Is it any worse to eat a dog than a pig?!
Is it any worse to eat a dog than a pig?
To me it seems strange that some people will eat certain species of animals and not others based entirely upon appearance or convention.
If I ate meat (which I don't) I would try every kind of meat I could including horse, dog, insects, walrus, slug, veal, camel and so on and then choose a diet of the tastiest animals.
Do you agree?
Should we be able to buy dog meat or horse meat from a supermarket?
If not then why not?
4 weeks ago
So the main argument against eating unusual animals is that of sentimentalism being more important than logic.
Of course if I needed a horse for transport or ploughing, or a trained hunting dog for obtaining food then I would not eat it. But if I did not keep the animal as my own pet why would it be wrong to eat it?
4 weeks ago
Blue Sea - I have travelled to 4 continents and have visited numerous places which produce unusual animals. I have been to farms where camels, kangaroos, aligators, crocodiles, emus and other strange creatures are kept as livestock. I am fully aware that local fauna is generally consumed by indigenous populations.
Answers:
4 weeks ago
So the main argument against eating unusual animals is that of sentimentalism being more important than logic.
Of course if I needed a horse for transport or ploughing, or a trained hunting dog for obtaining food then I would not eat it. But if I did not keep the animal as my own pet why would it be wrong to eat it?
4 weeks ago
Blue Sea - I have travelled to 4 continents and have visited numerous places which produce unusual animals. I have been to farms where camels, kangaroos, aligators, crocodiles, emus and other strange creatures are kept as livestock. I am fully aware that local fauna is generally consumed by indigenous populations.
It's quite simple:
We don't eat certain animals because they are either unpleasant to eat - dog for example (predators are rarely good fare - or because they historically have had a different application - horses have been used for various tasks including; transport and haulage.
Sentiment is also a large issue. Though it may stem from the animals being used in the past for work, this does not lessen the feelings of fondness for them.
I submit this to you: If choice of fare is based on preference, then surely sentimentality is a large factor. If you do not wish to eat something as you feel it would upset you - either through taste, or fondness for the animal - it is equally valid.
Morally, your question is valid of course. The answer is simple - neither is actually worse than the other. However I personally believe that to refuse meat on moral grounds is thouroughly nieve. The majority of people are not about to stop eating meat. When we live in an idealistic utopian society (ie: never) we may wish to consider our eating habits in this regard, but when injustice and violence are a significant daily occurance, it's absurd to consider it an important issue.
I know what you're going to say Keiran and I'll deal with it right now - no, the frequency of other immorality is not an excuse for smaller ones. However, I'm not convinced that killing animals for food is immoral at all. Please give me a cohearant and reasonable arguement to support it and I'll consider your position, but that is not the issue that we're dealing with here.
Please forgive any spelling mistakes - the spellchecker wouldn't work.
s long as its cooked properly it shouldn't matter
As soon as you give an animal a name you cant eat it. Also dogs are about 10 times cuter then pigs so why not. :)
sigh i agree fully lol. the ideas of what is and is not allowed to be eaten is silly and ive never quite understood. the only thing i can think of is they decided that some animals were too usefull alive to eat so they got so ingrained into tradition as not being edible even though they are..
still... the thought of eating a dog.. eek.. not when theirs one sitting right beside me i call friend!!
for the record though im vegetarian too... i couldnt concider eating any kind of meat.. short of ingredients in bread and chocolate i wouldnt do eggs or milk either... and if i knew where to find bread without milk in it, i wouldnt even have that!!
As someone who is now vegetarian, though growing up in a meat-eating household, we ate a number of different animals (pretty standard fare + seafood + some game) and it really wasn't a matter of taste, but a matter of availability. For many, certain animals are "loved" as pets, and so the matter of eating pets is seen as gruesome.
Personally, I probably wouldn't eat dog or cat, simply because to me, they are a pet, and I've always lived around them. However, I can understand people in different cultures who do eat them, to those people, the animals are not pets, but a food supply. Also, depending on how the dog was raised, I would imagine that the meat would tend to be kind of tough, so it wouldn't be that great anyhow.
My teacher told us that she once had a pet pig that she and her husband let inside the house, but her husband decided that he didn't want it like that anymore, so he had it killed and they ate it. For me, I dont think I could eat something like that without being repulsed, I have this thing against eating pets..
But in Europe, Asia, Africa, etc, eating habits are different, and I can respect that...
