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First an article...
The west views dogs as a household pet, which is why I'm assuming most people view it as horrible to eat dog meat, but really - what is the difference between that and cow, lamb, chicken, the philippine delicacy off half born duck zygotes, snails, insects, or any other delicacy.
Should we view the consumption of dogmeat as a horrible thing, or are we just being close minded and ethnocentric?
And do Koreans actually consume dog meat regularly? I don't mean to offend, I really don't know.
By Park Moo-jong
Chief Editorial Writer
Whenever big international events, like the Olympics or the World Cup, are held in this part of the planet, people in the United States and some European countries have raised their objections to a certain Korean culinary tradition.
Since Korea and Japan won the right to co-host the 2002 FIFA World Cup finals, which will finally open on May 31 in Seoul, Koreans' eating of dog meat has been a major target of criticism by some people in those countries.
A year ago, some self-proclaimed animal rights activists protested in front of the Korean embassies in London and Mexico City, threatening to launch a boycott campaign against Korean goods unless the government banned the ``barbaric'' eating of dog meat ahead of the World Cup. There have been no further reports about their next action.
Recently, a folk scholar, Ju Kang-hyon, 47, published a book titled ``Dog Meat and Cultural Imperialism,'' depicting the clash between eating dog meat in Korea and keeping dogs as pets in Western countries.
In conclusion, Ju asserted, ``The fact that dog meat becomes an issue is itself something like a @#$%.''
Weeks ago, the BBC reported that Koreans eat dog meat thrice a day, and a year ago, retired French actress Brigitte Bardot, known as an ardent supporter of animal rights, said that eating dog meat is a savage custom.
The Korean scholar described such biased views as the product of an imperialistic refusal to recognize other cultures, asserting that the Western media's criticism is intended to increase the consumption of beef.
Ju said that residents in most regions of China, the Philippines, Senegal and Polynesia enjoy dog meat, and showed a picture of a French placard hung at a dog butchery in Paris around 1910, proving that the French ate dog meat at that time.
Three weeks ago, I traveled to Beijing to see how the Chinese authorities were fighting the uninvited guest of spring, Asian dust, dubbed here as ``yellow sand.'' I stayed at the Telecom Hotel, a brand-new 23-story building, which was at a four or five-star level. Upon checking in, I found to my surprise a Korean restaurant in the lobby, and a woman clad in beautiful chima and chogori, traditional clothes of our country, standing in front of it to welcome customers.
Adding to my astonishment was a menu board on which ``dan gogi soup'' or sweet meat soup, was written. Dan gogi is the North Korean way of saying dog meat for its sweet taste. Needless to say, the hotel is an international facility, and I even encountered some German and American tourists in the lobby.
For a moment, I was envious of such a ``dignified'' Chinese approach toward selling dog meat in such an international place in its capital city, and soon became angry with the way our government has coped with the foreign criticism of our traditional culinary practices. My colleagues were no exception.
The Western press does not take issue with Chinese eating dog meat, but raises objections when Koreans are involved. Why?
We deserve criticism because we did not respond properly. Ironically, the sale and consumption of dog meat is illegal in Korea. The government introduced the ban just before the 1988 Seoul Olympics, concerned about the country's international image, designating it as ``disgusting food.''
Dog meat lovers argued that the government was currying favor with foreign dog lovers and obsessed with the idea of staging the Olympics successfully, without paying respect to a historical fact: dog meat soup, or ``posintang,'' is a traditional Korean food, particularly for the summer season.
As a result, we reluctantly found it necessary to change the name of dog meat soup to something more poetic, like ``sacholtang,'' meaning ``soup of four seasons," or to something more in the spirit of the event, like ``yongyangtang'' which means ``nutrition soup.'' Most dog meat restaurants even moved to back alleys, lest foreigners recoil in shock at the thought of their beloved pets being broiled or served in soup.
Former Korea Times food and wine columnist Betsy O'Brien described a dog meat restaurant in her book, ``The Seoul Food Guide,'' published in 1994: ``To get under the skin of Korean culture properly, you should really do what lots of Koreans do in the hottest period of the year - visit a restaurant which serves dog meat.
