Dog - it isn’t for dinner so stop asking (복날 and Korean canine cuisine)
Tuesday, September 15th, 2009
I know what you’re thinking. Don’t worry, it’s not one of those posts. I’ll keep it civil. First, I’d like to point out a brief summary via everyone’s favorite online resource. Essentially, if/when you come to Korea, don’t expect to see dogs dangling from store fronts and dog being served at every meal because it’s just not that common of a dish. Understandably, some misinterpret the consumption of dog as an insult to their way of life. Like all things, some take the practice to a new level of ridiculous. Like this commentator points out, different isn’t always wrong.
The history of dog as a food source goes way back to the dog days of summer, known as 삼복 or 복날. These three days had a prescription to beat the heat - fight fire with fire, so to say. Fight the heat with a hot dish. Makes perfect sense. See, I’m much more inclined to eat 콩국수, but that’s just me.
If it’s eaten nowadays, it’s usually in the form of 보신탕 which is said to be a great overall virility booster. But then again, 복분자 is supposed to do the same, but I end up just getting sleepy.
But get real. Not all Koreans are into eating Fido. In fact, great efforts are being made to change the “energy-boosting” trend. In my personal opinion, it’s getting more and more difficult to attest to Korea’s cultural homogeneity. Genetic homogeneity is still pretty much as exclusive as the Finer Things Club. Still exclusive but slowly changing, no less.
It really gives new meaning to the ‘dog days of summer’ doesn’t it? (oh come on, how couldn’t I make that reference in this post?) Although the tradition of eating hot food on 복날 is still practiced, a great alternative is the delicious 삼계탕. A chicken is still socially acceptable to eat, right?
What it all comes down to is just a cultural difference. Case in point: In America, it gives no one pause to eat cow. But, it’s not nearly as common to do so in India. Likewise, to eat a dog in America is considered uncivilized and culturally taboo. In Korea, it kind of is, too, but not as severe a taboo. But look around. Historically and geographically, have you seen mass pastures for cow grazing in Korea? Then why would it be just as common to eat cow in Korea as America? The amount of dog meat actually consumed in Korea is not well-documented but it has been estimated as low as 5% and as high as 30% of the population who have eaten the dish. So, Lassie is still man’s best friend. Even in Korea.
Personally? I’m not against the consumption of any animal. Keep in mind I’m a former vegan. It’s all a matter of perspective. It’s easy to judge some other country’s diet and say “that’s disgusting” and for them to go ahead and say the same about yours. But that doesn’t get anyone anywhere. While I am not up to trying ultra-exotic foods like this guy, I’m culturally sensitive enough to know that what I consider abso-frakin-lutely delicious is at the bottom of someone else’s food ladder. Not everyone thinks 된장찌개 is heaven-sent. But, I try to look at “strange” food as I do with beer. Some beers seem better suited to clean the heads of gold clubs overnight instead of being consumed, but I respect someone else’s choice. Just because my buddy is drinking a Beck’s Dark doesn’t make him a bad person. In the end, it’s all the same. Beer is beer and food is food.
UPDATE: AAK wrote a nice, lengthy writeup recently, too. Funny how we both used the same basic title though my article was written back in June. Here’s a self-imposed compliment - great minds think alike, right?
Shameless….
Thoughts?
Posted by Matthew in How Koreans Do It |
September 15th, 2009 at 9:25 pm
It’s not so much the eating of dogs that’s offensive, it’s the way they are treated. They are eaten as an aphrodisiac rather than as food and the idea is that they more they suffer, the greater the effect - so dogs (and cats) are slowly tortured to death by being beaten to death or boiled alive rather than humanely killed. The Korean attitude is absolutely obscene and a disgrace to the human race.
September 16th, 2009 at 6:46 am
Beck’s isn’t a beer.
Never forget this.
Beck’s isn’t a beer.
