[Petronius]

Eating such animals is a commonly-accepted practice.

One which we describe with terms like "barbaric," "primitive," "savage," and a wealth of others I can't post here. My question is this: How is the eating of pigs more enlightened and morally justifiable than the eating of dogs?

Falling back on the ol' our-culture-does-it = morally right breaks down for these types of issues. (Our "culture" permits abortion, does that make it right??) The Bible condemns it, as do most moral philosphers (for different reasons of course.)

[Prime Choice]

One which we describe with terms like "barbaric," "primitive," "savage," and a wealth of others I can't post here.

I guess I'm not part of that "we" to which you refer. Me, I heard of it and said, "Oh...that's gross!" And when I heard of people who ate grasshoppers, I said, "Oh...that's gross!"

It was only after I learned that veal was produced by raising calves in crates (and the really expensive veal was harvested in utero) that I actually ever used the terms "barbaric," "savage," and "immoral."