Today was Saturday,
but I came to the office. Many staffs also came here and worked so diligently. I was
supposed to take online class lectures during this weekend, but it was so….
hard to concentrate. My battery was completely drained. I was bored to death
and Denice screamed with laughter at that sight. Then, Selina suddenly came to
me and asked me a preposterous question again.
“Charles, do you eat
dog meat?”
Uh… Somehow, people
all around the world must have heard some news that Koreans eat dog. Koreans may have
heard of Brigitte Bardot, a French former actress, at least once; she
criticized severely about dog meat consumption in South Korea and called this
behavior “barbaric.” A Korean
parliamentarian argued with this foreign criticism of dog meat and expressed
their criticism as blasphemy. It was interesting for me to trace back to the
past, 2002, to recall what actually happened at that time. 2002 FIFA World
Cup was co-hosted by South Korea and Japan. Brigitte Bardot, who called herself
as an animal rights activist after her retirement, tried to take advantage of
2002 World Cup to ban dog eating. A member of parliament refuted her agrgument that "Criticising us as 'barbarians' for
our food culture is tantamount to criticising our culture itself."
<Korean
outrage as West tries to use World Cup to ban dog eating>
Anyway, Selina had an interest in
asking about that. I said, “Yes,” the other day, but it must be
still an incredible story to her. During this week, she has been asking me
several times, “Charles, do you eat dog
meat? Charles, do you eat snakes? Charles, do you eat snails? Charles, do you
also eat cockroach?”
At this time, I
dodged and said, “No, we don’t eat dog
meat!”
She argued that, “Oh, but you said, dog
meat is soft, tender, and delicious!”
Oh my… I told her
so… A long time ago, I tried dog meat [Gaegogi] once. It was hot summer. A
friend of mine told me that Gaegogi would invigorate us, especially during the
summer. It was true that Koreans like to eat stamina health food for
rejuvenating, 몸보신. I
have no idea if there is scientific evidence that people will be really revitalized
by eating some rare items; Gaegogi, snake, frog’s hind leg, centipede, or the
damnedest thing I ever heard. I think a dog soup, called Bosintang [보신탕], is well known as the best vital energy source
for the body. At least, Gaegogi is not the host of Ebola virus, so I can say it
is okay to eat. When I first tried Gaegogi, I felt so weird, because I knew so
many people in the world have been arguing with eating that. The first (but
will be the last) impression of Gaegogi was soft, tender, and delicious, as I
told Selina (And it was too expensive). The reason why I ate Gaegogi was that I
was wondering how it tasted, and I wanted to experience the diversity of Korean
culture.
“Selina, how do you say dog meat and snake in
Swahili?”
“Nyama ya mbwa is a dog meat and Nyoka is
snake.”
Well, I have tried
Nyama ya mbwa only once, and I have not seen Nyoka food at all so far. This is unfair that
some people may misunderstood Korean eat cute puppy. Koreans raise specific
breed of dogs as a food, probably, 똥개? Also,
only a small percentage of the Korean populations like to eat Gaegogi. South
Korean Food Sanitary Law has categorized Gaegogi as ‘repugnant food’ and
outlawed the sale of it. But interestingly, the regulation became loose during
the 1988 Seoul Olympics and 2002 FIFA World Cup. And nowadays, selling dogs have still been socially
accepted. So, is eating dog meat is legal or illegal in South Korea? Law is too
complicated…
I will just eat Kuku, Chicken. Though African chicken too tough to chew,
but I want to believe that those field chickens who were boasting of their muscles might be much more better
revitalized energy than dog meat. Come on, sexy chicken! I do not have to worry
about the law and any criticism. J
 |
| Kuku is the best one. |
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