China Romance
General Discussion and Useful Links => Ask An Experienced Member => Topic started by: Irishman on January 29, 2010, 02:06:28 pm
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I read the following article - China proposes law to ban eating cats and dogs (http://www.chinahush.com/2010/01/27/china-proposes-law-to-ban-eating-cats-and-dogs/) on China Hush and it provoked some thoughts, I'm curious as to what you all think about this?
First off, here is my opinion - when I drive home in my car i probably squash and kill countless bugs flying and walking. I hit a deer a couple of winters ago and that was pretty messy. Regularly I come across fox remains splattered across the road, once a sheep and that was real messy (I live in the mountains).
Heck every time I wash my hands, every time I have a shower, every time i wash my clothes , every time I fight off a cold or sickness i am murdering innocent little life forms by the millions!
But those are mostly accidental, but does killing bugs , deer, pheasants, rabbits and a cat stop me from driving?, would it stop anyone else?, very few i would wager.
I enjoy a burger, a steak (done rare preferably), a chicken breast, turkey for christmas, sausages and rashers for breakfast. Am i a monster?
Then most westerners are.
Pigs are allegedly one of the more intelligent farmyard animals and yet we eat them up just fine, with ketchup on top .
We don't keep pigs or cats as pets though and they are not as cute. Though my girlfriend calls me her pink "ju ju" (thats how she says it - means piggie she tells me) which is a term of endearment in China apparently, I think she is really saying I'm a tubby but I digress.
Are dogs or cats any different to cows or pigs, small birds are brainless ok but pigs and cows?
In France eating horse meat is normal but here in Ireland its banned..again just because its a pet people, seem to sentimentalise it and make it human. I had horse and pony several times in China and it was nice.
I did have dog before in Guangzhou and it was very nice, a distinct flavour and a good one, I haven't had cat yet but as far as I'm concerned I don't see why I shouldn't try it. A cat is no more special than a cow or a pig so why should I feel guilty about eating one?, sure they are cute but they are no smarter, feel no special emotions than a cow or pig would.
In my opinion if you ban cats and dogs you might as well ban birds, cows, pigs, fish etc etc as well.
Thoughts?
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I'm kind of in your camp. I might not eat it but if others want to eat it and it doesn't make you sick or harm you then why not. I remember hearing a talk show a few years ago that they were supporting a ban on exporting horses from the us. (To Australia I think.) Because the people there were going to eat them. Eating horse meat I guess is banned in the US but these people were exporting them and the people on the other end were eating them. I am generally a libertarian, so if I raise a few horses and can get a better price selling them for food then for other things then who are you to stop me? Ok, I'm a capitalist too. LOL
All I ask is that you are fair when you tell me what I'm eating. I don't want to order chicken then find out it was some other mystery meat. Just tell me up front if it's dog, cat, or some other exotic animal.
I've always been curious what this dog meat tastes like, do different breads of dogs have different flavors? ( or do they all taste like chicken?) I have a theory, not much support for it in the scientific community but it makes sense to me. When they were creating the animals and putting flavor in the various animals like the beef flavor in the cows, the pork flavor in the pigs.. etc they got to the animals that we generally weren't going to eat. One of the angels went and asked God if he wanted any flavoring in them. God said; "Well we have all that chicken flavoring in the warehouse, why not put some of that in them?"
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I have no problem with beef, pork or chicken (except the chickens I raise). But dog and cat is somthing else. first let me stand up for the dog. Dog was created to help man, be his best friend, guard him, protect him, and at times be his fire alarm and a few other things. He was not created to be eaten. The cat is for catching rodents and keeping the mice and rats at bay, and makes a great bed warmer (also doesn't give a shit about anything). However, cat is stringy (so I've been told) and therefor not good to eat. The horse is a beast of burden (try convinsing mine about that). You can eat him, but you won't get your field plowed, or a car pulled out of a ditch, and it really sucks trying to saddle a cow or pig. Some horses as above are considered pets and become best friends. You wouldn't eat your best friend..(well some anyway)
So I guess what I am trying to say is Dogs, cats, horses are taboo, everything else is fair game right down to the crickets and chockalot ants in Japan. Some of you may feel different, I can't say, but for me, I have a ranch and my dogs perform a service, the cats perform a service and the horse performs (when he wants to) a service. So why eat them or even think of it. You wouldn't eat your car would you.
