The Los Angeles Times article last December got many of us riled up about the merits and cultural relativity of eating dog in Asia. There were heated comments about U.S. Marine Lieutenant Colonel Robert Lucius and his efforts to curb the consumption and mistreatment of dogs in Vietnam.
I've been asked if I know of Vietnamese people in America eating dog and my answer is, "No." I've never personally seen it or heard of it going on.
Yesterday, the Associated Press published a story on archeological evidence pointing to dogs as being an ancient friend, protector and source of food to humans in the Americas. University of Maine graduate student Samuel Belknap III found a fragment of a dog bone in human excrement that dates back 9,400 years.
The fact that the bone had passed through someone's digestive tract is evidence of dog meat having been consumed a long time ago. There have been archeological digs that date domesticated dogs in the U.S. to about 8,000 years ago. This new finding gives canines an even longer, and expanded place in the history of the Americas.
It's a real American man bites dog story! Read it here:
"Old Dog, New Tricks: Study IDs 9,400-old Mutt" by Clarke Canfield, 01/19/11
I imagine that this anthropological finding will either help people feel vindicated or slightly more at ease with the issue of dog as food. In any event, it's not just an Asian thing.
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I personally have no problem if Vietnamese people in America are eating dogs. We eat every other animal (like rabbits, cows, horses) and if they like the taste, that's not a problem for me. But I would definitely like to hear other people opinion.
Bbq Dude
I find it fascinating that people consider certain animals okay to eat (cows), and others verboten (horses). But when you look at what their decisions are based on, it's more cultural chauvinism, than based on any kind of principle. My rules are:
1) I don't eat critters that are endangered. i.e. I don't want to contribute to the end of a species.
2) I won't eat critters that might possibly be sentient. i.e. No dolphins or chimpanzees.
3) I won't eat someone's pet. If you love your dog, I won't eat your dog. But if someone else raises dog for food, I'll have it as Korean dog soup. http://indirectheat.blogspot.com/2010/06/korean-dog-soup.html
Maria Payroll
I will never eat a k9. It's like betraying a friend.
Simon Bao
There's no REAL logic to what we all want to eat, avoid eating, or ban eating. Or regard as taboo and forbidden to eat. It's all culturally driven, emotional, symbolic, values we are sometimes not even aware of.
I would prefer that Americans eat dogs, rather than eat blue fin tuna. I would prefer that Americans eat cats, rather than skate wings. I would prefer that Americans eat horses, rather than destroy marine ecosystems by bottom-trawling for monkfish and dredging for scallops.
Americans are, in fact, as bizarre and illogical in what we eat and don't eat as are any other folks on the planet.
Dennis Reed
Anecdote: back in the mid 80s, I was working for the University of California, San Diego, and I was in the police department to get permission to enter a secured location when they received a phone call asking if it was alright to cook a dog. After some discussion, the police responded, "not if the dog is yours."
I think that the eating of dogs, horses, bugs, etc., is a matter of personal/cultural preference and is not really any kind of moral issue. Some research seems to indicate that even plants may have some sort of sentience, so regarding sentieng beings, even vegatarians mich have a problem finding something to eat!
via_ostiense
Simon Bao -- I agree on all counts!
Dennis Reed -- The police answer is surprising; I think it would be more of a problem if the dog hadn't been theirs!
ShashaCatering
Dog for food? I dont think so...
Al
A large swath of the population in India consider it sacrilegious to eat cow. A large swath of Americans certainly don't have any theological compunction with eating it, however.
I'm sure it would bother quite a few of them if they cared to think about it.
Which reminds me of a funny anecdote relating cultural differences in America. One of my old Iranian colleagues once stated about an Indian colleague (who's vegetarian) that she always brought delicious smelling food for lunch to work. Then he said in a humorous tone "but she's so American!"
"She probably flips hot dogs or burgers in the backyard for the family on the weekends!"
As has been pointed out, the human consumption of certain animals and not of others is really a matter of cultural attitude, squeamishness, and depends largely on what side of the fence (culturally, country/continent and otherwise)you happen to be sitting at.
Texas Gentleman
We Americans don't love our pet dogs and cats as much as we'd like people to believe. After all, we put tens of millions of Garfields and Lassies in the gas chamber every year simply because we get tired of taking care of them. We also don't eat them because cats are too bony and dogs are too chewy.
