[Harmattan]

Notice the specific thin fork and the pliers to hold the shell on the left.

[yiostheoy]

Ah! I was right about Scoprions!

I never tasted snakes either: we only have two species in France, both are endangered and one tastes horrible.

However we are famous for eating snails: once cooked they look like dry tiny meat balls hidden deep inside their shells. We stuff those shells with a garlic stuffing that makes most of the taste. We started eating them when we were starving and eventually ended up with a gourmet meal, with the help of brave experimentalists and a healthy dose of snobism.

Snake tastes a lot like eel or chicken -- somewhere in between -- slimy chicken. Sort of like catfish.

In California from about the middle of it along the coast and all the way northwards, we have huge underwater sea snails called "abalone" -- an American Indian name.

They are the size of rugby balls.

The meat is delicious.

Seafood of any kind and fish do not complain when you catch and eat them. So eating seafood is completely guilt free for me.

Eating beef, pork, ham, lamb, chicken, and duck makes me feel guilty. Least of all the beef and pork however.

Eating horses, ponies, dogs and cats is an abomination similar to cannibalism.

[Luna]

Pigs generally display slightly higher emotional sensitivity than dogs/cats (moreso cats than dogs) and far more than cows/poultry animals, just FYI. The taboo against eating dogs when we eat pigs makes sense only in that most of us had a dog growing up.

For the record, I had dog visiting family in China. It tasted pretty good.

[yiostheoy]

Pigs generally display slightly higher emotional sensitivity than dogs/cats (moreso cats than dogs) and far more than cows/poultry animals, just FYI. The taboo against eating dogs when we eat pigs makes sense only in that most of us had a dog growing up.

For the record, I had dog visiting family in China. It tasted pretty good.

Poor doggie! Now I hate you!

I rarely eat pork anyway. It was one of my mom's favorites though -- Christmas ham.

So I will get a honeybaked sugar coated ham at Christmas too and have ham sandwiches for the next few weeks afterwards. So for me ham is about once each year in memory of my mom.

Just like lamb is once each year on Easter Thursday in memory of Jesus.

[Political Interest]

I can respect the choice of those from dog eating cultures like the Chinese and Koreans to eat what they please. However what upsets me is the way they kill the dogs. Apparently in order to maximize the taste you must frighten the dog to the utmost point and kill it in the most violent way so as to make the meat more tender. If you are going to eat dog meat then at least slaughter the animals in a humane way.

Chinese and Koreans can eat dog meat because that is their cultural choice. However if I see anyone from an Anglo-Saxon background eat dog meat I will never speak to that person again.

[Decky]

Why?

[Political Interest]

Because that is not part of your culture and doing so is a taboo.

[ThirdTerm]

Although a fair number of South Koreans (anywhere from 5 to 30%) have eaten dog meat at least once in their lifetime, only a small percentage of the population eats it regularly. There is a large and vocal group of Korean people that are against the practice of eating dog meat.[9] There is also a large population of people in South Korea that do not eat or enjoy the meat, but do feel strongly that it is the right of others to do so.[9] There is a smaller but still vocal group of pro-dog cuisine people in South Korea who want to popularize the consumption of dog in Korea and the rest of the world,[9] considering it to be part of the traditional culture of Korea with a long history worth preserving.

The consumption of dog meat in Korea dates back to the palaeolithic era and only a small percentage of them actually eat it regularly nowadays. The situation is similar with Japan's consumption of whale meat and the vast majority of them have only tasted it once in a lifetime. East Asian are clinging on to their peculiar eating habits only for the sake of preserving their cultural traditions.

[Decky]

Meh eating Elk isn't part of my culture and I have done that. Who cares? Meat is meat.

[Dagoth Ur]

I agree meat is meat. Dog seems like a cheap meat but still meat.

Also horse has been eaten in the Americas since forever. Even the image of the desperate cowboy killing and eating his horse is an icon of western romance literature.

[unbalanced zealot]

Re above. Dog meat consumption in Korea (as I understand it) has dropped off dramatically, and it could be related to the pet fad in Korea over the last 5 or so years. I lot of people have small dogs as pets and there are a lot of pet shops springing up everywhere. In the past people probably didn't associate eating dogs with the pet type dogs that we now see all over the place.

I really don't know any place here to find dog meat.

Interesting trivia: when Vietnamese refugees first arrived in Australia apparently they were under the impression that the dog food in cans at the supermarket with pictures of happy looking dogs on the labels was actually dog meat in cans.

[Godstud]

The wife was eating small frogs(tadpoles) today. They stink like you would not believe, when cooked. Foul stuff indeed. She stunk up the whole house. If she cooks it indoors again I will divorce her!! OMFG

[Crantag]

I've eaten dog, and horse numerous times. If I were king of America I would eliminate the absurd, costly, damaging, and counterproductive effective ban on horse slaughtering in the US, allow the sale of horse meat all over the US, and allow the hunting of the invasive feral horses which run wild in many parts of the US and frequently damage the natural habitat.

I'd allow slaughtering of dogs too.

By the way, people don't always get this, but dogs bread for slaughter are typically of particular breeds of meat dogs. They are a type of livestock.

[Crantag]

Re above. Dog meat consumption in Korea (as I understand it) has dropped off dramatically, and it could be related to the pet fad in Korea over the last 5 or so years. I lot of people have small dogs as pets and there are a lot of pet shops springing up everywhere. In the past people probably didn't associate eating dogs with the pet type dogs that we now see all over the place.

I really don't know any place here to find dog meat.

Interesting trivia: when Vietnamese refugees first arrived in Australia apparently they were under the impression that the dog food in cans at the supermarket with pictures of happy looking dogs on the labels was actually dog meat in cans.