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I've been trying to watch some of the documentary series "CHINA RISES" and the one I saw about the food situation in China had a comment from a chef; "If it swims, flies in the sky, or walks the earth with it's back to the sun it is ok to eat." This would include all forms of crawly things like scorpions, and beetles (not Beatles which would be limited to John, Paul, George and Ringo. hee hee) I'm not sure that spiders would count since they tend to crawl in almost any position imaginable.
On a side note, I've found the two episodes of this documentary series very interesting.
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I had the privilege some years ago of an interaction with some REAL Australian Aborigines who still lived their traditional life in the Australian Outback.
They were basically Hunter Gatherers....a remnant of a Stone Age Culture.
Boy...they would eat ANYTHING, because their life was primarily concerned with getting enough food to see them through today...never mind tomorrow !!!
Their environment is ultra-hostile and Westerners like me would survive about 24 hours if we were left on our own.
The point I make, is that civilisation gives us the choice to decide what food we eat, and we can add or subtract many animals from our diet based on what social, cultural, religious or personal views we hold. For these Abbos, that choice has been removed in their battle to stay alive.
In reality, if push came to shove we also would eat anything, it is only cultural taboos that give us the softies about certain foods, because we can easily find substitutes.
If you horse, dog or cat was the only thing left between you and starvation..................????????
David
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David your 'dead on' there...
Starve or eat your mutt, it may sound revolting but until your in that situation, then who knows???
Maybe a little of track here, but remember the plane crash, when the survivors ate the bodies of their friends etc...to SURVIVE
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I think it's all to do with culture and upbringing. Ren deer are beasts of burden yet they are eaten by those who raise them. Some dogs in China are bred for fur and food, others to be pets, we eat pig and cow even though a pig can be a smarter pet than a dog, the French eat horses even though they ride them ... I guess it depends on our individual sensibilities conditioned by the fact that we are usually at the top of the food chain.
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i think it will still happen here. just a pr thing by the govt to
have a better veiw of china? because many frown upon this?
maybe?
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Lets face it; nothing tastes as good as panda or dolphin........... but on a serious note the dogs they eat here are bred for just that purpose, I've only ever seen it for sale in the central west and have heaps of pictures of raw & cooked dog, never seen cat that I'm aware of.
Saw it first in Nanning and then in BeiBei but if they want to eat it good luck to them.
A few years ago it was illegal to sell kangaroo for human consumption in Aus but thousandsds were shot every week for the pet industry, I've shot hundreds of roo's to feed my dogs when I lived out in the middle of nowhere in the past & apart from a few stupid greenies no one had a problem with it, the country is over run with them & they finally woke up to that fact that if the meat tastes good and people want to eat it then they should have the right to do so.
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Starve or eat your mutt, it may sound revolting but until your in that situation, then who knows???
I will remember that if we are short of food and you ever get to make that visit to us Mutt - oopps sorry I mean Rob. LOL
Willy
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when I drive home in my car i probably squash and kill countless bugs flying and walking. I hit a deer a couple of winters ago and that was pretty messy. Regularly I come across fox remains splattered across the road, once a sheep and that was real messy
That's because you guys drive on the wrong side of the street? By the way can any tell me why (I do Know)?
Back to the trend, Most other countries eat things that another doesn't seem fit. I just see it that way.
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Here in Kaiping [ and Taishan district ], dog and cat are very popular. As a poster above stated, a particular breed of dog is farm/raised for this purpose. They even eat puppies. Cat meat is eaten mostly during the cold months in the form of soup ... or stirfried with snake. On a visit to the 1920's built "Diaolous", there were wooden 'cat cages' in kitchens. So obviously, there's history with this food source. How they prepare cat is as follows ... they are taken out of the cage by neck clamps, drown, boiled, de-skin , chopped.
Having own cats as pets before, I personally wouldn't eat it. They're cute and have their own personalities.
In the Kaiping outdoor markets here, there are cats in cages meowing and cats roaming freely to catch mice. It's the luck of the cat straw.
In a fictional movie, the one eyed "Cyclops" ate humans. How would you feel being a food source ??? If outer space aliens started coming to earth and eat humans as a food source, how would you feel ??? We have guns to counterattack our enemies ... but a cat is defenceless.
