h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Vegetarians and vegans are excused from the question.

Nearly everyone I know tells me that eating dogs is cruel and barbaric, while tucking into their steak or whatever. Although sometimes dogs are killed horribly in certain countries, those same countries kill their other animals horribly and yet no one says they're disgusting for that.

Hundreds of people have written comdemning the decision for the Olympics to be held partly in Korea, because they eat dogs.

For the record I don't eat meat, so you won't find me eating roast spaniel or suchlike. But why is eating dog cruel and disgusting while eating cow is acceptable?

I can't comment on the taste of dog, having never had the oppertunity to try it, but i certainly wouldn't refuse it if i was offered, and if i was somewhere it was on offer, i'd give it a go..
Same as hourse i guess to a certain extent, i belive they eat it in France, but I've never seen any over here in the UK...
Hmm, wonder what dog tastes like: and would there be much difference between different breeds of dog?

*a hungary researcher

Because we have been conditioned to think that dogs are our friends, in some cases, our only friends.
Little old ladies, especially my Mother, treat small lap dogs as baby-replacements.
When dogs are seen with such a close bond to humans, when we identify with certain animals, it's as if we were seeing humans trussed up for dinner.

A lot of people have animals as pets, ie chickens, and won't eat chicken anymore, but as you say, will eat cows.

In other words, I can't explain it.

Similarly people who keep fluffy bunnies as pets probably don't find rabbit stew all that tempting. I believe roast Guinea Pigs turn up regularly on South American menus but that probably wouldn't be received too well in this country either.
I guess it's a cultural thing. I've never knowingly eaten dog but I've travelled around countries that certainly did and seeing them in the markets alongside the chickens and pigs was a very unsettling experience. Would I have eaten it if offered? Don't know. Even though I recognise my own hypocrisy, I think of dogs primarily as loyal family pets and there would be a strong cultural disapproval of eating them to overcome.

This reminds me of the joke about cans of *dolphin friendly* tuna fish, caught with a rod and line rather than a net, 'cos all the poor lickle dolphins used to get caught in the nets and drown. Awww
"So what about the tuna fish?"
"Oh screw them, they taste good"

Most of the other creatures mentioned in the thread are herbivores, horses, ginuea pigs, cows, rabbits and so on. Dogs are carnivores, and you are getting further away from the basic nutritional sources when you eat carnivores.

That said, I eat meat, but have ethical qualms about doing so.

Ben

I think dogs *can* survive on a veggie diet, but I wonder what dogs are fed on in the countries that eat them. If meat, I can't imagine it's of particularly high quality.

Well dog food in countries where they don't get eaten is hardly top notch stuff. Its made from the waste products left over after the humans have had their cut of meat.

It was an interesting point about herbivores / carnivores, it doesn't seem to apply to animals who live in water. There is a revulsion in most western countries to eating whale meat, and whales (well the bigger ones anyway) eat plankton. Yet tuna, which can be found in a sandwich near you now, are one of the top predators of the seas and are a general all around rapacious killer.

People (Americans, anyway) don't like the thought of eating dog because dogs are cute and cuddly. That's the same reason there's such a effort to save the dolphins, spotted owl, bunnies, etc., whereas you'll seldom see PETA conducting a "Save the colecanth" campaign.

Wampus

More to the point, why do vegetarians see eating plants as being morally correct? Plants are living creatures too, so save the cabbage everybody.

No cabbage has to worry about me eating it...

My dad travels a lot becasue of his job. He has foundt that the best way to connect with the people he visits is to eat the food they put infront of him. So when he traveled to Indonesia, guess what they fed him? Dog. He, being a good sport, tried it, said it tasted like chicken, and got to the last bite, and found a chunk of fur still on the peice of meat. So that kind of finished the meal for him.

peace.

The thing I noticed about the animal rights protesters on the news the other day was that they were shouting what could be considered racist remarks at the Prime Minister of Taiwan. I think that racism is far more barbaric than eating dog.
It is a cultural issue more than anything else. It may feel wrong for people in this country to eat dogs but if we try and impose our values on other nations then we are basically saying our culture is superior to theirs, and I don't think it is.

I do eat meat, and I would not consider becoming a vegetarian.

Yup... people of certain cultures wouldn't eat a cow to save their life... Yet here in America, chain fast food restraunts would be dead with out it...

peace.

I am an Almost-Vegetarian, and I find myself a little queasy on this topic even though I am not particularly fond of dogs. Cats would horrify me.

What will we do if we find out vegetables are intelligent?

SC

eat stones...

peace.

"What will we do if we find out vegetables are intelligent?"

Well I imagine that all hard-line vegetarians would starve to death, if they stick to their principles. 'Meat Is Murder' perhaps but eating vegetables also involves killing a living being so what is the difference? Much vegetarianism is simply about losing touch with the realities of survival, which is understandable since us urban-dwellers' version of survival is handing some paper to a shop assistant, in exchange for a cardboard box full of substance that we place in a machine for a couple of minutes before eating. You won't find many vegetarians living in more rural areas.

Although I am excused I will answer:

I am a vegeterian. Basically, I don't eat what I wouldn't kill myself.

If you wouldn't kill a dog, then would you eat it??? !!!


Dancer

Which raises an interesting point. Would people feel comfortable eating an amimal more than capable of killing - and in most but not all cases (kangaroo) - eating you?

Kangaroo, sharks, the big cats, bears etc

Well, I used to shoot rabbits (with a silenced rifle) skin cook and eat them. But I am actually not that partial to rabbit.

Wesley's comment "Plants are living creatures too, so save the cabbage everybody" reminds me of a favourite t-towel and pinny, (which I don't have).

"I am not a vegetarian because I like animals,
I am a vegetarian because I hate vegetables"

But there is not much that will get me to shoot, skin, cook and eat a cabbage.

Ben

Some birds eat road kill and some people enjoy a bird in a pie.

I read somewhere that pork and human taste similar.

Incidently, in many countries where dog is on the menu, the cow is sacred. I guess the citizen's have to get their protein from somewhere. If there was a choice between rat, cat or dog, serve me up the dog.