September 16th, 2009 at 5:50 pm
I’m actually not against people eating dogs, but as Norman Wisdom says, it’s the way they are killed that’s the problem. I mean, we eat horse meat here, which I hear isn’t that common. I don’t think I’ve ever eaten it, though. I’m a vegetarian myself, but I don’t mind people eating meat. I even ate meat this summer - it’s impossible to eat only vegetarian food in Korea if you’re forced to go out to eat every meal… and now those meat replacements just don’t taste like meat anymore… Shame.
September 16th, 2009 at 7:33 pm
Let’s not forget though that our own standard meats aren’t treated completely humanely either. Of course we don’t necessarily torture them first, but chickens aren’t raised nor killed in the nicest of circumstances, and the method to cook things such as lobster is, unless I’m mistaken, to dump the live animal into boiling water.
I think it may be a little less an issue of how the animal is treated/killed, and more an issue of what we are or are not desensitised to in our own culture especially when it comes to the treatment of what we generally consider food.
I am a huge animal lover but I’m also a huge lover of being a carnivore. I can look away while cattle and poultry and fish are killed for food, but it only takes a mention of ‘not-generally-food’ animals (wild animals, sea creatures, etc) being killed or treated badly to reduce me to tears.
I certainly wouldn’t condemn someone for eating dog meat, if that’s their thing, just like I wouldn’t expect a vegetarian to be disrepectful enough to condemn me for eating other meat.
But I would probably cry if anyone served me something and told me it was dog.
September 18th, 2009 at 3:28 am
It’s the problem concerning with the cultures of each countries.
so don’t insult another country.
you eat some animal something like pig,horse,frog,chicken,cow and so on. right?
dog is also a kind of animal
yeah difinitly I know that maybe a dog is pet in your culture.
but also pig or horse or something like that are pet for some people.
and korean never eat the dogs you think as your pet. there’s dogs korean can eat.. and in india why india people never eat beef?
because beef is really important presences for them right ? as like you who was growing up in there which can’t be permit for eating dog meat.
why you never eat dogs? because they are very important being for your culture like india. but in korea dog has not such the importance as in case of your culture.
so that’s really rude If you insult korean culture.
okay we will also begin to insult your cultures.
okay? are you happy? you have close mind. you’re really such a man who can’t escape from your own surrounding.
September 18th, 2009 at 6:55 am
Billy just dosen’t get it. Eating dogs in itself is no more offensive than eating any other animal - but torturing them to death is extremely offensive to any human being with an ounce of compasssion and anyone who thinks that is ‘culture’ is no better than the Nazis
September 18th, 2009 at 10:31 pm
@ 규리 - no argument there ㅋㅋ
@ Norman Wisdom - Although I partially agree with you, I have to agree with Taliana that to the best of my knowledge, dogs are no more brutally treated than the common chicken. Chickens live a downright crappy life prior to being served on my plate. Although I’m glad you didn’t nitpick the animal itself (i.e. you got my point) I’m curious - have you seen information that leads us to believe that dogs are treated worse than say the common chicken, pig or cow? Even still, I’d wager that the treatment of dog is not why the majority of westerners frown upon the consumption of dog. It’s most likely due to the fact that eating dog sounds freakin ridiculous in an American setting.
@ Taliana - I agree. However, I don’t get sad when I think about animals being killed for food. But please don’t take that to heart - I’m a total sellout. Being a former vegan, I know all too well the treatment of livestock and the lifestyle that a cruelty-free life can provide. It’s a good life with very few regrets. The inconveniences out-way the life-respecting choices. Just not for me anymore. Otherwise, I 100% agree with you.
@ billy - I’m not exactly sure who your argument is aimed at. I certainly am not insulting Koreans. If anything, I’m defending Koreans. I don’t think eating dog is weird. For the sake of my own curiosity, do you mind specifying who are you directing your comments? If you are meaning to say those things to me, I would kindly suggest that you reread my post carefully.
