Posted on 06/30/2002 5:51:46 AM PDT by csvset
Dog meat hot among Korea and China's trendy young
Animal-rights activists say it is a food fad fuelled in part by a desire to rebel against Western criticism
By Ng Hui Hui
CANINE cuisine is becoming a fad among the young in South Korea and China, much to the dismay of animal-rights activists.
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| The cruelty in the handling of dogs during their slaughter has raised the ire of animal-rights activists. Strung by their necks, the dogs are beaten to death. |
Restaurant owners and dog-meat watchers confirm that youngsters are now taking dog meat as part of their regular diet - much like beef or chicken - as food joints dish out trendy new recipes to whet appetites.
According to one estimate, 92 per cent of men and 68 per cent of women above 20 in South Korea have tasted dog meat recently.
In China, dog breeders are saying that in a few years, there will be as many Saint Bernard dogs on the mainland as cows and sheep.(?)
Although past data on dog-meat consumption is not available, those concerned say the numbers would have been low earlier - since dog meat was considered a type of tonic for the older generation, eaten to increase libido and treat illnesses.
Catering to the fad, on sale now are hotdogs with real dog meat, dog cookies and sandwiches and even dog noodles as restaurants come up with fast-food variations.
Traditional recipes such as kimchi, a spicy fermented vegetable dish, are being given a make- over and are now prepared with dog meat extracts.
Dog meat chefs hope to add more varieties soon.
South Korean nutritionist Ahn Young Geun, who wrote a book titled Koreans and Dogmeat, has come up with more than 350 new recipes.
The professor, who is often referred to as Dr Dogmeat, believes dog-meat consumption should be increased because it offers three times more calcium than other types of meat.
Besides the nutritional value, nationalistic pride seems to be playing a part, said Ms Kyenan Kum, founder of the animal-rights group International Aid for Korean Animals.
About 2.6 million dogs are killed yearly for food in South Korea, Mr Louis Ng, president of Singapore-based Animal Concerns Research and Education Society (Acres), told The Sunday Times.
This is a 30 per cent increase over the 1993 figures.
'Eating dog meat is a show of defiance, especially among rebellious young people. They feel that the West has no right to criticise their culture,' he said.
Reflecting this sentiment, a group of students from Seoul University set up a website recently to promote the virtues of dog meat and secured 11,000 signatures in support of its campaign.
But it is the cruelty in the handling of dogs - man's best friend in the West - that is raising hackles among animal-rights activists.
Dogs are usually strung up by their necks and beaten repeatedly to increase the flow of adrenaline in their flesh. Consumers believe the more pain the animals suffer, the more tender the meat becomes.
The dogs would struggle, howl, urinate and bleed till they become unconscious. Finally, they are chopped into pieces. All these are done in front of other dogs awaiting the same fate.
Now, for the first time, an Asian grouping called Asia Link - made up of 14 animal welfare societies from 12 nations - has decided to join the protest and has sent a letter to the South Korean government urging a ban on dog meat.
Said Mr Ng of Acres, an Asia Link member: 'The Koreans say eating dog meat is part of their culture, but one cannot use culture to justify violence.'
Mounting criticisms made South Korea and China ban the trade for short periods in 1988 and 1999 respectively. But that has not kept South Koreans and Chinese from hankering for their dog burgers and dog noodles.
KOREAN CUISINE: Dog dishes
New dishes:
How much would you like to bet that not much if any of that urine is from a tiger?
Oh I don't know, the Arabists, Islamists and their apolligists do it all the time.
Maybe they'll eat up all the camels and of course the goats, leaving the native males with no outlet for their sexuality.
Well, they sell it at the price equivilant to that of liqor, so I don't think they cheat. BTW, people bring dogs to the market to test if it's real. If the dogs refuse to get close, it must be tiger urine. Tiger urine has the strongest "male or positive" nature, great for arthritis.
I have eaten dog, and a lot of other 'mystery meat' and can only say one thing - I ate it and have no regrets. It has not lessened my love or appreciation of animals. And if it came down to it; if I died and my animals needed food, heck..Munch away lads!
Its no use to me anymore...lol.
BTW, from what I've read, it's tiger bones that are used to cure arthritis...
From Tigers
All of these tigers suffer from the same dilema. Their habitat is being rapidly destroyed by man, and they are being killed by poachers for their fur and all other body parts. Many chinese people believe the testicles of these animals made into a soup will help their own sexual drive. Crushed tiger bones are suppose to help heal arthritis and other ailments. The list goes on with how they have used this magnificant animal for their own selfish beliefs. The chinese government has recognized this problem, and have several private breeding facilities to preserve their existance. Although we have found that some of these are just breeding farms, and when the cats are large enough, they are killed and their body parts from head to toe are then sold to the black market all over the world.
That's not no longer the case in China today. Those breeding farms are going bankrupt and they even can't sell carcass of dead tigers to make ends meet because the Chinese law now prohibits any tiger sale whatsoever. Tigers bones? In your dream. Two brothers were sentenced 10 years in prison for selling a tiger skin which had been in their family for generations.
From Chinese Medicine: Making No Bones About It
For this reason, the American College of Traditional Chinese Medicine in San Francisco is joining with the World Wild Fund for Nature in a worldwide education campaign targeting the traditional Chinese medical community. The aim of the campaign is to educate the community on the need to end the use of tiger bone, and of acceptable substitutes. The campaign intends to recruit respected leaders in the community to get the message across. The use of tiger bone has been specifically targeted as there are very few tigers left in the wild and the appetite for tiger bone remedies is considered one of the greatest threats to the remaining population.
