacles... very tasty. I have heard BYW that street food vendors in Mexico have not a little dog in their tacos. Some places eat tarantulas and grasshoppers... and ants. I myself have eaten birds nest soup, and I'm afraid a number of other cultural 'delicacies' but I fervently hope no bugs. In yurts somewhere in Mongolia, the best bit of a banquet saved for the guest of honor, is the sheep's eyeball.

However, after some months of starvation in the high Sierra the Donner Party resorted, in extremis, to eating human flesh as did the South American soccer? team whose plane crashed in the Andes. Those were the only people who were secretive about their menu choices. Cannibalism is taboo, but perhaps that is hardwired mainly because a lethal brain disease vaguely related (Arthur?) to mad cow disease can be transmitted by humans consuming human nerve tissue.

I suppose what one is willing to eat is a combination of necessity, custom and availability, and maybe none of us if starving, knows how doggie on the spit might tempt us, when, after all, it is already sacrificed and cooked. The old, "If I don't someone else will," bit...

However I'm not so near starvation that eating ANY of that stuff appeals to me. In France, when given a choice, I stuck to bread, cheese, and tomato sandwiches and sweet rolls and fruit that I could identify! I think I would starve to death over time if I had to shop in those places.

As to dogs, who was it? Admiral Byrd who ate his faithful sled dogs? but at least he admitted to sorrow at the sacrifice.... I guess we in wealthier countries can afford to recognize the devotion and service our dogs offer.. for... and you are wrong Elaine .. for not even a pat on the head, but often a kick, a yell and good fortune for a scrap of rotten food do dogs love us. Dogs made a contract a long long time ago to exchange their worship for being the company of humans. For almost ANY treatment from humans. And way too often they get the poopy end of the stick. A poor bargain for most canines!

I think that bargain that WE recognize is why eating dogs is so abhorrent to us, and fighting them like Michael Vick is so reviled. Maybe compassion for animals, including so-called beasts of burden, is a luxury that only invades human consciousness in a privileged society. But I agree with Elaine, some Chinese obviously have the 'consciousness of nakedness.'

Okay, so some cultures openly eat grubs or sheep eyes but they do so without shame, it is of necessity. And that is different from Chinese hiding that they eat dogs because they still want to eat dogs but know other peoples will find it repugnant. It's a matter of saving "face" in front of the world, but not a sincere effort to review the practice. They want to do it because they always have... just as the men believe if they eat rhino horn they will be sexually empowered.... but they don't want it advertised.

I, for one, feel sooooooo blessed I don't have to choose between conscience and hunger! I can compartmentalize (as in 'lock away', ewwwwww) my thoughts about what others eat, and not have to consume body parts that I can identify. Spare me the poor little chicken arms, kidney pie, etc, and please, o please let a dog leg remain a jog in the road!:rolleyes:

a

[Elaine]

Ann, I love you to pieces, and when I saw that you posted I thought I read what you’d written while I grabbed a bit to eat. Made it through to the sheep's eyeballs. :eek:

I'm swearing off of food all together... from now on it will just be an I.V. drip for me :D