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Food news

From pet to plate

If you're a dog in China better hope you're cute or else you might end up on someone's dinner plate.

"We still eat dog, but not this kind of dog," Liu Ming, a pet shop salesman said, pointing to a toffee-coloured puppy with floppy ears on sale for about 500 yuan or $70.

"We eat much bigger dogs".

However keeping pets is becoming all the rage among the affluent in China, even though some Chinese still consume dog and cat meat.

Combined spending on pet food and pet care in China will be worth an estimated $870 million in 2008, according to Euromonitor International. That's up roughly 15 percent from the $757 million spent in 2007.

In the marquee cities of Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou, a growing nouveau-riche class even sees pets, particularly dogs, as fashion items, outfitting them in designer clothing, paying for spa treatments and dyeing their fur unnatural colours.

Despite the emergence of Western-style pet rearing, dog meat remains a popular winter cuisine in parts of China.

Beijing has more than 120 restaurants serving dog meat, although recent media reports say that many are closing as the city tries to change its image before it hosts the Olympic Games in August.

Known as "fragrant meat", dog meat is purported to have medicinal benefits and improve blood circulation in winter.

The meat, culled from farmed animals that are mixtures of Chinese dogs and St. Bernards or other big breeds, are served stewed, roasted, or sliced in a hot pot.

Plate to pet
China's pet industry is still tiny compared to its counterpart in the United States where owners are projected to spend over $43 billion on their pets this year.

But experts say the industry's potential in China is enormous as incomes rise and more of the country's elite "DINK" couples – double income, no kids – see pets as less needy child-substitutes while they balance white-collar careers with family life.

Despite popular perceptions that dogs and cats are poorly treated in China compared to Western countries, both animals have long histories there.

The region's pet craze has also caught on in Hong Kong, which has around 200,000 registered dogs, according to government data.

But the hard life for dogs and cats in greater China could be changing as Western pet culture takes root.

What do you think... should we respect 'ancient' food culture or police it as animal cruelty?

