狗肉

A funny thing happened to me in China the other day that will help reverse stereotypes around the world. In America, I’ve often heard talk of Chinese restaurants passing off dog meat as beef. I’ve always maintained this was silly because a)the taste is different and b)cheap beef is pretty cheap and c)dog meat is hard to get and not so cheap (aside from being illegal, there’s not too much meat on one dog).

So anyway, a few days ago I had dog stew at my local greasy spoon Chinese joint (I anticipate some comments or emails now) and it was pretty good, but not too dog-ish. I’ve had good dog meat in Korea a bunch of times (I anticipate still more protest emails) and I know what it should taste like. I asked the waiter if it was really dogmeat, and not just plain old beef. She insisted that it was 100% pure dogmeat.

Then, a few days after that, I stopped by for another dinner and ordered a similar stewed dish, but with beef. Lo and behold: same taste. I was convinced. I called the waitress over and complained that my beef tasted suspiciously similar to … my supposed dogmeat of a few days before. She insisted that her restaurant would never put any beef in dog stew.

So there you have it. No self-respecting Chinese restaurant would ever try to trick you into eating dog - only the other way around.