Yulin Dogmeat Festival

[Naftal]

Seriously-

   My editor claims there is such a thing, and wants a story about it. Naturally, knowing of eG, I volunteered to do the story (if, that is, no one jumped on it before I did). I also figured that this might be an interesting thing for the rest of us to follow, too.  So, can anyone give me info? photos? You can PM me if that is easier, since I would like to use photos in the article, if and when I get the assignment.

 

 

--Thanks!        

[liuzhou]

This has been widely covered by the media in the past - certainly last year and the one before. A search of Google News turns up more background than you probably need.

 

Personally, I think the whole thing would have faded away if the protesters hadn't fed it so much publicity. Although people do eat dog around here, it is becoming less and less common as a new middle class take up pet ownership as a status symbol.

 

I'd also be wary of soliciting photos. Apart from copyright issues, many of the photographs going round are fakes sponsored by the more extreme animal rights people.

[Naftal]

9 minutes ago, liuzhou said:

This has been widely covered by the media in the past - certainly last year and the one before. A search of Google News turns up more background than you probably need.

 

Personally, I think the whole thing would have faded away if the protesters hadn't fed it so much publicity. Although people do eat dog around here, it is becoming less and less common as a new middle class take up pet ownership as a status symbol.

 

I'd also be wary of soliciting photos. Apart from copyright issues, many of the photographs going round are fakes sponsored by the more extreme animal rights people.

liuzhou-(I do not know how to highlight your name, sorry) Thank you for setting me straight on this.  I was looking forward to your input.

[liuzhou]

33 minutes ago, Naftal said:

liuzhou-(I do not know how to highlight your name, sorry) Thank you for setting me straight on this.  I was looking forward to your input.

 

I was just looking through those articles. It seems they were mostly, if not all, written by people who weren't actually there. Although I've been to Yulin many times, never during the festival. Not by planning.

 

My main objection to eating dog meat is that it just doesn't taste very good. Carnivorous mammals seldom do. Here is my main recollection of eating dog meat.

 

(To highlight a name, type @ followed by the name (no space) or select from the popup name list)

Edited May 5, 2016 by liuzhou
clarification (log)

[Naftal]

@liuzhou- Thanks again for all your input. I may not be tremendously smart, but I am a quick learner.

[JohnT]

All quite disgusting to me! AP just had a story in our local news: http://www.news24.com/World/News/chinese-city-ignores-protests-holds-dog-meat-festival-20160621

[Martin Fisher]

I'm definitely NOT interested in woking a dog!!! 

[blue_dolphin]

Also a small article on the NYT site: Dog Meat and Lychees: A Pairing Meant to Make You Feel Warm Inside

 

Edited to add link to a longer 2015 article: Chinese City Defends Dog Meat Festival, Despite Scorn

 

Edited June 21, 2016 by blue_dolphin (log)

[Shelby]

I can't even bring myself to open the links.  My heart breaks for those poor dogs.  I would rescue every single one if I could.  I am very open-minded ( I think ) about other cultures and their eating habits, but I can't do this one. 

[paul o' vendange]

As a dog lover and a person who often even feels more canine than home sapiens, yes, this offends me to the quick.  That said, I realize the hypocrisy in such a sentiment.

 

I will say, however:  I'm a dyed-in-the-wool hunter.  Itself, a contentious issue.  The most serious responsibility I take, whether consuming meat someone else killed or killing an animal and eating it myself, is that needless cruelty plays no part in the animal's life, nor in its death.  I owe everything I have to kill the animal without suffering, and to treat its life, its death, and its flesh, with the utmost dignity and respect.

 

I don't personally care if the image of that poor animal was "planted" by a protest group or not.  The image of that tortured, sentient creature, is as bad as images I've seen from the worst of agribusiness crimes.  Whoever did such a thing, whoever supports such a thing, in my opinion, should be deeply, deeply ashamed.

[Tere]

When I was in Thailand in November 2002 we went to visit a hill tribe somewhere north of Chiang Mai, right in the middle of nowhere. They wove for a living (amazing scarves) and all around the place were little very fat puppies being plumped up for some special dish for New Year. At least they had the run of the place and seemed to be treated well before heading for the pot.

[Thanks for the Crepes]

I am very tolerant of the differences of other cultures as well, and understand hunger from first hand experience. I can see eating canine, or equine species, although I adore both as pets and companion animals. I might even eat insects if starving. If necessity is dictating your survival eating choices, sometimes one may have to go native Donner Pass. For those who may not be familiar with that sad part of American history. Here is a link and an excerpt from Wiki:

 

"To reach California from the East, pioneer emigrants had to get their wagons over theSierra Nevada mountain range. In 1844 the Stephens-Townsend-Murphy Party followed theTruckee River into the mountains. At the head of what is now called Donner Lake, they found a low notch in the mountains and became the first overland emigrants to use the pass.^[2] The pass was named after a later group of California-bound emigrants. In early November 1846 the Donner Party found the route blocked by snow and was forced to spend the winter on the east side of the mountains. Of the 81 emigrants, only 45 survived to reach California;^[3] some of them resorting to cannibalism to survive."

 

Conditions were very, very dire in post-war Vietnam, and I have seen a PBS documentary about some of the things folks ate in order to stay alive. It was not pretty, but some things that came out of it are still eaten today when things are much more plentiful, including insects.

 

Unless I'm starving, no canine, equine or insect flesh for me, thank you very much. I can't look down from my (relative, as I am not in comparison to the average person here) position of privilege and condemn what others eat, I don't believe, though.

 

 

[Tere]

I've eaten insects, again in Thailand - deep fried scorpion and crickets. They were tasty! Reminded me a bit of the Chinese crispy "seaweed" (that I think is cabbage) somehow. Good crunch.

 

Honeyed bee larvae in Matsumoto were a bit more challenging, the soggy texture was a bit offputting.