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I think I'm gonna be sick...:icon_mrgreen::icon_eek:
There will be a short intermission while Don runs to the bathroom....
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No bugger is eating my dog lol,but on the other hand if your poor and cant aford difrent meat to cat and dog i understand that,but this day and age its choices if you want to eat cat or dog so i say leave mans best freinds alone.
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Same sort of story with the TV programme 'V'. Aliens taking over the planet to feed their population
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And just when I was going to China they talk about banning dog and cat. Well, I guess I had better stay home then... Who am I kidding, I wouldn't eat one anyway but what Chong is talking about does give me an idea.
I had better keep track of where my ex lives. If the economy gets much worse and we go through a depression I know where I can get my hands on plenty of cat.
I have ate cat before even though I didn't know it at the time. Maxx, close to your neck of the woods in Hobbs, NM back in the '70's and early '80's there was an older man who had a burrito stand in downtown Hobbs. It was always busy when I was passing though town. He had a reputation of having the best burritos anywhere so one day I stopped and got one. The rumors were correct so each time I passed through town I would stop and buy a few. When I got home I would freeze them and have one every now and then.
Some time in the early '80's I was reading the newspaper and saw that he was in jail. It seems that he was collecting all the stray cats and was using them for the meat in his burritos. It was a few months before I ate another burrito. I just couldn't face them.
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Here in Kaiping [ and Taishan district ], dog and cat are very popular. As a poster above stated, a particular breed of dog is farm/raised for this purpose. They even eat puppies. Cat meat is eaten mostly during the cold months in the form of soup ... or stirfried with snake. On a visit to the 1920's built "Diaolous", there were wooden 'cat cages' in kitchens. So obviously, there's history with this food source. How they prepare cat is as follows ... they are taken out of the cage by neck clamps, drown, boiled, de-skin , chopped.
Having own cats as pets before, I personally wouldn't eat it. They're cute and have their own personalities.
In the Kaiping outdoor markets here, there are cats in cages meowing and cats roaming freely to catch mice. It's the luck of the cat straw.
In a fictional movie, the one eyed "Cyclops" ate humans. How would you feel being a food source ??? If outer space aliens started coming to earth and eat humans as a food source, how would you feel ??? We have guns to counterattack our enemies ... but a cat is defenceless.
Now that's funny.
I'll be real disappointed if I can't have my golden retriever with my eggs. Breakfast will never be the same.
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Interesting the polar opposite views here.
As long as its killed humanly and fast then I don't have a problem eating it. Does the mouse think the cat is cute whilst it toys with its life? - have you ever seen a cat play with a mouse its caught - its anything but cute and cuddly.
Nature is a pretty damn harsh beast, we just got lucky to be the smartest beast.
I do think cats are cute but i still want to eat one. I ate dog before in Guangzhou and it was pretty good, and would have no qualms doing so again - though with the proviso their end was quick and they lived as good a life as any of the cows or pigs or chickens we consume here in the west regularly. Has anyone ever seen the chicken farms, now that is something that makes me want to go organic but I'm too cheap.
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Shaun, you should have ordered a Carne burrito, not a panocha burrito...:icon_cheesygrin::icon_cheesygrin::icon_cheesygrin:
I have never seen more reasons to go vegitarian in my life.
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well Shaun at least he wasnt in jail for the same
reason as the tv episode that would have turned
me vegetarian, for those who like that stuff
i guess to each his own right. if i new what it
was then i wouldnt and couldnt eat it
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Shaun, you should have ordered a Carne burrito, not a panocha burrito...:icon_cheesygrin::icon_cheesygrin::icon_cheesygrin:
I have never seen more reasons to go vegitarian in my life.
I stand on what I have said before. YOU are a sick man. :icon_cheesygrin:
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Ted,
The rest of that story was that when a friend told me about the cat burrito maker I nearly puked. It was a year or two before I began eating burritos again. I have already discussed with Peggy that I will not eat cat or dog.
Shaun
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Has anyone ever seen the chicken farms, now that is something that makes me want to go organic but I'm too cheap.
