Sharon took this unflattering shot of me the other day. I was sitting by the window and watching the traffic below. Jules thinks I look 'cute' and Karen says that I have the qualities to make it to the butcher's shop as rump steak! :-( Oh dear! Now, I'm getting worried....
My doggie snacks have been banned from the house until further notice. Jules is taking me for longer walks these days. *sigh* I wish the fats would just melt away and disappear into thin air!
Good doggies love their masters, their families and above all, they love God and thank God for their blessings. Good doggies also do not forget their less-fortunate (stray) friends who are out there suffering in the cold and who are without food to eat. Good doggies also remember their sick friends who are at the vet's and their long-departed buddies.
Good doggies always spend a moment or two in prayer everyday. For me, I say my daily prayers, but unfortunately, I can't kneel for long (unlike the doggie in this photo) as I've got painful knees, so I usually say my prayers while I am sitting down. But if my knees are better, I will start to kneel and pray like the doggie in the picture!!
Karen is reading this book called "Eat Not This Flesh: Food Avoidances From Prehistory To The Present" by Frederick J. Simoons. The book contains anthropological findings of the human diet from antiquity to modernity. In the book, it explains why people of different cultures and at different times choose to eat or to shun away from the following: pork, beef, chicken and eggs, horse meat, camel meat, fish and dog meat. (Yes! DOG MEAT!!!! *gasp*)
It appears that people either choose to eat or avoid the following due to cultural beliefs, religious beliefs, social class, economic status, geographic locality, psychological background, availability of food; amongst many other factors.
Scarily enough, I found out that dogs were initially domesticated by men for hunting and also for a ready supply of food (yep, the early humans ate dog flesh!). Some people of certain cultures avoid dog meat for their own beliefs. The Muslims and the Bango tribe of the Congo view dogs as dirty as they felt that dogs are filthy scavengers who ate trash from the garbage dump (I shower weekly with fragrant shampoo, so I'm clean!). In Indonesia, despite the strong Muslim presence, the Batak people from the Lake Toba region in Sumatra still consume dog meat to this day. The Bauri of Bengal and the islanders of Nicobar see dogs as sacred animals of worship and are thus forbidden to be eaten as food.
In the Indo-China region, both the Adi tribe and Apa-Tani tribe sacrifice dogs during their religious rituals. The Adi tribe have a very special dog meat delicacy and a well-liked festival dish is puppy stuffed with rice. According to the book, the puppy is first given an abundance of rice to eat; then, when it can eat no more, it is struck on the head, skinned, roasted and finally served along with the rice from its stomach. Yukk!! That's really vile and absolutely disgusting! Eeeeuw....boy, my stomach is turning....*help*....
The Annamese peasants from the Tonkin Delta region preferred red-haired dogs and black-tongued dogs and they often turned those poor canines into dog sausages! (Perhaps that was where the name 'hot dog' came from!). In the Chinese province of Hunan, suckling pups (pups still drinking their mother's milk) and puppy hams are a delicacy. There are also 2 special dishes. The first one is called "Stir-Fried Dog" and it is made by deep-frying chunks of puppy-flesh, then stir-frying them in oil along with ginger, garlic, soy sauce, green onions, bean curd and salted black beans. The second dish is called "Red-Cooked Dog" and it is made with cut-up puppy flesh sauteéd in oil with garlic, ginger, soy sauce, water, sugar and two types of bean curd. When it is nearly ready, rice wine is added and it is served wrapped in lettuce (think 'san choi bao'!).
After reading all those horror stories, I was so scared out of my wits that I avoided the kitchen for weeks! It is usually my favourite place at home! Sharon and Jules found it really strange and for a while, they thought that I was ill and they wanted to take me to the vet. I got really freaked out when I saw Jules sharpening his steak knife and butcher's cleaver with the sharpening steel the other day. He was carving a leg of ham and he wanted to feed me a slice of trimmings, but when he called me, I ran away and hid under the bed till Sharon came back!
With the spread of Westernisation, Christianity, Buddhism and Islam, the consumption of dog meat has been discouraged! Phew!! This is excellent news for me and now that I have overcome my fears, I believe that Karen, Sharon and Jules all love me very much and that they won't eat dog meat (or me)! Man's best friend should be loved and cherished; emotionally and not gastronomically!! To all my nice human friends out there: Please don't eat dog meat, ok?
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