Animal cruelty I completely disagree with the idea of dogs and cats being consumed for food. But even if that cannot be stopped - the way in which these poor animals are kept - and the way they are painfully tortured and killed (skinned alive etc) cannot be called anything but extreme cruelty. I have lived in Shanghai - a city which apparently does not eat cats / dogs. But the pet shops are revolting - sick animals, kittens sitting in tiny cages on top of dead siblings. Its really sick and the community doesn't seem to care. Truly heartbreaking and needs to be stopped. - Sad   Bloody terrible I cannot believe that some people can still do this. I mean if you're starving maybe, but it's just not on! - Harry   Double standards I think it's double standards when we have a fit about people eating dogs - but in the same breath we eat rabbits, antelope, shark etc. They have feelings too - intelligent as well. - Pierre   1 please I'll have one shitsui please! hahaha. Can i get it in a doggy bag? - Woody   Heartbroken It is very sad to hear that the people in China are still eating there pets. But even sadder is that it is happing right here in our back yards as well. Where the disadvantaged people are coming in and setting up informal settlements in open fields around houses I have heard of more than one story that the pets are disappearing and they are being taken for food. - Heartbroken   Food is Food The Hindu do not consume beef. We are known to love our braai vleis..which is mostly cow flesh. I think people should not try and enforce their culture on others. If the Chinese were brought up to view a dog as food, let them eat it... it's not out of spite, but out of taste. - Godfather   What's the diffs?? What is the difference between eating a cat and a dog, or a cow or a lamb? Simply because a cow or lamb are not cute enough to be companion animals, does not mean it makes it any less okay to eat them. - Nikki Botha   Cat = dog = whale = cow = sheep If reading this article upsets you, perhaps you should consider that there's no difference between eating a cat and eating a sheep. You're still consuming the flesh of a dead animal that suffered because of your poor dietary choices. To think otherwise is sheer hypocrisy. - Aragorn Eloff   its all the same in the end Well said Godfather, Nikki and Aragorn, the west has no right to enforce their cultures and views on Chine. I mean in Vietnam pigs are kept as pets. So does'nt that give them the right to campaign against the eating of pork? If the Chinese see dogs and cats as meat animals rather than pets, what makes us so superior that we should dictate to them what to eat? - Roast Chicken (or is it?)   Disgusting, but Eat what you like as long as the method of killing the animal is quick and "painless"!!! - Big R   One man's meat ... Ditto Aragorn & Nikki, and to quote Leo Tolstoy - "A man can live and be healthy without killing animals for food; therefore, if he eats meat, he participates in taking animal life merely for the sake of his appetite. And to act so is immoral." - Anne Campbell   it's all the same It's sad and amusing that 'we' get upset about eating Brutus while happily munching away on Babe, Daisy and Chicken Little. They all die horrific deaths and live terrible lives so you can feed on their corpses. How can you supposedly love animals called pets and eat animals called dinner? Hypocrisy reigns supreme. - toni brockhoven   There is no difference!!! Do not complain about another culture. Eating a dog or cat is the same as eating chicken or a cow. Some Americans eat rattle snakes. Stop complaining and respect other cultures. Eat well and live well - Mr Feast   Where to draw the line Where do we draw the line at what meat to eat, Dogs,Cats,Cows,Sheep, HUMANS !!! We have to draw the line somewhere. Dogs are used to save lives, search and rescue, help the blind and the deaf and as companions for the aged - why should we allow them to be eaten? Dogs, because of their service to Man, should be protected. - Russell   From pet to plate I think these people are disgusting, worse than any animal. I have seen how these dogs and cats are treated and these people just do not have a conscience. There were certain animals put on this earth for human consumption and others not. After seeing what I saw on the internet, I will not purchase anything made in China. I will walk around barefoot before I buy their shoes or anything else. Even after Paul McCartney saw what was happening to those poor animals, he said he would not return to China until something was done and it's about time something was. I despise these things that call themselves human beings. - Lynn Ainley   so sad This is so terrible. The people who do this should be shot ....or should definitely have some sort of punishment so they feel what pain these poor animals go through. - Thirushni Naicker   eating dog, cow, pig, - whats the diff? The West eats cows, the East eats dogs - but they both feel pain - solution is to stop eating animals!!!! - Ingrid   Eating dogs This is so sad !! The people is getting mad day by day!! There is other foods that one can eat!! Sies man. - lily   WTF?? People, we were made as carnivores and all you tree huggers should crawl back were you come from. It's sad that people are eating what we regard as pets, but to them its just the next meal. Get over yourself and stop criticizing us meat lovers - Thinus   hahahha "There were certain animals put on this earth for human consumption and others not" is one of the funniest things I have ever read. Get over yourself. The Polynesians of the French Marquesas used to call human flesh long-pig, because it tastes like *drumroll* pork. How about some dolphin and mayo on a side of rye? - celery   Cow, Dolphin or Dog Does it really matter what mammal is being eaten? I think it's terrible that people would rank one above the other! Then again is it just a stupid cow?! - Robert   Responsibility Thinus, Big R, Godfather, "Roast Chicken"... if you all saw what actually goes on when the animals are slaughtered, maybe your 'braai vleis' wouldn't be as appealing. It's not just the Vietnamese who have pigs as pets! We're no longer cavemen hunting for our keep, at least not in terms of food. The fact that we are more conscious of what we eat is known as Evolution. - Sharon   dog meat I find the idea of eating dog distasteful, and you can call me a hypocrite if you like. But the biggest problem I have is the way these animals are treated, and the reasoning behind their consumption. These people eat all these animals because of some or other believed health effect it will give, they torture animals before death cause they believe it will improve taste or god knows what. Disgusting!! - melrsa   please don't make assumption As a South African Chinese, I hope that this article does not make other South Africans believe that all people of Chinese origin eat dog and cat meat. I have 2 dogs and a cat and love them to bits - whilst I eat meat, I don't eat dog and cat. I agree with many people that have commented that to think that it is cruel to eat dog and cat, yet eat battery chickens and pigs that have been bred in tiny enclosures (let alone cruel transportation) is being hypocritical - but and all of us meat eaters? I know I am (a hypocrite). At the same time, in our own country we have far bigger things to worry about - AIDs orphans, homeless people, people with basic water and electricity. - White Rabbit   Sick World The more people I meet the more I love my dogs. They are smarter than a lot of humans inhabiting this planet. - George   cruelty is not fine Eating cats and dogs is awful for Western cultures but acceptable for some Eastern. What is totally unacceptable is the method in which these animals are kept and killed. That is the point - not the fact that pet animals are being eaten. For those that think its amusing, I would love to put you in a cage and skin you alive - see if you laugh then!! I think not!! - tam   Majority eats dogs China has more than 4 billion people. That's more than all western countries population combined. How can we dictate what the majority of this world eat? - Carnivore   DOGS NEVER IN MY LIFE.!! - QA   Debates I love to read these debates. As a veggie, I think eating any dead flesh is abhorrent and quite sickening and cannot fathom why anyone would want to do that, be it dog, cat, cow, python, snail or fish. Thinus, please do check your facts. We evolved into carnivores - the makeup of your body attests to that evolution. And so much anger......I think you need to chill or is it guilt that is making you feel so aggressive? - Lejane   some are pets.... There were certain animals put on this earth for human consumption and others not - You are SURELY joking! Who decided??? To the agro meat eaters out there - we have a choice- it's rather sad that you feel you MUST eat flesh - you choose to, so stand up proudly then and be counted as a corpse eater you are. - vivacious vegan       Name Email Subject Comment