You can find dog meat all over downtown Seoul. I had dog chige in Shinchon the time I ate dog.

And to PI, yeah I'm an American but I also lived in Asia for 7 years so in some sense I am influenced by foreign cultures I've lived in as well.

To me, your perspective is quite bigoted and arrogant.

[Harmattan]

The consumption of dog meat in Korea dates back to the palaeolithic era and only a small percentage of them actually eat it regularly nowadays. The situation is similar with Japan's consumption of whale meat and the vast majority of them have only tasted it once in a lifetime. East Asian are clinging on to their peculiar eating habits only for the sake of preserving their cultural traditions.

And Muslims think that if you eat pork, it is only because "you desperately cling to your peculiar habits only for the sake of preserving your cultural traditions".

East Asians have no reason to stop eating dogs.

[ThirdTerm]

Redding (2015) offered rational explanations for the prohibition on pig consumption in the Middle East, where people ate pork meat until 1,000 BC. The first attempts by humans to domesticate pigs may date to 11,000 BC. Pigs were common, sometimes representing 30% to over 50% of the mammalian fauna, on sites in the Middle East and Egypt until the Late Bronze Age (1,550–1,200 BC). But pigs require substantial amounts of drinking water, which makes pigs “difficult to move in arid and semiarid environments, since they must be moved from water source to water source and only in cooler weather.” Moreover, the feeding of raw-meat garbage to hogs was the norm until the mid-20th century and the danger of eating raw or undercooked pork products (i.e. trichinellosis) may have been empirically known to the ancient Arabs, for whom chickens became an alternative source of protein.

The role of the pig in the subsistence system of the Middle East has a long and, in some cases, poorly understood history. It is a common domesticated animal in earlier archaeological sites throughout the Middle East. Sometime in the first millennium, BC pig use declined, and subsequently it became prohibited in large areas of the Middle East. The pig is an excellent source of protein, but because of low mobility and high water needs, it is difficult to move long distances. While common in sites, the pig is rarely mentioned in texts. In contrast, the use of cattle, sheep, and goats is extensively documented. In the human subsistence system of the arid and semiarid areas of the Middle East, the pig was a household-based protein resource that was not of interest to the central authority. Sometime in the late second or first millennium BC, the chicken was introduced into the Middle East. The chicken is an even more ideal household-based protein resource and, like the pig, is rarely mentioned in texts. In arid and semiarid areas of the Middle East, the pig and the chicken compete for food and labor in the human subsistence system. I hypothesize that in arid and semiarid areas of the Middle East, the chicken largely replaced the pig because the chicken is a more efficient source of protein, it produces a secondary product, the egg, and it is a smaller package; hence, a family can consume one in a day or two. This made the pig redundant and available for use in other human systems. The pig, however, never disappeared from the diet of humans in the Middle East.
http://link.springer.com/article/10.100 ... 015-9083-2

[unbalanced zealot]

You can find dog meat all over downtown Seoul. I had dog chige in Shinchon the time I ate dog.

OK, thanks. Perhaps it's just that I've never been trying to find it.

I actually listened in on a conversation about dog meat in Korea a day or so before I made that post. So I was just going off what I overheard.

I don't go to Shinchon much as it's on the other side of the city to where my wife's family is, but I go to nearby Mapo a bit which has some good music shops.

[edit] Kangaroo meat, which is gradually becoming more and more common in Australia it's quite good IMO.

[Political Interest]

You can find dog meat all over downtown Seoul. I had dog chige in Shinchon the time I ate dog.

And to PI, yeah I'm an American but I also lived in Asia for 7 years so in some sense I am influenced by foreign cultures I've lived in as well.

To me, your perspective is quite bigoted and arrogant.

No I am not bigoted. I have already stated that I do not oppose the Chinese or Koreans eating dog meat. If I were bigoted I would be telling them to stop doing it or casting judgement. I do not think they are wrong for doing so and do not hold it against them.

I simply cannot understand how a Westerner would eat dog when our society is so resolutely against it.

There are already scientific studies seeking to investigate the relationship between man and dog and they have found there to be some scientific basis for the mutual affection. If someone does not like dogs for a valid reason I do not trust them.

Since you have lived in the Far East I am sure you are aware that they also like dogs.

[fuser]

I will never eat most of the things listed so far but neither do I care what animals people eat.

[Crantag]

No I am not bigoted. I have already stated that I do not oppose the Chinese or Koreans eating dog meat. If I were bigoted I would be telling them to stop doing it or casting judgement. I do not think they are wrong for doing so and do not hold it against them.

I simply cannot understand how a Westerner would eat dog when our society is so resolutely against it.

There are already scientific studies seeking to investigate the relationship between man and dog and they have found there to be some scientific basis for the mutual affection. If someone does not like dogs for a valid reason I do not trust them.

Since you have lived in the Far East I am sure you are aware that they also like dogs.

I find it pretty bigoted to say you wouldn't talk to a person from an Anglo-Saxon background anymore if you found them to have eaten dog.

This issue is a case of politics of reaction to the fullest (the costly protection and poor management of invasive Ferel horses especially, but the whole topic really).

It's also a product of idealistic naivety to suggest it's okay for Asians to eat dog but not Westerners.

This isn't subsistence wailing by indigenous northerners. There is absolutely no ecological purpose to banning dog, much less horse consumption (consuming ferel horses would have ecological benefits).

P.s. For the person that said most Japanese have only had whale once, this is a very misleading statement.

Whale is available at most Japanese pubs (izakaya) and is also found in supermarkets. I've had it numerous times.

While it's not a common food now (it use to be served in school lunches; now it's just an 'experience food'), it remains readily available (and not expensive).

Whale sashimi, whale bacon, and horse sashimi are great with booze.