Sunny and I went to pick up our two 'Black' Chickens today that a friend brought for us. Supposely, they taste better than your normal chicken. The friend's mother tied their legs together, put them in a plastic bag and off we went to the market to get them killed, boiled and de-feathered. When we got to the market [ 10 minute walk ], one of them died from suffocation. It still bled when the throat was slit. During the preparation, the chicken lady said that this chicken was sick [ based on looking at it's bum ]. Sunny's mom told us to throw that chicken away. The other chicken was in good health. When it's body was sliced open, a few yolks spilled out with it's guts; apparently, it was about to hatch a few eggs. Personally, the 'Black' Chicken didn't taste anything different than a normal chicken. Cost per chicken was 35 RMB or $ 5.00 Cdn. Cost to slit, boil, de-feather was 2 RMB per bird.
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Guys,
I'm a mailman, so if anyone wanted to take a bite out of some of the dogs on my route, I wouldn't mind them getting their just rewards. :icon_biggrin: But seriously, I don't know if I could eat dog or cat. At least if I knew what it was. On a slightly different subject, my lady told me she would feed me lots of chinese food when I visit. I said one thing I couldn't eat was "chicken feet". She got quite a laugh out of that.
Don
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Wow, those chickens were expensive, I asked at one of the many chicken/duck stalls around where I live and the total cost after you choose the chicken is only 13rmb plucked and ready to take home, but going by the chicken you get in restaurants ( I hate when you have to constantly spit out bits of blood bone) they are probably all old boilers, and when I do get around to buying one I'll be telling them to keep the feet, head and neck.
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Cam,
Depends on where you are in China, as to the cost of Birds (chickens) Also the weight and age of the birds, and where and how they were reared.... But 37 rmb does sound a bit high for a prepared chicken, ...they must have been a couple of 'big birds'' ...lol!!
David....
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Interesting the polar opposite views here.
As long as its killed humanly and fast then I don't have a problem eating it. Does the mouse think the cat is cute whilst it toys with its life? - have you ever seen a cat play with a mouse its caught - its anything but cute and cuddly.
Nature is a pretty damn harsh beast, we just got lucky to be the smartest beast.
I do think cats are cute but i still want to eat one. I ate dog before in Guangzhou and it was pretty good, and would have no qualms doing so again - though with the proviso their end was quick and they lived as good a life as any of the cows or pigs or chickens we consume here in the west regularly. Has anyone ever seen the chicken farms, now that is something that makes me want to go organic but I'm too cheap.
I'm getting some good laughs here.
Maybe I just amuse easily.
Irishman I'm pulling your chain here, but what does this thread have to do with Dating a Chinese Lady?:icon_biggrin:
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Irishman I'm pulling your chain here, but what does this thread have to do with Dating a Chinese Lady?:icon_biggrin:
The link is tenuous at best truth be told, not sure where else it fits though :D
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I must be tired/punchy from my flight/or the neurons just aren't firing normally, but this talk is just killing me
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If you think the talk is killing you, wait till you eat one of those chickens, dog or cat...haha:icon_cheesygrin:
cost of plucked and prepaired chicken 37 rmb
cost of all the eggs you missed....unthinkable...:icon_cheesygrin:
cost of getting to work late, because your alarm battries went dead and you ate the chicken...priceless....:icon_cheesygrin:
Shaun, you know you love it....haha == from one dirty ol man to another.....
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But 37 rmb does sound a bit high for a prepared chicken, ...they must have been a couple of 'big birds'' ...lol!!
David....
David's right, these were big birds. You can get the regular chickens for a lesser price. "Black Chicken" cost more depending on weight ( as David noted ). Of note, we brought the birds separately and brought them to a stall to get it prepared for 2 RMB.
Sunny's Mom ( and most other Moms ) will save the 1 RMB [ 15 cents - for a regular chicken ]to get it prepare. They rather do it themselves at home. :icon_cheesygrin:
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Plucking a chicken is such a messy job, tried it once and it's overrated, feathers everywhere. Then I felt so bad about the chicken, I couldn't eat it. Rather get them from the store. :s
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Wow, those chickens were expensive, I asked at one of the many chicken/duck stalls around where I live and the total cost after you choose the chicken is only 13rmb plucked and ready to take home, but going by the chicken you get in restaurants ( I hate when you have to constantly spit out bits of blood bone) they are probably all old boilers, and when I do get around to buying one I'll be telling them to keep the feet, head and neck.
