Wednesday, August 8, 2007

I ATE DOG.

That is not a euphemism or a metaphor. I really did eat dog soup last night- willingly. Before I had ever eaten dog soup, I looked forward to the day when I could write on this blog: " I ate dog. And I liked it." But I have to be honest, I didn't like it and I don't think I'll ever eat it again, unless of course I get stranded on a desert island with nothing to eat but dogs.

Eating dog soup is kind of like eating dog breath. That's what it smells like. And this dog was well prepared. It was quite tender, but also stringy. The fatty bits were really really disgusting because they tasted more like dog breath than the rest of the soup. Maybe that was because they took longer to chew and the spicy sauce disappeared from the taste long before you could swallow it.

But fear not, animal lovers! For those of you who are outraged and disgusted (finish reading this before you call PETA, please) there has been karmic pay back. This morning I puked up little chunks of dog and had dog breath myself. And now it's coming out the other end. It seems as though I was never really meant to eat dog.

*I guess I should add a few cultural notes here to put the experience in a little more context:
Koreans have been eating dog for a long time. It's a dish that is eaten on the hottest days of the year (to help cool you down) and it is supposed to increase male virility. In Korea, people don't eat pets or strays off the street, but instead there are special farms that breed dogs for the purposes of eating. I can't speak to the treatment of the dogs that are raised on the farms because I really don't know. I've heard rumors that the dogs are beaten before they are killed to stimulate the flow of adrenaline, which is supposed to be really good for the male endurance, but I don't know if that's true. And well, actually, I don't know too many people who actually consume dog meat...

This is what I found about dog meat in wikipedia:

Gaegogi literally means "dog meat" in Korean. Gaegogi, however, is often mistaken as the term for Korean soup made from dog meat, bosintang. It is made from a specific breed of dog that differs from those breeds that are kept as pets. The distaste felt by dog lovers, particularly from the West, with respect to eating dog has made this dish controversial in recent years. About two[27][28] to three[29] million dogs are consumed in South Korea every year that corresponds to more than one trillion South Korean won[28] ($1 billion at a rate of 1 USD per 1000 KRW).
The consumption of dog meat can be traced back many years. Dog bones were excavated in a neolithic settlement in Changnyeong,
South Gyeongsang Province. One of the wall paintings in the Goguryeo tombs complex in South Hwangghae Province, a UNESCO World Heritage site which dates from 4th century AD, depicts a slaughtered dog in a storehouse.
Use of dogs for meat and the methods of slaughter used have generated friction between dog lovers, both Western and Korean, and people who eat dogs; the conflict occasionally breaks out as headline news. During the
1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, Korea's capital city, the South Korean government asked its citizens not to consume dog meat to avoid bad publicity during the games. The controversy surfaced again in 2001 when the 2002 FIFA World Cup soccer games were held jointly in South Korea and Japan.[30][31] The organizer of the games, under pressure from animal rights groups such as PETA,[32] demanded that the Korean government re-address the issue, but little changed. Another part of the controversy stems from the methods of slaughter, which include beating to death by clubs (common in the countryside) and hanging (offenses in Korea under the Animal Protection Act 1991[33] although it does not include dogs as animals for human consumption[34]), in order to get more adrenaline into the flesh to make it taste better. However, such methods are no longer common in industry, where generally instant electrocution is employed because of economic reasons.[29] In 2007, a South Korean online dog meat retailer opened in April but closed in July due to a flood of demands to the local officials to "shut down the site for illegally selling dog meat."[35] A government official said, "Under the food sanitation law, animals that are not examined according to livestock processing regulations are not allowed to be sold as food... However, we will not be taking strong measures to regulate the practice since we have a tradition and culture of eating dog meat and many people enjoy it."
Today in
Korea, a segment of the population enjoy bosintang, literary “invigorating soup”, for its supposed "medicinal" properties. Dog meat is also widely believed to keep one cool during the intense Korean summer. Dog meat is also believed to improve male virility,[34] although there is no medical evidence to support these claims. Many Korean Buddhists consider eating meat an offense, which includes dog meat. Unlike beef, pork, or poultry, dog meat has no legal status as food in South Korea, which has caused the industry to go underground, with no official guidelines to address concerns over hygiene and animal welfare.[34] Some in South Korea and abroad believe that dog meat should be legalized so that only authorized preparers can deal with the meat in more humane and sanitary ways,[36][37] while others think that the practice should be banned by law. During the FIFA World Cup, in the face of foreign pressure to ban the sale of dog meat, a group of prominent South Koreans wrote an open letter in support of dog-eating.[38] South Korea's top soccer official said that FIFA had no business interfering in his country's eating habits.[31] Supporters of dog-eating held rallies against FIFA[39] and launched a campaign to promote dog meat.[40][41][42]
Many younger generations of Koreans are starting to abhor the practice of eating dog meat, and instead are treating dogs as pets rather than a source of food.[43][44] According to a 2006 survey, among 1025 South Koreans,[28] 81% of those in their fifties, 67% of those in their forties, 64% of those in their sixties, 59% of those in their thirties, 60% of teens, 46% of those in their twenties, and 55% on average have ever eaten dog meat. 64% eat dog meat 1 to 3 times per year, 17% 4 to 6 times, and 11% 7 to 10 times. This amounts to an average of 4.6 times per year, at 300 grams per incident. 75% think dog meat should not be banned, and many demand the improvement of the sanitary conditions rather than animal welfare.

4 comments:

Rev Dr Mom said...

Oh that is so gross.

But I am sorry you puked....

Anonymous said...

Gross. Really gross.

I hope you feel better soon.

BerryBird said...

I think I would feel obligated to try the dog, too. When in Rome and all that. I've tried some foods that seemed very unpleasant to my western palate before, but that's what you do, right? Try new things.

Is it mean to say I am glad dog is gross though? I'm truly sorry it made you sick, and I can't justify why dog being untasty should be a good thing. Somehow it just is.

Woman Warrior said...

word