Korean Job Discussion Forums

mindmetoo · Joined: 02 Feb 2004

The Globe & Mail has a little reader column where you can write in about your exotic dining experiences on your travels. An english teacher wrote a story about eating live octopus with her Korean coteachers. It was funny enough. She was being cute and succeeded in her attempts. Well, someone wasn't laughing:

I like the dirty hippie's suggestion you get up and walk out on your employer. Yeah. Maybe the dirty hippie will hand the woman over the $10,000 she could have saved but was fired.

samd · Joined: 03 Jan 2007

She didn't mean walk out of the restaurant?

mindmetoo · Joined: 02 Feb 2004

Czarjorge · Posted: Wed Apr 09, 2008 12:54 pm Post subject:

Was it the Snorks that had octopuses in place of dogs?

Dome Vans · Guest

Being vegetarian I've had no really problems in Korea, especially if I'm happy with having rice and a few select vegetable side dishes, then that's fine. If Korea has taught me one thing it's to let things go. I went on a trip to Geoje Island with 20 PS Korean Teachers from my city. We went to a seafood restaurant and one of the dishes was a some tentacles that had not a few seconds before been attached to an octopus. Mmmmmmm! A whole plate of twitching, moving tentacles. I sat there a grinned and beared it. I timed the tentacles, they were still moving 15 minutes later.

It's best just to let things go sometimes. It's their culture not mine and I'm a guest.

ReeseDog · Joined: 05 Apr 2008 Location: Classified

The author of the article refers to some research indicating that cephalapods are intelligent and curious and offers this finding as a reason not to consume them. I'd certainly like to see the research, but even more than that, I'd be very interested to know why an octopus shouldn't be eaten for this reason.

mindmetoo · Joined: 02 Feb 2004

ReeseDog · Joined: 05 Apr 2008 Location: Classified

Octopuses, pigs, and yes, dogs are all intelligent critters, I suppose. I mean, that argument can be made. They all taste good, too. I think the author of the article considers live dismemberment of octopuses to be cruel. Worth thinking about for a second or two, anyway. Interesting...

laogaiguk · Joined: 06 Dec 2005 Location: somewhere in Korea

What about the lobsters? Maybe she should tackle her own culture first...

JustJohn · Joined: 18 Oct 2007 Location: Your computer screen

nobbyken · Joined: 07 Jun 2006 Location: Yongin ^^

A relative bit the tail of a live shrimp once, but I only ate the tail after it had been pulled of.

Delicious or yummy.

ps- I blame the parents.

gingermongrel · Joined: 09 Feb 2008

Ah, dear. More imbecilic crap from the Lord of Logic mindmetoo. Someone objects to a living creature being pulled to bits by paraletic soju-men and they are a "dirty hippie". Let's not imagine even for a moment that this is a cruel practice that deserves to be roundly condemned.

And ReeseDog asks "I'd be very interested to know why an octopus shouldn't be eaten for this reason."
How about a little bit of compassion? How about not acting like you're God's gift to the world while systematically doing your best to destroy it and make life a misery for all other species who happen to co-inhabit it? What's your rationale - it is capable of experiencing pain but just because it can't speak we should feel free to inflict on it whatever cruelty we wish? What planet are you from? We could feasibly stretch that logic to cutting bits off mindmetoo and barbecuing them given he is a blithering idiot who can hardly string two sentences together....

The central theme to most of mindmetoo's recent posts (let's take the "kill all pets as they contribute to global warming" post as a recent example of his almost unfathomable stupidity....) is that human beings are superior species and should be entitled to maim, kill or consume any other living creature at will - how, precisely, does acting like a carniverous indiscriminate locust demonstrate your superiority in any moral, ethical or intellectual capacity?

I'm not a religious person, nor do I believe in karma - however I do hope I'm wrong in the latter case. Let's hope you're reincarnated as an octopus destined to have its arms ripped off or a dog beaten to death because some moronic ajoshi (and his leper customers - including some of the posters on Dave's) think it will make the meat taste better, or just simply don't care - you're already one of the biggest whiners ever to darken these shores, one can only imagine how much worse this would get if you were actually on the receiving end of what you seem perfectly prepared to dish out to those who haven't done you the slightest bit of harm...

Privateer · Joined: 31 Aug 2005 Location: Easy Street.

Octopus are definitely intelligent and I suppose squid are too.

I ordered squid on Jeju island and they brought 3 poor, frantically wriggling and gasping specimens past us on their way to being chopped up. They changed from white to red which was, as we were informed, because they were scared. The frantic attempt to suck in water sounded very much like screaming too.

I felt like, in a parallel universe, I was the tentacled alien and the 3 squid 3 terrified human kids. It shook me up a bit.

Still, seeing as I saw on a documentary these same squid eagerly eat each other, I decided it was ok for me to eat them. The tentacles had already been chopped up when they arrived on the plate after all.

mindmetoo · Joined: 02 Feb 2004

ReeseDog · Joined: 05 Apr 2008 Location: Classified

Consumption of human flesh is contrary to the beliefs (social, religious, or otherwise) of most human cultures.

Personally, I find dismembering live octopuses distasteful. I'm sure they can feel pain, and I personally wouldn't intentionally inflict pain upon most creatures. I understand the author's point about causing the animal suffering, but with the overlay her cultural narrow-mindedness onto her argument, my understanding of her position ends.