Let’s get it out the way dog meat is controversial, if you have issues with it, probably stop reading here.
In our group of 3 expats we have all largely been based in China, have lived in Vietnam, and have spent time in both North, and South Korea. We’ve been exposed to dog meat, which is seen as a delicacy in the above mentioned countries.
I personally love dogs and can
completely understand why someone would personally choose not to eat them. Man’s
best friend etc. The moral angle though I find not only quite unreasonable, but
at times also a tad racist.
In my mind you either eat meat, or you
don’t when it comes to the moral aspects of eating animals. It is quite easy to
put your line in the sand, meat eater or vegetarian/vegan.
Again as stated I do get the “man’s
best friend angle”, but if we go down this rabbit hole, no pun intended you can’t
deny that a rabbit is cuter than a dog, and a pig is much smarter.
And this is where I find the racial
element comes into play. We battery farm chicken, feed beef to cows and
generally treat our farmed animals like crap, yes there has been a moment
towards free range, but generally speaking if you are eating meat its from an
animal that was not enjoying his last few days of life.
Dog meat therefore where legal (which
it is in the above countries) and where it does not involve eating peoples pets
(which is generally the case in these countries) should be respected as part of
peoples cultures. I have a number of Hindu, Jewish and Muslim friends who don’t
throw their toys out of the pram because I eat beef, or pork. Why is it in
these cases that the same lefty types can be so multicultural, but want to pick
and choose which parts of the culture they accept?
I’ll add one caveat to this and meat
eating in general and that is how the animal is killed. In this instance I do
not support how dogs are treated at the Yulin Dog Festival in Guangxi province
China for example.
But, lets not forget how brutal Halal
and Kosher meat is, and no it does get a card because it is “religious”,
culture should be given just as much respect as maybe not real man in the sky…
