By It seems like every year a newspaper in the US releases something in regards to Korea’s dog eating:
As Lee Won-bok arranged his posters one Saturday at a busy outdoor pedestrian mall, passersby peeked over his shoulder in dismay and horror.
Some covered their eyes. But hundreds also clamored to sign Lee’s petition to outlaw a traditional culinary practice here: the eating of dog meat.
Each weekend, the 45-year-old animal rights activist stages a graphic photo display of dogs kept in cages, hanged and butchered, their meat prepared for market. He knows the images are hard to look at. But that’s precisely his point, to show the harsh treatment of an animal that many South Koreans now view as companions, not cuisine.
For years, foreign advocates have railed against the practice of butchering dogs and cats. Although Koreans have eaten dogs for centuries, the habit became more prevalent during the privations that followed the Korean War. It eventually spread from the poor and elderly to be adopted by the more affluent as niche cuisine.
Most protests were dismissed as the unwanted opinions of outsiders. But as the country has acquired more trappings of Western culture, the number of pet owners has exploded, and South Koreans are taking the lead in promoting animal rights here. [LA Times]
I don’t have a problem with Koreans eating dog meat and that is what unfortunately many activists in the west have condemned the Koreans for doing instead of focusing on the conditions these dogs are kept in like this group in the article is doing. Dog meat in Korea is something particular to Korean culture just like eating beef is part of American culture. In some areas of the world such as India eating beef is frowned upon. In other areas eating pork is frowned upon. Other countries eat horses. There is a lot of differences in cuisine all across the world. So if Koreans want to eat dog they should not be prevented from doing so and those of us who do not eat dog meat should not judge Koreans negatively for doing so.
However, how they kill the dogs is something I think can be criticized. I can still remember being out in the field one night near the Imjim River and one of my soldiers calling me on the radio from his position complaining about a continuous ghost like sound. So I went over to his position and heard the strange noise as well. Curious, I walked down the hill their position was on and towards the noise and eventually came upon a small compound with a dog strung up and an ajushi beating the dog. If you never heard it before a dog being beat to death makes the most pitiful noise you can imagine.
It is the sad reality. No mistake...
2:27 am on September 11th, 2009 1
I once commented to a Korean friend about the practice. His defense was that beating the dogs floods its body with adrenelin and makes it taste better.
5:26 am on September 11th, 2009 2
The Japanese feed their cows alcohol and massage them to produce their famous and delicious "Kobe beef." Both of these unique methods, Japanese and Korean, probably don't do jack and are just relics of retarded traditional folk 'wisdom.'
Though free range and industrial meats do taste pretty different.
5:31 am on September 11th, 2009 3
When my dog went missing, my Korean neighbors claimed they knew nothing. Knew nothing….
8:52 am on September 11th, 2009 4
Korean folklore about adrenaline giving the meat an energizing effect is unscientific. In fact, quite the opposite is true. Purdue University researchers found that animals suffering from neglect or mistreatment prior to or during slaughter yieled meat with a pH that was either too high or too low, reducing the quality of the flavor and texture.
12:26 pm on September 11th, 2009 5
"I don’t have a problem with Koreans eating dog meat and that is what unfortunately many activists in the west have condemned the Koreans for doing instead of focusing on the conditions these dogs are kept in like this group in the article is doing. "
That's because the picture of a sad-eyed puppy is too good a money earner for some them, the same as the image of a white seal pup is a big money earner for those "opposed" to the Canadian seal hunt (they certainly don't go out of their way to inform the public that hunting white seal pups is illegal in Canada).
12:33 pm on September 11th, 2009 6
"Korean folklore about adrenaline giving the meat an energizing effect is unscientific. In fact, quite the opposite is true. Purdue University researchers found that animals suffering from neglect or mistreatment prior to or during slaughter yieled meat with a pH that was either too high or too low, reducing the quality of the flavor and texture."
This scientific fact, not the emotional appeals of animal rights activists, is the main reason animals destined to our dinner plates are now better treated.
12:48 pm on September 11th, 2009 7
I'm not sure how this is helping anything. Despite what everybody thinks, food based on dog meat is already banned in Korea. Technically, any food place that serves dog is breaking the law. And then there are those people who post videos on youtube and go to these places and support their business.
12:53 pm on September 11th, 2009 8
When Korea unites, do you think the north Korean population will be stunned to hear that eating dog meat in the south is frowned upon and is not popular worldwide?
1:53 pm on September 11th, 2009 9
Had dog meat when stationed in Japan. Not very different from rabbit or an earthy chicken. Didn't know what it was til after I ate it. It was still in the catagory of raw fish and whale meat at that time in my life. I could live with it.
I will never forget a story told to me by a girl from Thailand after she first came to the states. She went shopping and saw some canned food with the picture of a cat. (Cats are eaten in some places in Thailand) so she bought the cat food and ate it. Said she learned quick it wasn't Thai cat.
8:30 pm on September 11th, 2009 10
A buch of liberal "college types" testing the quality of dog meat. How fitting.