``Beliefs about this meat are widely held here in Korea. It is particularly prized as being easily digestible and endowed with properties to help the eater through the hot weather..So this is a uniquely Korean cuisine.''
According to ``Dongui-Bogam,'' the bible of Oriental medicine written by royal physician Hoh Jun (1546-1615) in 1613, dog meat comforts the five visceras, controls blood vessels, strengthens intestines and the stomach, fills bone marrow, warms the waist and knees, and increases the strength of the body in general.
Statistics show that dog is the fourth most popular kind of meat in Korea after pork, beef and chicken. Dog meat has been eaten for more than 1,500 years. Koreans raised dogs from ancient times, just as they did cattle and pigs. Dogs guarded their homes and later were used for food to supply protein, which most of them lacked, since cattle were required for farming. Dog meat does not differ all that much from beef, pork or mutton, since it is also animal flesh.
The foreign critics should understand the fact that Koreans do not eat pets. They do not cook Poodles, Dalmatians, Yorkshire Terriers, Greyhounds, Saint Bernards, Spitzes, Bulldogs, Colies, Chihuahuas, Shunauzers or Spaniels. Ranchers breed the dogs used for food in the same way that cows, pigs and sheep are raised for slaughter.
Koreans who slaughter dogs with electricity might be more civilized than those French who use pipes to force food into the throats of geese, making their livers bigger and more delicious for ``foie gras,''
After Beijing was chosen at last as the venue of the 2008 Summer Olympics, the Chinese authorities, in a gesture of strong support for their culinary customs, invited some 30 journalists from Western countries to a dinner and provided them with a chance to try dog meat. It was a success. Few took issue with it later.
The previously mentioned BBC report was incorrect. Few Koreans eat dog meat for three meals a day. Dog meat is not that cheap. It is more expensive than other meats. Koreans mostly enjoy it as a special dish at restaurants, not at home.
Ju, the Korean folk scholar, said in his book that he likes dogs but eats dog meat, and although people should not eat snakes or frogs because they are wildlife, dog meat is edible because dogs are livestock.
Culture differs from country to country and those differences should be respected.
Chief Editorial Writer
Whenever big international events, like the Olympics or the World Cup, are held in this part of the planet, people in the United States and some European countries have raised their objections to a certain Korean culinary tradition.
Since Korea and Japan won the right to co-host the 2002 FIFA World Cup finals, which will finally open on May 31 in Seoul, Koreans' eating of dog meat has been a major target of criticism by some people in those countries.
A year ago, some self-proclaimed animal rights activists protested in front of the Korean embassies in London and Mexico City, threatening to launch a boycott campaign against Korean goods unless the government banned the ``barbaric'' eating of dog meat ahead of the World Cup. There have been no further reports about their next action.
Recently, a folk scholar, Ju Kang-hyon, 47, published a book titled ``Dog Meat and Cultural Imperialism,'' depicting the clash between eating dog meat in Korea and keeping dogs as pets in Western countries.
In conclusion, Ju asserted, ``The fact that dog meat becomes an issue is itself something like a @#$%.''
Weeks ago, the BBC reported that Koreans eat dog meat thrice a day, and a year ago, retired French actress Brigitte Bardot, known as an ardent supporter of animal rights, said that eating dog meat is a savage custom.
The Korean scholar described such biased views as the product of an imperialistic refusal to recognize other cultures, asserting that the Western media's criticism is intended to increase the consumption of beef.
Ju said that residents in most regions of China, the Philippines, Senegal and Polynesia enjoy dog meat, and showed a picture of a French placard hung at a dog butchery in Paris around 1910, proving that the French ate dog meat at that time.
Three weeks ago, I traveled to Beijing to see how the Chinese authorities were fighting the uninvited guest of spring, Asian dust, dubbed here as ``yellow sand.'' I stayed at the Telecom Hotel, a brand-new 23-story building, which was at a four or five-star level. Upon checking in, I found to my surprise a Korean restaurant in the lobby, and a woman clad in beautiful chima and chogori, traditional clothes of our country, standing in front of it to welcome customers.
