I am a huge dog lover. I think if given the choice of having to execute my dog or a human stranger, the biped would be a heap of flesh and blood in a matter of seconds.

That's our culture, though. We have a strong bond with our dogs and cats, that goes back thousands of years. We would never dream of eating them; in fact, the idea is quite frightening(even with BBQ sauce).

In certain East Asian countries, they have some different ideas. Benjy and Fido are quite the delicacy. When you order a doggie bag over there, you truly are getting a "doggie bag."

Do you condemn these countries and people? Some other cultures consider what we eat taboo, though. Ignorance is bliss, right? We go to the supermarket and look for the best looking filet, rack of ribs, or whatever else we need for dinner. But how many of us could actually take a cleaver to a cow or pig? Poor Bessie looking us in the face, mooing, with that cute little face. Could you jam that knife into Porker, listening to the harrowing screams of a pig that only wanted to roll in the mud?
Pigs are pretty intelligent animals, after all.

If someone in another country offered you dog or cat, would you try it? Would you chew into the flesh? Swallow? Maybe if it was a shitty breed, I know I might take the plunge. What does that say about me? When in Rome, I guess.....

I just wanted to see what all your takes are on the subject.

One of my best friends since high school has been working in China for most of the past 3 years. He's (sadly) a vegetarian, but says they do serve dog in restaurants. Let alone insects and everything else.

No, I would not be able to slaughter my own meal - but who knows if I had to, I probably would. A pet? No. Absolutely not. But some Chinese dog wasn't my pet, so presented with a dish from a chef there, I'd probably at least try it.

No one should condemn other cultures only because they're different. It's their lifestyle, not mine, but that doesn't make them wrong and us right. Tho, I would have to draw the line at cannibalism. I hear we're not a good cut of meat anyway.

Is that a joke, or a euphemism?

I am really having trouble understanding why this was done or why I should consider some humans worth anything.

To kill animals who worked tirelessly for you and would previously have greeted you with wagging tails and friendly licks is beyond depraved. I am not going to join PETA just yet but this is evil and the people involved ought to be imprisoned. Or maybe someone should chase them around with a rifle and see how they like it. Is this a culturally biased response? Yes it is.

"The killing went on for two days, and several of the deaths were grisly, the compensation board’s report said. When an initial shot failed to kill a dog that was the mother of the employee’s family pet, she ran around with her “cheek blown off and her eye hanging out” until she was felled by a rifle with a scope, according to the report. The bullet also penetrated another dog, which was not supposed to be part of the kill and which suffered for about 15 minutes before dying.
Another dog, left for dead for 20 minutes, emerged from a mass grave only to be shot again, the report said. The employee said he eventually wrapped his arms in foam padding after the frightened dogs began attacking him."

Dog Slaughter

Well said.

Since we think of dogs as pets, companions it is of course horrific to think of them as food in another culture. (Incidentally, monkeys are also a China delicacy and even though they're not pets here that is just as revolting).)

But I suppose in India, where cows are sacred we 'Westerners' are thought of in the same way for eating steak & burgers.

I personally cannot stand or fathom the utter cruelty of Bullfighting, not to mention that assinine annual tradition of 'Running of the Bulls'. (Is there anything done with these poor animals to at least give their deaths meaning after they are slowly taunted, tortured and killed in front of tens of thousands of cheering humans? Are they butchered for human/pet consumption or simply abused for sport & disposed of?) But...the Spanish were raised on it and we can 'condemn' the culture of it but it will not change a thing. (Would be nice though, if there were some animal rights activists over there who would be willing to take up the cause.)

Tell that to the rugby team that crashed in the Andes.

I think we all underestimate the power of hunger - REAL hunger. I think you'd be surprised what you could eat if you were faced with starvation.

A frozen dessert?

Con gusto!

I once saw a bison slaughtered and butchered. That was memorable. I bought some of its meat. I've seen chickens and turkeys beheaded too. I know a guy, who raises cattle for beef. Essentially, the cattle must be slaughtered by their third year or the meat gets tough. He told me that the quality of the grain, on which they feed, is important for proper marbling of the beef.

Good point, Babe.

Take away food, water and shelter for a few days, and you'll find out quickly that Darwin was right about just about everything.

PB, I know you're a fan of Stephen King's. Have you read "Under The Dome"? It broaches that very subject, how quickly we would turn on one another when our civilization collapses.

I remember reading about those poor boys who were adopted in (I think) New Jersey. The parents adopted several children, but for some reason, these boys were banished to the basement and starved. There were times they were so hungry, the chewed on sheetrock.

You really think that eating pets or other people, if it was you or them, wouldn't occur?? I think it would happen, and more quickly than we care to think.

Yup. Great example, Babe.

I'm stating the obvious here

BUT..... the dogs/cats killed for meat aren't anybody's pets...

in essence they are livestock

I owned a dog when I was a kid and cried for days when he got hit by a car. I generally like dogs and cats BUT they are like any and every other animal on earth. Within reason, human beings use and kill animals for a variety of reasons,and I don't have a problem with it.

Nothing against people who choose to be vegetarians, but it's harder to cook for them. I hate fake meat.

I'm with this opinion as well as being amongst others further up in the thread.

I'm not particularly squeemish. I don't flinch at the sight of animals cut for the purpose of food. However if I was the one killing the animal I'd be apprehensive but all the same I'd be able to do it. I once killed a wild rabbit with a golf club (no joke) for the purpose of putting it out of its misery as it was ridden with myxomatosis. If I had to kill to eat I wouldn't have too much of a problem with it.

However however however!!!

I totally condemn dog/cat or ANY animal used as food if their living standards are as poor as we're led to believe for dogs in countries where they're eaten. Just in the same manner I won't go anywhere near battery fed chicken/eggs.

I definitely agree it's harder to cook with fake meat if you're also preparing food for a carniverous bunch. But I genuinely like some of the meat alternatives - though the texture prevents a certain amount of binding with some ingredients.

As they say, a dog is for life, not just for Christmas....and certainly not the dinner plate

Chosen diet is just like any other lifestyle choice, often 'inherited', more often a question of convenience; it might often boil down to weekly shopping budget whether or not you'll buy meat from something that lived under horrendous conditions or something that lived in comparative freedom.

I don't buy that tokenist claim of 'freedom' though, not when the act of ending an animal's life is in itself brutal. That's an argument that reeks of hypocrisy: "It had such a great life, so it's okay that we end it prematurely."

At this point, because of advances in technology and the way we produce and sustain our food, we don't need to eat meat; and therefore I don't think we should.

Claiming 'fake meat' is shit is simply down to exposure.

I see a lot of cultural exclusivism in this thread.