By Via this Ask A Korean posting, a Korean restaurant in Sao Paulo, Brazil is being investigated by authorities for selling dog meat. Apparently a couple of locals were finding stray dogs, fattening them up, killing them, and then selling the meat to the Korean restaurant owner.
I will be interesting see if commenter Dr. Yu who lives in Brazil can verify if this story is making any news in Brazil.
7:55 pm on November 16th, 2009 1
Hmm… sounds exactly like this media driven public panic scene in the States, against the Asiatic yellow monkies kidnapping dogs off the streets and eating them.
http://www.joeyskaggs.com/html/dog.html
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November 17th, 2009 at 9:47 pm
I haven’t got a clue with what eating ‘dog’ has to do with ‘Asiatic yellow monkies’. Tom, you must have a very negative view of yourself if thats how you feel.
Personally dog is ok on the taste list with me, but not at the top of my list. An earthy flavor and much like chicken.I recognise that it is eaten in some parts of the world. It is a major source of protein.
Dogs are also revered as pets as they have been since the anchient egyptions. It would only be natural for those who view dogs as pets and those who view dogs as food to have different perspectives.
Either way, it would have nothing to do with ‘Asiatic yellow monkeys’, unless you feel that way yourself.
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9:00 pm on November 16th, 2009 2
Yes, it is true.
Brazilian Police arrested a Brazilian couple in Suzano city responsible for killing dogs to sell to Korean restaurants in Sao Paulo.
The Brazilian couple and the owners of two Korean restaurants were arrested and the restaurants are closed for the time being.
However killing dogs for consumption is not crime in Brazil, so the police arrested them based on sanitation problems.
The news was placed in many papers and aired in the TV but Brazilian are showing few interest in the matter.
Well, if they sell cat meat barbecue in the streets what’s the big deal about selling dog meat???
Link to the news from a Brazilian news site:
http://www1.folha.uol.com.br/folha/videocasts/ult10038u651735.shtml
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November 16th, 2009 at 9:33 pm
Never heard of cat’s being eatin before but I have to agree with you that eating dog probably isn’t a big deal in most parts of the world. It only offends western culture since, they are man’s best friend. I am against the killing and eating of dogs but it doesn’t make it wrong. I eat cow, chicken, pig, Bison, deer, etc…so I guess raising dog for the purpose of food is the same thing. I am sure there are those that will say dog’s are smarter or feel the pain more but I think any animal feels the pain when killed so…happy eating…
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November 16th, 2009 at 10:08 pm
The video from the link says that police found dog and CAT meat with the Brazilian couple. Since Koreans don´t eat cat meat we could than guess that it was for Brazilian´s consumption. I personally never tried cat meat (as long as I´m aware of).
Cat meat is sold in the streets as real cow meat barbecue for the poor. They know it is not true, but since it is cheap and they have no money to buy real meat they buy it without making questions.
They call it “File Miau” (from filet mignon) and it can be translated as “filet meow” in english.
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November 16th, 2009 at 10:11 pm
That’s funny stuff…
November 17th, 2009 at 7:49 am
Koreans eat cats.
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=3771673744798094459&ei=H6kCS8HKOoWUqAORi4XsCQ&q=korean+eating+cats&hl=en#
I think the Korean restaurant owner was just trying to get some Korean business.
November 17th, 2009 at 9:54 pm
When I first got married to my Korean wife we joined an asian american club in Germany.
One of the Thai wives, in the club, told us when she first came to the US she saw cans of food with a picture of a cat on it. She thought it was ‘cat’, and not cat food. She adaped quickly.
In the Philipines ‘rat’ is canned and sold on the market.
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November 17th, 2009 at 2:14 am
You got it all wrong. People don’t normally eat cat in Brazil. The expression “churrasco de gato” (cat barbecue) is not meant to be taken literally. It’s the equivalent of the English expression “mystery meat”. It’s used to joke about roadside food stalls that serve food of questionable quality.
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November 17th, 2009 at 2:18 am
Cuidado para não comprar gato por lebre.