Choices of meat are usually cultural,most people in West would possibly shy away from dog meat,although I believe it's eaten in some Asian countries.
Shouldn't be a problem if tour a carnivore,what meat you eat
I don't know why it should seem so strange to you. It's no different than Hindus not eating cows. Domestic pets just hold a place in Americans' and many others' hearts.
But in answer to your question, no it is no different to eat a dog than a pig.
*puke*
Nope......
Dog is man's best friend but if I was starving I would eat dog.
Eat whatever takes your fancy..I myself never eat anything with four legs
hmmm i've wondered that too. maybe from what i can tell is that in most countries dogs are more often pets than pigs... i have a dog and two pigs...as far as buying it in the grocery store sure why not except i'm sure there would be lots of people that would object and try explaining that to someone's five year old kid
Because although you can keep any animal as a pet technically, it is much more likely to keep a dog or a horse as a pet than a pig. And plus, pigs are specifically bred to be killed for us to eat, whereas dogs and horses tend not to be.
why not try everything even cockroach mmmm
had dog & cat from local takeaway its ok in curry,
you dont find many cats around takeaways ??
one of the chinese takaways neer me had 2 alsations in the freezer,
Good point - it was discussed in todays paper in an article about chinese food. It was said because china's food was based on famine principles, that people had to eat whatever they could when they got the opportunity that edible animals, birds and insects were all the same to them. The idea of a pet dog was ridiculous to some. So if you're prepared to kill something living for food then yeah why not eat dogs and cats as well as cows and sheep. I can't see tesco putting lassie or trigger on the shelves anytime soon though.
Depending on what country you are in you can pretty much buy any meat you want. It depends on customs, traditions and what people will eat. In the U.S. of course, we raise our eyebrows to the fact that people eat dog and horse whereas people from India believe we're all going to hell for eating beef.
Walrus is another story, Eskimos, of course, use it as a main stay of their diet in addition to seals.
You need to branch out and read some books and learn about the world in which you live!
i personally would not eat a dog simply because in our culture they are seen as pets and companions but i see nothing wrong in other cultures/countries eating them. i eat beef and dont know why anyone should be offended or find that wrong.
It is because some animals are thought to be more companion animals (i.e. dogs, cats, horses) and some are meant to be meat for human consumption (i.e. Cows, pigs, sheep).
=]
Dogs are intelligent creatures with emotional and loving values as are horses. Horses are graceful and useful in regards to farming and are one of the most beautiful creatures on the planet.
A dog is a friend as well as a companion, I have 2 Jack Russell's and an Alaskan husky, they make me laugh everyday and are great companions and are very protective of me..
All these creatures have personalities as do pigs and believe it or not chickens.
I don't eat meat anymore( for the past 5 yrs) and I have seen things which would make you vomit if you travelled as much as I have.
The Chinese massacre 500,000 dogs and cats every yr in
the most cruelest manner and conditions. They even believe to kill a creature in the most cruelest manner enhances the flavour of the meat!
You should check out UTube under cruelty and massacre to get an idea of what I am talking about.
The Asian Countries of this world excluding India are the most evil of nations when it comes to animal cruelty...
no no no
the reason you do not eat pig or dog is they are carnivores and are not a natural part of the food chain.
Humans should only eat non carnivores. Pig is not a natural food for humans. But modern farming makes it safe.
I think eating meat should be discouraged and vegetarianism is the future.
Food is a very psycological subject and 'reason' is very far away from why we eat what we eat. It is more about tradition and habit.
I can see what you mean. Im an animal lover, and I suppose a bit of a hypocrite. Idon't eat much meat, occasionally some chicken.Can you imagine the outcry if labelled dog or horse meat in supermarkets. Which brings me to a some-what more sensitive topic. Some religons cut the the animals throat to kill it. I totally disagree with this.In their countries we have to abide by their laws. So I think that the goverment should stop ***** footing and make them abide by ours. If we cut an animals throat, we'd be brought up on animal cruelty charges. At the end of the day I think that if they chose to live in the west (as many of them do) why should there be any allowances made when their law IS THEIR LAW
What a great question! I read the answers before my answer. You can see that we have grown into a country of narrow minded people. We shrug at other countries and their cultures. This is why we are at war with another country. We just can't accept what or how others do or feel.
