新部落
I think, therefore I am. - René Descartes
Dog Days in China
By ROGER COHEN
Published: February 4, 2010
NEW YORK — I see the Beckhams, David and Victoria (Posh), have acquired a couple of “micro pigs” as pets and that said pigs (65 pounds when fully grown) are now a fashionable item in Britain, at least among those who can afford a $1,000-plus price tag.
Perhaps Beckham is heeding Churchill, who had a penchant for pigs. The great man’s verdict: “Dogs look up to you, cats look down on you. Give me a pig. He just looks you in the eye and treats you as an equal.”
Churchill’s view has some scientific basis. Pigs are smart and sociable. They’ve had a pretty bad rap, however. Two of the world’s great monotheistic religions — Judaism and Islam — prohibit their consumption. Generally, the notion of pigs as pets seems bizarre or repellent.
Why? There’s nothing rational about the view that taking a pig for a walk on a leash is weird, while eating a pork chop, if you so choose, is reasonable. But then, after a visit to China, it seems to me that reason has little or nothing to do with the way we view animals and food.
The Chinese, for example, eat dog (as well as cats, but I’m going to focus on dogs here). They ascribe to dog meat a formidable “warming” quality — the Chinese divide nutrition into “hot” and “cold” elements and seek balance between them — which makes it prized in many regions during winter.
Now, we are appalled in the West at the notion of eating dog while considering it natural to have a dog as a pet — I own a Beagle myself (“Ned”) and I’m very fond of him. This is the inverse of the preponderant Western view of pigs: fine to eat (religious objections aside) but not to pet.
But do pigs have any more or less of a soul than dogs? Are they any more or less sentient? Do they suffer any more or less in death? Are they any more or less part of the mysterious unity of life? I think not.
There is a rational, and for some people a spiritual, case for being a vegetarian: Killing animals is wrong. However I cannot see a rational argument for saying eating dogs or cats is barbaric while eating pork or beef is fine. If you eat meat you cannot logically find it morally or ethically repugnant to eat a particular meat (I’m setting cannibalism aside here.)
That’s the theory at least. Yet I must confess I’ve been having a hard time. My bout of anguish began a few weeks back on a wintry night in central China, in the restless megalopolis of Chongqing. I was cold, wet and seeking refuge.
“What’s that?” I asked my resourceful interpreter, Xiyun Yang, pointing to a steamy, crowded establishment with a big red neon sign (the Chinese approach is, when in doubt, make it gaudy).
“You don’t want to know.”
“I think I do.”
“It’s a dog restaurant.” It was then that I noticed the image of a puppy with floppy ears beside the Chinese characters.
I gave Xiyun a long, hard look. “Dog’s really good,” she said. “I love it.”
Images of Ned (and his floppy ears) popped into my head, as well as thoughts of what I’d tell my daughter, but I’d come to admire Xiyun’s gastronomic antennae (particularly for Sichuan noodles) and I tend to adhere to the I’ll-try-anything-once school. In we went.
The menu was predictably dog-dominated: dog paws, dog tail, dog brain, dog intestine, even dog penis. We went for a dog broth, simmered for four hours, with Sichuan pepper and ginger. It was warming, with a pepper-tingle. The meat was tender, unctuous, blander than pork, but stronger than chicken. Later, the owner, Chen Zemin, explained how the best dogs for eating had yellow coats, weighed 30 pounds, and did miracles for arthritis.
I’ll take Chen’s word for it. Dog was not easy for me. The memory has proved hard to digest.
As it happened, our meal came shortly before the eruption of a furious online debate in China over a proposed “anti-animal maltreatment” law that would outlaw the eating and selling of dog and cat meat, making it punishable by fines of more than $700 and 15 days of detention.
The legislation, now under review, immediately came under heavy fire. One restaurant owner in the Chaozhou region declared: “This is ridiculous! You make dog and cat meat illegal, but aren’t chickens, duck, goose, pig, cow, lamb also animals?” Another noted a local saying: “When the dog meat is being simmered, even the gods become dizzy with hunger.”
I’m with these indignant protesters. I’m not happy that I ate dog. But I’m happy China eats dog. It so proclaims both a particularity to be prized in a homogenizing world and its rationality. Anyone who doesn’t want China to eat dog must logically embrace pigs as pets.