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November 17th, 2009 at 5:36 pm
My Brazilian colleague laughed and said the same thing.
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4:02 am on November 17th, 2009 3
So…
In Brazil, it would be OK to ask, “Tongue’s got your cat?”
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7:13 am on November 17th, 2009 4
Here’s a 2005 Ohmynews article on Brazil’s Korean dispora that migrated to Brazil in the 1970’s and 80’s.
http://english.ohmynews.com/articleview/article_view.asp?menu=c10400&no=229147&rel_no=1
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7:14 am on November 17th, 2009 5
I didn’t know that there were that many (over 50,000 Koreans) in Brazil.
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November 17th, 2009 at 7:58 am
Unfortunately Tom, Koreans are everywhere, they’re very hard to escape from.
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November 17th, 2009 at 12:59 pm
You’re in the wrong country if you’re trying to escape from Koreans.
If you can’t stand Koreans that much, why don’t you bugger off to your own country, and back to your long and growing unemployment line? You should be grateful Korea gave you a job.
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November 17th, 2009 at 1:09 pm
Well Tom, John may be living in Korea but he didn’t change his name to Lim, or Shin, or Yu…at least he has a home nation. You get on here and bash the west yet you carry a western name…sad really. Your country had to take IMF, the U.S. has never had to do that before so you keep being a proud, well, whatever you are…
7:43 am on November 17th, 2009 6
I wish Brazil would take you Tom.
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8:11 am on November 17th, 2009 7
Koreans eat cat to cure joint ailments, especially for knee problems.
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November 17th, 2009 at 10:47 am
Koreans don’t eat cats period. There are some old Koreans who do drink alcohol concoction made out of cats, but that’s not even most Koreans.
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November 17th, 2009 at 11:58 am
Yep they do Tom. It’s pretty easy to look up.
http://itstheirdestiny.2kat.net/dogslife.html
Pictures too.
http://itstheirdestiny.2kat.net/cat_p3.jpg
Some koreans will eat anything.
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November 17th, 2009 at 12:40 pm
Why do Animal Rights organizations still use old photographs from the 1970’s and 1980’s? What else is new?
November 18th, 2009 at 7:34 am
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1:24 pm on November 17th, 2009 8
Tom,
Don´t bother to answer these guys because their issues are not the dogs or the cats, but the koreans. There is nothing wrong eating those animals, after all If we feed them why can’t they feed us???
Brazilians for instance eats iguanas, armadillos, turtles, alligators, monkeys, rodents, etc but nobody complain, than what’s wrong with Koreans eating dogs?
Regarding the way the animals are killed, the internet is full of videos and images of western farms raising chickens, cows, goose, horses, porks, etc in industrial facilities that make me feel sick just watching them.
That´s the reality, the Mc.Donald, the Kentucky Fried Chicken, the Foie gras we eat in all continents has the same amount of pain and suffering the Koreans dogs has in Korea.
If they are bothered with our boshintang they should be bothered with their hamburger and foie gras too.
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November 17th, 2009 at 5:43 pm
I had iguana once. Tastes like snake.
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10:01 pm on November 18th, 2009 9
If you need a picture of a (detached) dog’s head which is being prepared for the pot (in China, Guizhou), I just ran across one on a French China blog:
http://www.simaosavait.com/index.php?post/2009/11/16/Chong-An-les-rizieres-et-les-minorites-du-Guizhou
Just scroll down a bit and you’ll see it. “Le chien, spécialité du Guizhou”
Since a dog just about ripped out my throat long ago, I haven’t personally had much remorse about eating them.
On a different topic, I would be interested to know if you had any posts on Koreans Mexico. Time to do some rooting around in the bunkers of the ROK Drop archive…
and don’t you think that Chosun Ilbo story on defectors who know all the NOrth KOrean bunkers with fake uniforms story smells a little funny? It just seems awfully specific to me, reminiscent of something I would read from the late 1970s to keep us all on alert…
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6:03 am on November 19th, 2009 10
Does anyone know what cat tastes like? I am guessing chicken but if I knew I was eating cat not sure I could get it down.