Ron
Simon Bao - you make it sound like Americans are the worst offender when it comes to destroying the marine ecosystem. The fact of the matter is that Asians are the worst. Their penchant for live-fresh-reef fish are doing most of the damages in most reefs. Blue fin tuna? Are you kidding me? Japan probably consumes most of it. Asians are sooo old-culture that they are sooo superstitious sometimes with what they want to eat. Shark fin soup in Chinese weddings is a must ... you feeling sick? Here, drink some tea with rhinoceros horn powder. There's probably dozens of endangered species that Asians (mostly Chinese) like to consume. Not to mention the fact that some of these animals carry dangerous viruses that can jump to humans later on (remember the SARS virus?).
You want to know more? Here go read this:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16787697/
PetsProvideCompanionship
Viet that doesn't eat dog
We eat cows, which are worshipped by Hindus. We eat pig, which are considered dirty by Muslims and Jews. We eat catfish and crawfish which lives in mud. Who are we to judge?
Andrea Nguyen
People eat all kinds of things, for example, Brunswick stew is made of squirrel. It's an old-fashioned American stew.
One of the threads that runs through our comments here is the idea that we need to know what we're eating and where it came from. Buying boneless skinless chicken breast and precut vegetables distances us from our food sources. People don't think about what they eat and when they do, they tend to be reactionary.
And then there's the superstition and aphrodisiac nature of eating certain foods. Oye...
Humans in the Americas 9,400 years ago likely ate dog for survival. I've spoken to people who've remarked that dogs are easier to raise for food than pigs because they are cleaner animals. Harvesting an animal for food is not an easy task to do, but traditionally, people took a head-to-tail approach to using the carcass.
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Simon Bao
Ron, you misread or misunderstood my comments. I made no comparison of any kind between Americans and other groups - except in my conclusion, that we Americans are as illogical about food as everyone else.
Rosanna
Hahaha, you forgot the point that Native Americans are believed to be originally from Asia 😉 We even have mythology that states something to that effect.
Linh-Dang
IIRC from Stephen Ambrose's excellent book Undaunted Courage, Lewis and Clark ate traded for and ate dogs (not without relish) during the winter they spent in the Pacific Northwest. The First Nations people in the area reportedly mocked them for it since dogs were the last resort food, for times of famine and not times of having scared away all the elks and never caught any salmon.
Also according to Stephen Ambrose, one of the few vegetables ate during the expedition was xà lách xoong (watercress), the only herb the explorers recognized as definitely edible.
Bob Lucius
I'll bite...since I am the subject of the LA Times article... In the philosophy of animal rights,to which I subscribe, "sentience" implies the ability to experience pleasure and pain. Animal-rights advocates typically argue that any sentient being is entitled at a minimum to the right not to be subjected to unnecessary suffering, though they may differ on what other rights (e.g., the right to life) may be entailed by simple sentience. This is why I think eating dog is wrong...but I also think eating any animal is wrong..even cows, pigs, etc. Pigs are known to be much more cognitively sophisticated than even our beloved dogs. Most of the animals raised for food...especially in the West..are subjected to horrendous conditions in pursuit of the almighty profit motive, and when we eat them we bear culpability for that. As meat eating is now known to not be necessary for living a health, robust and vigorous life, the choice now is really all about ethics and what we choose to eat says alot about our values.
Not confused
When needed, people WILL eat people to survive.
Culturally, we are dictated by what we choose to consume and in ALL things we do and don't do.
Logically, dogs have evolved and domesticated to help people since that time. And people too have evolved and learned the value of all being in ecology.
As there are criminals, there are those who choose to ignore what is logical.
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When I was growing up in Asia, I know for a fact that my grandfather, dad and uncle had consumed dogs before. We heard them talking about it when we were young though it is thought that dog meat is only suitable for male consumption, go figure.
The point is to respect every culture's choices as long as we are not talking about cannibalism. What we think of as food can be gross to others too. Sure we can judge Asian for eating dogs, bugs and etc. At the same time, they too can judge us for eating greasy hamburgers, gooey mac-n-cheese, turkey with stuffings, corn dog and others.
I love all my dogs and cats, past and present, and will never think of eating anyone of them.
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You may believe these four proverbs:
The noble soul has reverence for itself.
The principal thing in this world is to keep one's soul aloft.
What is a man's first duty? The answer is brief ; to be himself.
The horizon of life is broadened chiefly by the enlargement of the heart.
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Instead, focus on helping your child understand and deal with his or her experiences!
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dogs are people friends, feel disgusted to eat dogs!