วันศุกร์ที่ 12 พฤศจิกายน พ.ศ. 2553

Foreign Food - Being Open to New Tastes When on Vacation

Dog Food

What is the worst thing you ever ate? -- Mom's meatloaf? A little raw fish in your authentic Japanese sushi? Maybe when you were a kid, you ate an earthworm on a dare to impress that little red-headed girl in elementary school? Is there anything that you just wouldn't eat? - anything that couldn't make it past your lips, no matter what?

At night in the Pearl River Delta, restaurants with signs offering "fragrant meat" can be seen in almost every city in Guangdong, in mainland China. It is much more expensive than pork or beef, and has a reputation of "warming you up on cold days". It sounds delicious, and healthy. Why wouldn't any tourist want to try this tantalizing local food?

Wait a minute. What is this eclectic meat? After all, Chinese menus have a tradition of slightly odd dishes. You know, baby pigeon... goose feet... snake soup... pig's blood, even stinky tofu, but what in the name of Julia Childs is fragrant meat?

This meat is dog, mostly from Chinese dogs and other big breeds, served roasted, stewed, or sliced, with vegetables and noodles in a Chinese hot pot. Yes, I did say dogs. This is a Chinese gastronomic habit that goes back hundreds of puppy years. Most canine-loving customers are men in their forties and fifties who also like to drink potent Chinese liquor while Chinese-chowing (pardon the pun!) down on a delicious dog meat hot pot.

Even though dog dominates the local menus, cat is slightly less popular in the cooking pots, but readily available. However, for the daring tourist, a stew of cat and snake with assorted spices has the adventurous name "dragon duels with tiger". Snakes and other animals may be tasty, but dogs and cats are still at the top of the menu, with ten million dogs and four million cats sold on the mainland for human consumption every year.

Besides Snoopy and Garfield, Guangdong people also have a well-known taste for wildlife with medicinal qualities, believing that stewed turtle cures cancer, crocodile meat cures asthma, and scorpion venom aids stroke victims. Animal markets in the province sell snakes, scorpions, cats and dogs, and dozens of different species of birds and turtles, many of which are endangered, and all of which are destined to end up spending their final days in Chinese restaurants, and traditional Chinese medicine pharmacies.

The dog meat industry is very prosperous, exporting to seventeen countries including Russia, Japan and Korea. It also employs approximately one hundred thousand people, and has annual sales of almost one billion Chinese yuan.

Now, before your stomach heaves like a Taiwanese earthquake, consider these questions. Why is the dachshund shaped like a sausage? Why do we call it a hot dog? Why is the Chinese chow named after army food? And schnockers, schnoodles and schweenies, all breeds of dogs, just sound tooooo delicious. Why is the dog more noble than the pig? Who decides who is a pet, and who is an appetizer?

So, let's add some fun to Grandma's family cookbook. How about German shepherd's pie? Eskimo dog sandwich? Mexican Chihuahua taco? What's your pet dish?

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