Adding to my astonishment was a menu board on which ``dan gogi soup'' or sweet meat soup, was written. Dan gogi is the North Korean way of saying dog meat for its sweet taste. Needless to say, the hotel is an international facility, and I even encountered some German and American tourists in the lobby.
For a moment, I was envious of such a ``dignified'' Chinese approach toward selling dog meat in such an international place in its capital city, and soon became angry with the way our government has coped with the foreign criticism of our traditional culinary practices. My colleagues were no exception.
The Western press does not take issue with Chinese eating dog meat, but raises objections when Koreans are involved. Why?
We deserve criticism because we did not respond properly. Ironically, the sale and consumption of dog meat is illegal in Korea. The government introduced the ban just before the 1988 Seoul Olympics, concerned about the country's international image, designating it as ``disgusting food.''
Dog meat lovers argued that the government was currying favor with foreign dog lovers and obsessed with the idea of staging the Olympics successfully, without paying respect to a historical fact: dog meat soup, or ``posintang,'' is a traditional Korean food, particularly for the summer season.
As a result, we reluctantly found it necessary to change the name of dog meat soup to something more poetic, like ``sacholtang,'' meaning ``soup of four seasons," or to something more in the spirit of the event, like ``yongyangtang'' which means ``nutrition soup.'' Most dog meat restaurants even moved to back alleys, lest foreigners recoil in shock at the thought of their beloved pets being broiled or served in soup.
Former Korea Times food and wine columnist Betsy O'Brien described a dog meat restaurant in her book, ``The Seoul Food Guide,'' published in 1994: ``To get under the skin of Korean culture properly, you should really do what lots of Koreans do in the hottest period of the year - visit a restaurant which serves dog meat.
``Beliefs about this meat are widely held here in Korea. It is particularly prized as being easily digestible and endowed with properties to help the eater through the hot weather..So this is a uniquely Korean cuisine.''
According to ``Dongui-Bogam,'' the bible of Oriental medicine written by royal physician Hoh Jun (1546-1615) in 1613, dog meat comforts the five visceras, controls blood vessels, strengthens intestines and the stomach, fills bone marrow, warms the waist and knees, and increases the strength of the body in general.
Statistics show that dog is the fourth most popular kind of meat in Korea after pork, beef and chicken. Dog meat has been eaten for more than 1,500 years. Koreans raised dogs from ancient times, just as they did cattle and pigs. Dogs guarded their homes and later were used for food to supply protein, which most of them lacked, since cattle were required for farming. Dog meat does not differ all that much from beef, pork or mutton, since it is also animal flesh.
The foreign critics should understand the fact that Koreans do not eat pets. They do not cook Poodles, Dalmatians, Yorkshire Terriers, Greyhounds, Saint Bernards, Spitzes, Bulldogs, Colies, Chihuahuas, Shunauzers or Spaniels. Ranchers breed the dogs used for food in the same way that cows, pigs and sheep are raised for slaughter.
Koreans who slaughter dogs with electricity might be more civilized than those French who use pipes to force food into the throats of geese, making their livers bigger and more delicious for ``foie gras,''
After Beijing was chosen at last as the venue of the 2008 Summer Olympics, the Chinese authorities, in a gesture of strong support for their culinary customs, invited some 30 journalists from Western countries to a dinner and provided them with a chance to try dog meat. It was a success. Few took issue with it later.
The previously mentioned BBC report was incorrect. Few Koreans eat dog meat for three meals a day. Dog meat is not that cheap. It is more expensive than other meats. Koreans mostly enjoy it as a special dish at restaurants, not at home.
Ju, the Korean folk scholar, said in his book that he likes dogs but eats dog meat, and although people should not eat snakes or frogs because they are wildlife, dog meat is edible because dogs are livestock.
Culture differs from country to country and those differences should be respected.
Should we view the consumption of dogmeat as a horrible thing, or are we just being close minded and ethnocentric?
And do Koreans actually consume dog meat regularly? I don't mean to offend, I really don't know.
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