So its summer time, about 34c outside, perfect blue skies and most importantly its the end of the semester. Next week I start with summer camp: only about 2 hours a day of teaching a small class for the next 3 weeks. Its going to be a lot of fun. Well its the end of semester so I have to celebrate right? So my co-teacher invites me to have some lunch- boshintang in fact. What is boshintang you might ask, well a rough translation is invigorating soup but what it really is is dog meat soup. Its supposed to be good for "mens health". Ill keep you posted. Tradition holds that it should be consumed in the summer months to cool down the body. Now I know some people are going to berate me for even trying it. Its not something I will try again and in fact most Koreans don't like it either but it has always been my philosophy to try new things, to be open minded and that exactly what I did. I tried Balut and deep fried crickets in the Philippines and I tried silk worm larvae and live octopus here before. If you take out of the equation the emotional argument about eating dog meat (that its a pet and not meant for eating) and you look at the historical and practical argument of eating dog meat its really not a big deal. It taste kinda like lamb. I could not finish the whole dish because I didnt like the fatty parts but the meat was not too bad, tender and tasty. Dogs have been used as a source of protein in east asia for thousands of years. Western culture associates dogs as being pets, man best friend and although this is true and I love dogs too, a special bread of dog has always been used as food here in Korea. Before you preach to me about the ethics of eating dog meat you better take a look at your own consumption of meat and the abattoirs they come from. Do yourself a favor and watch Food Inc. I'm not advocating that you should try dog meat, but lets be open minded, there is really very little difference between eating one animal bread for it meat than eating another bread for its meat. If you are a vegetarian you might have a case. If you say to me its cruel then I agree, but so is the beef, pork, lamb and chicken industry. Anyway in the end its good to try things once. Soon your life is over, you are dust and all the material things you have gathered in a lifetime turns to dust too. You have one life to make of it what you choose and I chose not to follow the other lambs to the slaughter.