I have traveled the world, and every country I always wanted to eat what "the" people ate. Insects, donkey, horse, cat, kangaroo, camel, organ meat, and so forth. I figured if they were kind enough to invite me into their homes, I surely wasn't going to turn my nose up and say something foolish to embarrass my host or their country. Sometimes I found it quite delicious, other times I had difficulty swallowing because of what it was. Elephant organs are my least favorite. Cat is a little salty just like the other carnivores, and dog is stringy and salty.
But like I said, a lot of these dishes were prepared to feed a family, not to be repulsive to me. So don't judge others by what they eat or don't eat. Just do your thing and let them do theirs.
If it were acceptable in this country, and there was a market for it, then why not? In countries where it is acceptable, you can buy them at their markets.
I'm with you on this one. If we're gonna eat animals, then why not eat any animals that taste good? My wife's American and says she wouldn't eat horse meat cos it's such a big part of American culture and heritage. To me as a Brit, it's not that big a part of our history, so I'd have no qualms eating it.
I don't buy this argument that we shouldn't eat things with personality - pigs are pretty high on the intelligence scale, but there's no getting around the fact that bacon tastes pretty damned good, so most people don't think about the fact that there used to be an intelligent brain guiding the meat they eat around.
I wouldn't necessarily put EVERYTHING on the menu, because there are species that are pretty damn close to extinction, and if there's one thing our fishing industries have proved, it's that if there's a market for the taste of particular animals, we are now entirely capable of superceding their natural reproductive cycles and hunting them out of existence.
But as far as I'm concerned, if it tastes good and isn't endangered, let's get it on the shelves. Question though - on this logic, shouldn't human meat be available? People would undoubtedly draw a line there and ensure it was meat made available by "natural causes", but people carry donor cards to ensure their organs will do some good after they've stopped using them. Maybe you should be able to carry a similar card stating that you want to be used in your own funeral banquet, so everybody can take a little bit of you with them?
When everyone's starving and there's nothing left to eat, I am most definitely sure that people will eat anything, um, even each other, sorry to say. Outside of that situation, what is acceptable as food depends roughly on the culture and socialization. If you are going to provide dog or horse meat in the supermarket, the sales probably wouldn't do so well in most Western countries. But then again, what are hot dogs made out of?
no, my friend had a pet pig and it was pretty cool, i see no difference. Animal is animal and they belong to man. I will eat both.
I eat meat. It tastes good. I do not care what animal it came from, as long as it tastes good. People in this country are weird, there is no doubt about it. Can't eat horse or dog, love pig and cow. Country people are considered weird by some if they eat squirrel. Americans are stupid. That's all I have to say about it. Emotion over practicality all the time.
Dogs are very intelligent. They are man's BEST FRIEND! NOT TO BE EATEN! Pigs are different. Pigs are consumed as livestock. You cant exactly say that pigs are stupid. It depends on the people. In China people consume DOGS! In Japan, people eat fried, big lizards saying it is healthy. They even drink turtles blood as a delicacy.
We should not be killing animals particularly because, THEY DIDN'T DO US ANY HARM! We humans are the ones destroying natural habitats and causing extinction of the animals.
Horses are gentle creatures. So are dogs. Some dogs are quite wild because they may have been abused.
So,..... NO is the answer to your question. Dog meat and horse meat should not be sold in a supermarket.
Meat is meat. If you are prepared to eat it you shouldn't discriminate because one is cuter or fluffier than another.
Lewis and Clark wrote about eating dog meat when they were the guests of Native Americans. They spoke highly of the flavor. I met a woman who lived near a navaho reservation. Dog meat was regularly sold in the stores. Asians(Korean men think it makes them more virile) are fond of dog meat. What we choose to eat is based on cultural values not nutrition.
A human intestine is about 30 feet long, and a lion's is about 5 feet long. Long intestines are meant to digest vegetarian food to make it useful for animals (including humans) whereas if you are eating non-veg food already, it needs little or no digestion to be used in the bodies of carnivores like lions. Therefore I could argue that humans are meant to be herbivores by nature. Also if you agree with darwin, then we came from the apes, and the Ape's natural food is fruits. Did you notice why a fruit diet makes us healthy and energetic, because that is what primate (including human) bodies are meant to eat. Non-veg food which should be ejected after a 5 feet journey in the carnivores intestine stays there for an additional 25 feet in our intestine, rotting, smelling, decaying, giving rise to toxins. No wonder, most top celebrities turn to vegetarianism, to maintain their health , looks and beauty. Turn Veg, live longer and happier.