Dogs Dinner

Down the millennia the human race has chewed its way through many a living creature of one sort or another.  At times they have eaten each other.  It is claimed that the disappearance of many species owes more to the human molars and less to other causes.

In more recent millennia we have become far more fussy.  One reason is faiths who instruct their followers to avoid certain foods, because for long past reasons that were good at the time or because of some instruction. 

Another is that as we have studied our diet and food intakes more and have far more choice in many parts of the world we have reasons not to eat this or that.  In more modern times some peoples have been overcome with sentimentality about possible food sources.

In the West at the moment we are all supposed to love dogs.  In our mass media the picture of a dog is now conventionally titled “Adorable” if the mutt can be taken in a moment of soppy or non aggressive attitude.  This is not the case in other places.

According to web sources, I think this one is MSN but don’t bank on it:

Quote:

Thailand’s Illegal Dog Meat Trade

On a minimal budget and with a heavy reliance on volunteers, Thai-based charity The Soi Dog Foundation and London-based Environment Films have demonstrated that a little bit of money and a lot of passion can go a long way.

They collaborated to produce ‘Shadow Trade: the Price of Loyalty’, a feature-length undercover film that documents the atrocious and illegal practices involved in Thailand’s horrific dog meat trade.

It is hoped that this documentary will be shown on TV channels around the world, including in Thailand, to alert viewers to the reality and give these canine victims a voice.

Unquote.

What is the voice?  If it is that hound whose owners turf it out at 11.00 p.m. to spend the night the barking its right to be let back in then we would be happy to put it in the slow cooker to quiet it down and let us have a good night’s sleep.

But it is possible to remember a time when we were not so fussy and our neighbours in Europe would have been glad to put their hands on any dog or cat that was going to put through the mincer or finely chopped and used as meat filler.  It did as well as anything if it was the only choice.

Which raises the interesting question of where the Thai dog meat could go?  With a good many foods now being processed in and imported from the East after the fuss about horsemeat from Europe, can we sure that we are not getting other meats from the East?

The answer is that we cannot without extensive testing and the monitoring of sources.  One reason is our insane demand that foods should always taste exactly the same and have the same texture regardless of season or place of origin.  What this means is that the food is processed or “doctored” to achieve this.

It is common now for foods even those deemed “fresh”, never mind in packages or manufactured products to be coloured, given various preservatives and also either a battery of taste enhancers or actual flavourings to achieve the ends of sameness and certainty.

The chemicals and related industries can now respond almost immediately to any demand and in any quantity to assist in achieving these goals.  What you get will be what you get and very often not what you think you get.

The upshot, or downside, take your pick, is that it is now possible to shove almost anything into any kind of mix and come up with a product that is promoted and marketed according to demand.  In turn the demand itself can be created by the advertising and media industry.

According to the web Ludwig Andreas Fueurbach said, in translation, “Man is what he eats”.

We must be barking.