Korean Job Discussion Forums

JacktheCat · Joined: 08 May 2004

Summer time, tis the season for .... dog.

Have you ever eaten dog?

What are your thoughts and opinions of the eating experience.

I haven't had the infamous Korean busingtang yet, but I have tried barbequed dog in China a few times. Didn't particular care for the taste. Too tough and stringy; not a lot of flavour.

Grotto · Joined: 21 Mar 2004

Best way to describe dog soup is it smells like turkey ... tastes like dog.

katydid · Joined: 02 Feb 2003 Location: Here kitty kitty kitty...

Yes, I did. I tried it once, and I really didn't like it cause a) the smell of it put me off and b) as we ate the boshintang outside on the restaurant's patio, I couldn't help but notice the empty doghouse in the yard. Was that like the restaurant's on deck circle or something? Confused

inkoreaforgood · Joined: 15 Dec 2003 Location: Inchon

I've never eaten dog, nor am I interested in trying it. The thought of eating dog soup is not really an attractive one. I doubt very much that is is as good for humans as eating beef or pork, or poultry, despite Korean claims of increased strength and virility. Also, I find great distaste for an industry that tortures an animal to death, just so it has a better taste. Using a blowtorch and kicking dogs to death are not uncommon practices here.

I know the beef industry is not any better, but using a blowtorch on a dog vs. just simply slitting its throat, well, it seems very unnecessary. Plus, dogs are alot smarter than cows, and dogs fit into your house or apartment much better than cows, etc. etc..

JacktheCat · Joined: 08 May 2004

The Chinese having a saying ...

ThePoet · Posted: Wed Jun 30, 2004 6:45 pm Post subject:

Yes, but I didn't know it at the time.

I was taken by my director and his wife to a new North Korean restaurant in the area...really trying to be nice to me. They order the huge platter of assorted meats that you wrap in kimchi and eat like enchaladas. On one side was boiled pork and the other side was a rich looking ham sausage...only it wasn't. I commented after eating my meal how great the ham tasted and she said "Oh it is not ham, it is dog"

I felt horrible. All I could see was the sad eyes of all the trusting dogs I've owned throughout my life. I smiled and put up a good front, so I thought, but they've never taken me out since then, so perhaps my emotions were too close to the surface to totally hide. It's not that it tasted bad even, just not something I wanted to contribute to.

peppermint · Posted: Wed Jun 30, 2004 6:57 pm Post subject:

As long as nobody's eating dogs raised as pets, I guess it's okay, but I wouldn't eat it.

JacktheCat · Joined: 08 May 2004

lepid gecko · Joined: 28 May 2004

I have no problem with people that eat meat. However, selective morality based on sentimental imagery and association smacks of hypocricy.

Juggertha · Joined: 27 May 2003 Location: Anyang, Korea

many times and have no qualms with it.

indytrucks · Joined: 09 Apr 2003 Location: The Shelf

Yes. Eaten it. Numerous times. No big whoop.

hojucandy · Joined: 03 Feb 2003 Location: In a better place

i have eaten it twice... it was delicious... i licked the plate clean!

i have no problem with eating dog...

the stories i hear about torturing the animals to death are hideous but i am not sure they are true.... i am on the fence on that one.

but humanely killed dog - no problem.

if i let sentimentality get in the way of my eating habits i would have to give up all meat coz i like all animals....

Pyongshin Sangja · Joined: 20 Apr 2003 Location: I love baby!

No. The rest of you are barbarians.

inkoreaforgood · Joined: 15 Dec 2003 Location: Inchon

The stories of dogs being killed by kicking them to death and using blowtorches on them have been told to me by eye witnesses, and reliable people in general. Dog soup is illegal here in Korea, since the '88 olympics. In '88, there was so much international outrage at the Korean practice of eating dog, the gov't banned it, and the dog soup restaurants changed the name of the soup to what it is now, bo shin tang, and moved those restaurants from the front streets to the back streets.

I strongly suspect that the practice of eating dog comes from the time before the Japanese takeover. Koreans were so poor (and this happened in Europe too, not just anyone could eat cows and pigs then, in the middle ages), that the only meat they could get their hands on was the dog. I think what happened after WW2 is that Koreans took this habit, and being unable to take pride in their peasant ancestry, raised up eating dog to what it is today. "Dog is so good for you, our Ancestors ate it and they were wonderful people!! So eat your dog burger, Joon jr., or you'll get the back of my hand!"

Swiss James · Joined: 26 Nov 2003 Location: Shanghai

So changing the name of the dish and the location of the restaurant was some kind of loophole in the law?

Doesn't sound right to me- the way I heard it they weren't allowed to have signs in english anymore, just hangeul, but it wasn't outlawed.

I've never had it but am tempted, just because it's something you can't do in many other places. The image of a cute puppy is kind of an emotional tug, but then again I saw this piglet outside a pork restaurant last night and am not about to give up Sam Gyeop Sal