September 18th, 2009 at 10:41 pm
[…] Dog – it isn’t for dinner so stop asking (복날 and Korean canine cuisine) […]
September 18th, 2009 at 11:59 pm
There was a television documentary about the treatment of dogs and cats in Korea. The dogs are kept alive in cages inside the ‘restaurant’. When one is required, they are dragged from the cage and tortured or beaten to death in full view of all the other dogs awaiting their fate. As I said in my previous post, the dogs are eaten not for food but for their supposed aphrodisiac qualities - the sub-human morons who eat them believe that the more the animal suffers before it dies, the stronger the aphrodisiac effect. They also eat cats with the same idea and these are thrown alive into boiling water. If that sort of thing is anyone’s idea of ‘culure’ you’ve gotta be some sort of sick pervert.
September 19th, 2009 at 3:42 am
Cause just being ignorant to an animal’s suffering is so much better. Honestly, shut up Norman.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JJ–faib7to
September 19th, 2009 at 4:25 am
Norman, you should watch videos on how Americans/westerners raise and slaughter the majority of their own consumption animals. Chickens receiving the worst torture of all.
Watch a video on how ‘kosher’ animals are killed.
Watch a video on how the Japanese slaughter dolphins by slitting their throats while they’re alive.
Read about how the Chinese raise bears in cages designed to not let them stand up, then beating and skinning them ALIVE.
Most of that stuff (I think) is more terrifying than beating dogs to death. Now I’m not trying to justify the Korean attitude to slaughtering dogs.. I do not like it. But it is hypocritical of you to point a finger at just one culture. If you’re saying it’s more evil to kill a dog because they’re more intelligent than other animals or considered more important to other cultures then I repeat, you are a hypocrite. Animals are receiving worse torture than those dogs around the world, and yet you blame just the one culture. So who is being sub-human?
September 19th, 2009 at 6:21 am
Sure, all the other instances of animal mistreatment are just as bad as what the Koreans do to dogs and cats - but that dosen’t make it okay. The comments about the Korean situation are because that is the subject of the original post! Having said that, there is at least an attempt in most civilised societies to to kill animals humanely rather than going out of their way to cause suffering. The Koreans know what they are doing is barbaric - when the 2002 soccer World Cup was hosted in Seoul, the authorities went round temporarily closing the dog ‘restaurants’ because they did not want foreign visitors to see what they do.
October 11th, 2009 at 11:36 am
Yikes, I came to this blog entry rather late, so I seem to have missed all the fireworks…
Matthew, I think billy’s comment was aimed at Norman, not you, so no worries.
I think as (many of us here, anyway) first-world Westerners, we’d be shocked at the stories behind the foods we eat. I’m not just talking about horror stories about dogs being beaten in a sack, chickens being raised in tiny cages, lobsters being boiled alive… I’m talking about the supposedly innocuous things: strawberries, chocolate, coffee… In the name of keeping prices down for the consumer, exploitation seems to be the name of the game.
It’s something I’m not proud of as a Westerner, but I guess I’m a hypocrite since I consume meat, chocolate, and fruit without a thorough investigation of the source.
October 27th, 2009 at 10:51 am
First of all, ‘Norman Dumbass’ is a frizzing uneducated idiot.
He sounds like he knows a heck of a lot about Korea.. ‘they boil cats, treat them inhumanely’. Actually Dumbass, that’s China.
Dumbass, most of South Korea don’t eat dogs. The younger generation sure don’t. South Koreans don’t eat as much meat as Americans do. They rarely eat dogs, but when they do, they kill them in a much more humane way than Americans slaughter livestock (cows, pigs, chicken).
and NO, we don’t eat cats LOL again, shows what an ignorant moron you are
I’m a South Korean who’s planning on going to vet school, and I would take much better care of a dog or cat than a stupid American like you.
I sure hope America’s not full of mental retards like you, Norman Dumbass.
January 23rd, 2010 at 12:35 am
Way late on this thread, but 복날 개패듯 is one of my favorite Korean phrases