Eating Dogs! Yikes!

I know that this is a gross and disgusting subject, but I feel like someone should talk about it, so that's what I'm going to do today.  And if you don't want to read about it, I will totally understand.

Anyway, here it is, the horrible truth:  There are people who EAT DOGS, just like they would eat chicken or pork or beef.  And in my opinion, that is just not right.  In some countries, the eating of dogs is now against the law, but not everywhere.

One of the countries where dogs are eaten the most is China.  People have been eating dogs there for thousands and thousands of years.  The Chinese call dog meat "fragrant meat" or "mutton of the earth."  Many Chinese through the ages believed that this meat would act like medicine and keep their bodies warmer and healthier, so they especially liked to eat it in the winter.

Chinese people have always kept dogs as pets, and they do not eat their pet dogs.  They only eat dogs that are specially raised to be used for meat.  Usually, these dogs get made into meat when they are between 6 and 12 months old.  And the way they are usually cooked is they are made into stew or else they are roasted.

It is still an accepted practice to eat dog meat in China, but most Chinese people don't eat dogs nowadays. In fact, some people are totally against eating dog meat because the dogs are not treated nicely, and they are killed in cruel ways.  There's a group called the Chinese Animal Protection Network that has been protesting the eating of dogs and cats.  A lot of people think this group has the right idea, so they have signed a pledge online that they will never ever eat dog or cat meat.

In Japan, people eat dogs that they import from China.  Some other countries where people really like to eat dog meat are Indonesia, Ghana, Nigeria, Tonga, Vietnam, and East Timor.

In Korea, people used to eat a lot of dog meat, but now it is against the law to use it as a food ingredient.  Here are some other countries where people used to eat dogs, but now they don't:  Mexico, The Philippines, Polynesia, Switzerland, France, and Germany.

In a lot of countries, eating dog meat is not really against the law, but it is considered to be "taboo," which means people think it's icky, so they just don't do it.  This is true in places like Canada and India.  It's also true in the U.S., but some states have actually made eating dog meat illegal, and other states haven't.

Some American Indian tribes used to eat dog meat.  Captain Lewis and Captain Clark reported this when they were on their Big Expedition to the West Coast, during which they met lots of Indians.  Captain Lewis thought dog meat tasted pretty yummy, but Captain Clark could not bring himself to eat a dog.  Anyway, even though dog meat was a delicacy for some Indian tribes, for others, like the Apaches, it was a taboo to eat it.

One problem with eating dog meat is that if it is not inspected and stuff, like other types of meat are, it can make you sick.  Just last year, some people in Vietnam got sick with cholera because they ate infected dog meat.  And people have also gotten rabies from eating it.

During my in-depth research, I found two descriptions of what dog meat tastes like.  One person said it tastes more like pork than like any other kind of meat, but it also has its very own flavor.  There are a lot of bones in it, kind of like chicken has, but the skin is tougher and more fatty.

The other person said that dog meat tastes like mutton, but that it is leaner, and it has lots of bones.  Also there is some skin attached, which makes it chewy.

Mom says that if she were starving to death, and there was nothing else to eat, she would eat dog meat.  This is what some of the explorers in Antarctica and the Arctic had to do.  They had to eat some of their sled dogs in order to keep from starving.  But Mom says she would not eat any of her own dogs, which I was glad to hear her say.  I guess I would eat dog meat, too, if I was really hungry, but I wouldn't want anybody to eat ME.  So what I think people should do is mostly just eat other kinds of meat that doesn't come from dogs.  Or better yet, just eat plants!