Next, we have this list of "remedies"..
From THEY USE EVERYTHING BUT THE CAT'S MEOW
Rx Tiger: a veritable cure-all
# Eyeballs: roll into pills; a sure cure for convulsions.
# Brain: mix with oil. Rub on body to cure laziness and acne.
# Whiskers: use as a charm to give courage and immunize against bullets.
# Claw: carry in pocket or wear as an amulet; gives wearer courage, protects from sudden fright.
# Heart: eat to aquire strength, courage and cunning.
# Floating ribs: carry as a good-luck talisman.
# Gallstone: add honey to cure abcesses of hands and feet.
# Penis: use as an aphrodisiac.
#Bone: add to wine; an old Taiwanese genral tonic.
# Feet: remove small bones and tie them to a child's wrists; prevents convulsions.
# Tail: grind and mix with soap; apply as ointment for skin diseases. Use bones from tip to ward off evil.
# Skin: sit on tiger skin rug to cure fevers caused by ghosts. Caution-if used too often, patient may turn into a tiger!
# Hair: burn to drive away centipedes.
Perhaps not today, but just a few years back they were serving "Stir Fried Bengal Tiger: Cantonese Style."
From Japan network mauled over tiger-meat gourmet show
July 1998
In Thursday night's programme, three Japanese entertainment personalities shown dining on the tiger at a restaurant in Shanghai, described the meal as delicious and showed no remorse when they learned what they were eating. Newspaper television listings for the programme had said the featured dish would be "Stir Fried Bengal Tiger: Cantonese Style."
A spokesman for Fuji TV said the Bengal tiger used in the meal died a year ago in a fight with other tigers in a zoo in Shanghai. It had been been frozen since then, he said. After a first course of buffalo penis, which the entertainers said they also enjoyed, the two women and a man were given a blind tasting of a braised meat dish and asked to guess what it was. A live Bengal tiger, which is on the world's endangered species list, was led into the dining room by way of answer. "Today we partook of something really delicious," said one of the three entertainers, who gathered round the live tiger to pat it after their meal.
Fuji TV denied that eating the tiger meat violated a global treaty that protects endangered species. The Worldwide Fund for Nature said in a report earlier this year that there were only about 5,000 to 7,500 tigers left in the wild, mainly in national parks and protected areas. After the network was bombarded with viewer complaints and media inquiries and animal rights groups denounced the programme, Fuji TV issued a statement that fell short of a full apology.
"We don't believe this programme violated the Washington Treaty which prohibits international trade in endangered species," the statement said. "However, the programme was careless from the broader perspective of animal protection, and we will endeavour from here on to pay due attention to the prevention of cruelty to animals in our programming." Fuji TV public relations spokesman Hideaki Hirose told Reuters: "In ancient China, tiger meat was eaten as an elixir for longevity and we re-enacted that custom." He added: "I guess we were pushing the envelope on this."
The Worldwide Fund for Nature said there was no excuse. "Even if the tiger died in the zoo, this kind of programme shows a low awareness among Japanese of the plight of endangered species and sets a terrible example for viewers," a fund spokeswoman told Reuters. Japan's alleged lack of sensitivity over such issues is not new. Even though whaling is allowed under international agreement generally only for research purposes, whale meat can easily be found in Japanese restaurants. Raw fish, or sashimi, is also shown at some high-class restaurants to be absolutely fresh by virtue of the fact that it is carved up while still alive on the table. "This isn't just about tigers, it's about public awareness, and that's a real problem in Japan," the fund spokeswoman said. She said Japan often turned a blind eye to the import of rare animal products such as tiger bones and rhinoceros horns, which are ground into powder and sold as aphrodisiacs.
Fuji TV is Japan's leading network by revenue, taking in about $3 billion last year. Cuisine shows, including one called "Iron Chef", are also among its most-watched programmes. The three diners were Kenichi Mikawa, who frequently appears on gourmet travel shows, Tomomi Nishimura, a popular actress, and Midori Utsumi, a well-known TV personality.
I understand that woking the dog is a national pastime in China.
Like I said earlier, I somehow question the notion that these zoo keepers are sending them urine collected from a tiger, and whether that's REALLY tiger's urine they're bathing in and drinking.. :)
That might be true, but the tiger meat must have been smuggled into China from other countries. I believe today you still can find tiger meat in Guangdong if you try really hard and are willing to take the risk of staying in jail for a few years and pay $5000 in fine.
Why are people so digusted with eating dog meat. The same people will eat what an insect regurgitates, and it is called honey
Although St. Bernard is not my idea of good eating, my biggest problem with all of this is that they torture the animal to death to improve its "power as an aphrodisiac", which is the predominent reason they eat dog over there to begin with.
You definitely don't know the tiger urine collecting business. you don't ask a tiger to urinate. You have to wait for it. Tigers have weid behaviors before they urinate. They turn their rears to visitors or whoever the human beings are and raise their tails. That tells you it going to come. They shoot urine like a dart, extremely smelly. The collectors use something like a sponge sheet to receive the urine. You dont have to go into the cage, so there is no way you will get hurt.
Actually, if you go back and read the news item, it was stated that the animal "had died in a fight with other tigers in a zoo in Shanghai". How true that is would be anyone's guess..
I don't think it's true. Shanghai Zoo is a government-sponsored institution. I don't think the zoo would take that risk unless they were nuts. Also there are many interantional cooperation programs going on in the zoo. The money they could receive from selling a dead tiger is a hair on a buffalo, compared with the funding from the government and world organizations.
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