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November 19th, 2009 at 6:47 am
I don’t know how it tastes but it smells very good.
I also had the chance to see turtle meat in the Amazon, and it also smelled very good, however I never had the chance/will to try them.
I tried alligator in a small village in the jungle, when the driver of our boat brought us the feet of an alligator just roasted. It was the extremity of the feet with the nails and bones still there. The taste is a mix of chicken and fish. Nothing special but very appreciated in the Amazon because food is precious in the jungle.
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3:31 pm on November 19th, 2009 11
You guys are really sick!! Just because a dog tried to kill u doesn’t mean they are all bad. I guess that says alot for the “human being.” Certain animals are made for human consumption but not dogs or cats. These poor animals are being stolen from their background. These animals have owners. Do you think stealing is right?? Of course, I can’t reason with ignorant people.
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November 19th, 2009 at 5:40 pm
“You guys are really sick!!”, haven’t been around much have you. The world is full of peoples with different customs and food tastes.
Dogs and cats were never ordained not to be eaten, same as horses, giraffes, or monkeys. It just depends where you come from and the food sources available through the centuries that makes one persons pet anothers, leg and thigh. If you were never hungry to the point of starvation, you wouldn’t understand why some people eat the way they do.
Sounds to me like you’ve had a very sheltered life.
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November 21st, 2009 at 9:50 am
No sounds to me that you have no morals. It has nothing to do with leaving a sheltered life I understand eating cats and dogs was necessary to survive during the war but it is 2009. This is not the dark age. Certain animals are breed to eat while others are breed to be pets. It seems like you were never raised to love dogs and cats in your life, Why can’t one respect dogs as a companion and helper??
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November 21st, 2009 at 6:32 pm
LOL, I have very good morals. The issue has nothing to do with ‘my’ morals.
“During the war?” Cats and dogs were eaten long before then. The war really had nothing to do with it. Very common throughout asia where having ‘pets’ to begin with was not common until recently. (last 100 years?) Prior to that they were used for hunting or were scavengers (cats were good for getting rid of rats, but usually not fed otherwise) or most likely raised to be eaten.
“certain animals are breed to eat while others are breed to be pets”. Can’t understand where you learned that. Can you elaborate a bit on that subject? Its a modern western idea, that does not apply to the rest of the world.
I’ve always had a dog or cat (mostly cats) as a pet and do now.(ever since I was a kid)
I respect dogs as companions and helpers the same as most westerners do. I also have traveled enough around the world to understand other people do not have the same values, and their culture does not differentiate when it comes time to put food on the table.
And yes, I think you have lead a very sheltered life.
November 21st, 2009 at 6:45 pm
And yes it is still the “dark age” in many many parts of the world.
Your western morals are only followed by a few hundred million in the US and perhaps a bit more in Europe. Add A few hundred million more and you still are only slightly more than 1/5th of the world.
China and India alone almost outnumber you and your followers by two to one.
12:30 pm on November 21st, 2009 12
Olga,
“Certain animals are breed to eat while others are breed to be pets.”
I agree. Only absolute barbarians would eat the loving chicken.
The chicken is affectionate and loyal to a fault… able to learn complex tasks to please and assist mankind yet eager to curl up on one’s lap.
The chicken is man’s best friend and God’s gift, providing undemanding companionship and generously offering the golden treasure that is egg to show its unconditional love for mankind… and always ready with a cheerful cluck to please its master.
Yet some are known to eat the chicken… murderously cutting off the heads and stripping flesh from bone… even though viable chicken substitutes exist.
This is done by those who were not raised to love the chicken. Why can’t they respect the chicken as companion and helper?
A cat, on the other hand, ain’t ever helped anybody do shyt… and it tastes like chicken.
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November 21st, 2009 at 6:51 pm
Not to mention “free Range Chicken”, (I think thats only chickens caught in the wild). Thank god, someone has finaly decided to do somthing about all those wild chickens.
