狗？犬？

[Melanie1989]

@hedwards Bleugh, i had heard that cat meat is "sour"  and that people didn't really eat it anywhere in the world now. Kinda gives me the wiggies, but i guess some people would feel the same about us eating beef or pork.

 

@Lu Your posts are always the best Thank you, you have a good point as always, though i mostly meant it playfully. Everyone else here is so far ahead that anything i ask makes me feel stupid. Anyway, off to check out the link..

 

 

EDIT: That link -bookmarked!

[tooironic]

狗肉 is common in some regions in China. Last time I was in Hubei I had it twice, once at my friend's house, once at a restaurant. Both times I didn't know what I was eating (I guess to them they saw it as no big deal). It has a funny taste, like a mixture between chicken and fish. When I drove back to Wuhan to take a plane out of Hubei, I saw a street lined with a number of 狗肉 restaurants, complete with cute dog pictures on the front of them.

[hedwards]

@Melanie, I think the big deal about eating cats is that they're carnivores and it's usually not a good idea to eat carnivores. I guess dogs are sort of the same way, but with dogs there's a specific breed, I don't believe there's a specific breed of cat for eating. But, anyways, you can't just eat any dog, they're supposed to be a specific breed and they're definitely not supposed to be eating just anything.

 

Carnivores have a tendency to collect whatever the animals they ate collected, so any toxins that were naturally present in the environment tend to get amplified.

[imron]

As far as I know, dog is mostly eaten in the South

It's very popular in the north and north east too.

[Carl Chen]

Uh...I think I learned a lesson from your responses even though i haven't been to China.

But I am really shocked that dog meat is popular in China.

[Demonic_Duck]

I'm not how you're getting the message "dog meat is popular in China". The message here is that "dog meat is somewhat popular in certain areas of China, and also in some places in Taiwan (replace "and also" with "including" depending upon political views etc.)".

[Carl Chen]

Re #24

 

I agree with you.

 

I should clarify what I said.

Dog meat is popular in some places in China and Taiwan.

 

The reason that it is illegal in Taiwan is probably what #21 stated (dog and cat are carnivores)

 

However, I was shocked because #20 mentioned that "I saw a street lined with a number of 狗肉 restaurants, complete with cute dog pictures on the front of them." in China. 

 

I think it is impossible to see this situation in Taiwan. Thus, I think dog meat for food is more popular in some places in China.

 

And this should be what I wanted to express.

[c_redman]

A blog from Qingdao, with pictures of menus with 狗肉.

[MPhillips]

...

[Demonic_Duck]

However, I was shocked because #20 mentioned that "I saw a street lined with a number of 狗肉 restaurants, complete with cute dog pictures on the front of them." in China. 

 

I think it is impossible to see this situation in Taiwan. Thus, I think dog meat for food is more popular in some places in China.

Ah I see, fair enough.

 

I do find the "cute pictures of the animals you're about to eat" type of advertisement a bit weird to say the least. There was a donkey 火烧 restaurant I used to go to sometimes with two pictures on the wall - the top one was a cute donkey in a yard, and the bottom one was a picture of the finished 火烧. Go figure.

 

(Well, this thread is getting thoroughly off-topic now but it seems like the original question has run its course anyway.)

[Silent]

 

I do find the "cute pictures of the animals you're about to eat" type of advertisement a bit weird to say the least.

If the animals are really cute maybe, but then I prefer to eat a cute dog over a scruffy (potentially diseased) dog. So they've to picture a decent healthy dog to make it appealing. To me it does make sense to picture the animals on the menu. I mean if I buy a can in the supermarket it often has a picture of the content too. It is a great help for illiterate and foreign people to see what's on offer. However I've heard stories of illiterate people eating dog or cat food for years due to the appealing pictures. In a way better then pictures of the prepared dishes used in many tourist restaurants as it's hard to make out what's in there.

[MPhillips]

...

[Melanie1989]

So, just a wild stab in the dark, there isn't already a thread on dog meat in China? 

 

But, Demonic_Duck is right, the question was answered so you might as well chat about it. Is there a way to change the title of the thread? Either way, dog meat appears to be somewhat popular in certain areas of China, but i think it's a little unfair to perpetuate that stereotype. I have known too many ignorant people who think Chinese are just scummy communist people who eat dog and torture animals. It has some truth, but i compare it to England right now. Our country does some ridiculous things, has a Tory government and i would hate to be lumped in with these guys who do that. Don't judge an entire country what a few idiots do, i guess is what i'm trying to say.

 

Not necessarily on this topic, but a fair point i think with how western media portrays China.

 

Anyway, rant over. Politics is the last thing this thread needs! 

[hedwards]

The reason for the cute photos is probably because that's what they found and most people looking to eat dog are well aware of the fact that the dogs used aren't going to look like the ones in the pictures. I remember seeing quite a bit of that when I was over there where somebody was using clip art for that sort of purpose to convey to the illiterate what they're selling. Chinese people are going to see the dog and realize that they can get meat dog there.

 

I'd be very surprised if the dogs being butchered for food actually look like the ones in those pictures as they're not even the right variety. Also, I didn't see enough dogs as pets for them to be a source of meat, ignoring the fact that pet dogs are a completely different variety from the ones traditionally used for food.

[li3wei1]

I do find the "cute pictures of the animals you're about to eat" type of advertisement a bit weird to say the least.

 

 

This is not limited to China, or dogs. Plenty of steak houses have pictures of happy cows, sometimes wearing chef's hats and carrying sizzling plates of beef to your table. Same with chickens and pigs.

[Lu]

I was going to say the same thing. In Holland at least you regularly see 'special of the day' kind of boards standing outside butchers', with a picture of a happily smiling pig on it.

Melanie: glad you didn't mean it too seriously :-) Just keep at it!