But, as I’ve learned, logic has its limits. It’s the heart not the head that governs this world under the sway of the dizzy gods.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/05/opinion/05iht-edcohen.html
I see, King of bizarre foods can't appreciate 臭豆腐。 Well, I do remeber watching him taste 爛鯊魚 in Iceland～～
Andrew Zimmern, a avuncular image,well said, is such an articulate presenter, always seems engaging and positive about the foods, he is truly fun to watch, but I was worried about him eating too much sometimes~~~
Don't remember watching No Reservations, but I'll check it out, if it means traveling without a reservation, just pick a place and go, then it definitely sounds like an interesting one.
Well, I'm gonna eat some 臭豆腐, in about a month :))
Bizarre Foods and No Reservations, the two shows that have become the flagship products on Travel Channel in the last a few years, are among a few TV shows that I’m very fond of. One of things I particularly like Andrew Zimmern about is his articulation of all the delicate sensations he gets when he tastes foods. He seems to have supreme taste buds at his command enabling him to distinguish the most subtle flavors between different foods, bizarre or no bizarre; and coupled with that is his ample vocabulary in the culinary field that makes him sound more like an erudite scholar, instead of a chef. Which is a little contradictory to his avuncular image.
But, even the king of bizarre foods had his waterloo when he comes to some of the Chinese food. In one of the episodes, I remember, when Andrew Zimmern traveled to China and he was offered to taste臭豆腐. He appeared appalled by the stench even before he started it. Then he tried so hard to eat it, but he just simply couldn't. In the end he had to give it up and admitted 臭豆腐 is one of very few foods in the world that he just can’t take it.
I like No Reservations, too, the part Anthony Bourdain always gives an account of local cultural analysis when he travels the world and samples the local foods. When I get to watch the show, I often find myself stunned by his incisive comments about customs, moral values and way of life in different parts of world. Same as Zimmern, it’s his language mastery that I admire the most.
But his show may turn off some of the female audiences because of the profanities of his language, a little arrogance, too, sometimes. He’s got a few books out, and I’ve been thinking to get a one to read, but haven’t got a chance to.
Haha, everything but plane and table, agree. No,I have not heard about them before. But, don't get the impression that we are alone, wait until you watch the TV channel - Bizarre Foods on The Travel Channel, I simply can not continue to watch the show after a couple of times. I think they air the program only during the weekends~~~
Oh, I do have a close childhood friend who always tells people that he eats anything as long as it does not have eyeballs :))
Have a great weekend!
This is getting more interesting: Roger in the article mentioned eating dog meat would help with arthritis, now we know it also works wonders with bedwetting. Hopefully there will be some medicines coming up on the market that are more effective than dog meat to cure both illnesses, so that the dogs can be excused from this uncivilized gastronomic practice.
Guess we were all under the impression since little that pigs are lazy doing nothing valuable except being consumed justifiably by humans until we are surprised to know that people like George Clooney has a pig as pet, now it's the Beckhams. The knowledge that a pig can be human’s pet-friend undoubtedly adds some uneasiness on people’s mind around their dinner table, either at restaurant or at home especially when they have a feast of piggy meat. But for now, let's “focus on dogs”, just like Roger said; otherwise, we will feel guilty for eating anything, and run out of protein sources before too long. :-)
Wonder if you hear this: Chinese eat everything with wing but plane; Chinese eat everything with leg but table.
As far as I know, dog meat is widely accepted as a delicacy in all Chinese regions, even more, it is also believed as a miracle solution for curing child bed wetting, thank goodness we did not have to try that~~~
It seems to me, we don't eat beef as much as we do pork in China, simply because cows are perceived as our working partners, a hard working labor rather than a lazy piggy? :))
I heard the Cantonese eat dog as well as cat, but I never saw it with my own eyes, nor do I want to. No matter how good it will taste, I don’t think I will enjoy it with the image of the humans’ best friend in my head.
Let’s face it, pigs are different, or at least perceived differently – they are born to be eaten. :-)
It's the mouth/desire not the head/mores controls people's eating habits.