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November 23rd, 2009 at 7:37 pm
Look, I could sit here all year going back and forth with this issue. Whatever, …to each its own. I never traveled the world like you but it doesn’t make me a shelter person. There are certain animals I was raised not to eat, like cats and dogs. if that’s your choice…. go for it hope you choke on a paw. If people choose to eat dogs and cats at less kill them instantly, for Godsake but don’t beat, burn, or torture them before their death. That’s totally inhumane. Animal abuse is unexceptable whatever, the case may be. God created animals to eat but I really doubt that cats and dogs were on the food chain, I choose to go green. I rest my case. Peace!
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November 23rd, 2009 at 10:13 pm
No big argument from me. I was raised the same as you, probobly much worse. I won’t choke on a paw( and that is very cruel to wish on someone).
As for killing a dog for meat I only saw it once in a remote village in Korea. I was sitting on my front step of my ‘hootch’ in a converted ‘chicken coop’ made habitable by putting in a charcoal stove and a ceiling made of chicken wire and wallpaper. I paid $12.50 a month rent. If I had been Korean the rent would have been $7.50. (But, I was a rich American)
Anyway, papasan came walking down the road with a large beautiful looking short haired dog on a rope. (could have been ‘ole yeller’.)
I didn’t pay much attention until I heard the dog yelping. When I looked, my first thought was, ‘he’s got the dog stuck in the tree’. Sounds dumb now, but it was my first thought. Papasan calmly hoisted the dog up over a tree limb and sat on a large rock nearby until the dog died. Then he calmly went over and gutted and skinned the dog. Last I saw he was headed back home with the carcus over his shoulder. That was how it was done back then, that was life in Tae yul village.
You really need to get around more. Life is very different depending on where you are.
Peace and love to you and yours as well.
7:53 pm on November 23rd, 2009 13
Gerry,
To answer your question regarding certain animals are breeds for human consumption and others as pets…. I should ask you “why is that” because you have seen the world, right?? Anyway,it was brought down to me from parents and ancestors. That is why I feel that way. by the way, my parents/ancestors were not Americans.
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November 24th, 2009 at 6:47 pm
Not a problem. I respect your ancestors and parents for what they taught you. Its a good thing you learned, not a bad thing. They were (it would seem) good people.
I’m embarrassed to admit, my ancestors immigrated from France,(1870-1900) on both sides of the family. I don’t often talk about it, (Its too painfull to think about) but it may explain my thinking.
The issue is as you grow and expand your horizons in the world you begin to understand how people around the world live very different lives than yours. The words ‘cultural values’ take on realistic meaning. Their cultural values are often shaped by their history as well. The US has long been a country of abudance if for nothing else than its geography and excellant soil. Not the case in many parts of the world.
Thats what I mean by living a sheltered life. One that has not seen beyond the borders of the next community.
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11:37 pm on November 23rd, 2009 14
Dog just doesn’t taste right if it isn’t beaten first.
And don’t get me started on tuna. It’s never been the same since they stopped putting dolphin in it.
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November 24th, 2009 at 6:51 pm
My wife told me there’s an old Korean saying that ‘one must beat his wife and dog at least once a day’.
Hey, I don’t make this stuff up.
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9:49 am on December 27th, 2009 15
Dr. Yu,
I’m a brazilian citizen. I agree some people do eat those animals, but please, don’t make it a general idea of brazilian costumes.
I live on São Paulo, and I can tell that is a gossip about “FILET MIAU” being cat meat. I may say someone may use cat meat, but it’s bad cow meat, only.
I tasted many kind of animals, as lizard, on country side of São Paulo, duck on a chinese restaurant, and others birds in fancy restaurants, and I do wish to taste dog, although I haven’t the chance yet. But I’m not a general idea of brazilian costumes. I’ve a open mind and like to try new things all the time.
Brazilian people usually eats chicken and cow ’cause it is what we “produce” for exportation. That’s so, we do have one head of cow for a habitant. Making the country the biggest country on number of cows for sell!!!
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December 27th, 2009 at 8:13 pm
If I lived in Brazil I would be a big ‘Beef eater’.
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