Where abouts do you live ?
My wife said that 35 RMB is pretty cheap. A normal chicken from the Bird Market here in Kaiping will cost 40-50-60 RMB for a good quality farm bred. You're right, 13 RMB birds are probably 'old boilers' or 'hormone injected' plump birds. Don't forget to tell them to keep all the intestines and other gross interior parts.
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I know I am late getting onto this thread, but I am with Ronan on this one. I also ate dog in Hunan Province when I was there on the last trip. I also ate turtle soup, cooked centipedes, snails, and also wild mouse on my first trip. Food is food, any way you look at it. Certainly I would never eat the family pet, but these animals are not the family pet.
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mmm the only way for me is to not know what it is while eating
the knowing would stop me i guess
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when I drive home in my car i probably squash and kill countless bugs flying and walking. I hit a deer a couple of winters ago and that was pretty messy. Regularly I come across fox remains splattered across the road, once a sheep and that was real messy
That's because you guys drive on the wrong side of the street? By the way can any tell me why (I do Know)?
Back to the trend, Most other countries eat things that another doesn't seem fit. I just see it that way.
I used to work in an automobile assembly plant. I'm retired now, 12/31/09, and we only just started to build righthand drive vehicles. We were told why in a class this driving on the "wrong" side was but for the life of me I can't remember right now. I will try to contact one of the instructors to see if he can remind me.
Dave
I have 2 pet cats. I could not eat them. Even in starvation mode. One is sitting on my lap as I write this. He is a great companion. I have had dogs too. I would rather starve than eat them. My step fathers family has an Elk farm. Had elk burgers for the first time in october. Better than beef burgers in my opinion. I have had moose, black bear, pheasant, deer, wild turkey,... used to go to wild game dinners in the 1990's. I would not be able to eat cat or dog. Guess I better tell my lady this too.
Dave
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the origin of this goes back to how people traveled in violent feudal societies. most people are right handed
so it made sense to travel the way were your weapon was between you and someone whom you might be in
danger from. knights held their lances in their right hand so they traveled on the left. france was the first to
overturn this because Napoleon was left handed and he wanted his weapon to be between him and any opponent.
so he had his armies march on the right. i think today only britain and some of their former colonies are the only
ones who drive on the left along with japan and thailand.
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the origin of this goes back to how people traveled in violent feudal societies. most people are right handed
so it made sense to travel the way were your weapon was between you and someone whom you might be in
danger from. knights held their lances in their right hand so they traveled on the left. france was the first to
overturn this because Napoleon was left handed and he wanted his weapon to be between him and any opponent.
so he had his armies march on the right. i think today only britain and some of their former colonies are the only
ones who drive on the left along with japan and thailand.
I'm pretty sure this is the reason the instructor gave too, now that my memory has been jogged. I remember it had nothing to do with driving. And yes, all the right hand drive units were for former british colonies. We didn't build any for Japan, US auto company selling vehicles to the Japanese and all...
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Ted wins the boobie prize.
knight's lances were on their right so they traveled on the left. They forwarded this tradition to auto's.
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im so old i remember that from my childhood Vince :icon_cheesygrin:
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So why did Americans drive on the right originally, who decided?
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they didnt Irishman that was changed around 1760 i think
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The Chinese are true gourmets - they eat anything on 4 legs, except the table :icon_cheesygrin:
Now isn't that so very egalitarian? Now if you didn't know what you would prolly enjoy eating em too.
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Or 6 legs, or 8 legs, or no legs at all!! Hahaha.
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that is true eat first ask questions later:s
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My daughter is into cooking. She had me watch a program competition of chefs prepare 3 different dishes. I think the show was called "Master Chef". One was fish, don't remember what fish though, one was snake and the third I don't remember either. Sorry about the bad memory. The fish was prepared quickly and had to be served to the customer while still moving. Same with the snake. This may be a japanese deliicacy or whatever but there would be no way I would be able to eat that. Not still moving on my plate. I just remember seeing the fish moving on the plate as well as the snake. And no, they were not raw. The chef had fried the fish. Yes, it had been cleaned too. Took a while before I had fish again though.
Dave C
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wow im with you on this one to Dave. i dont want anything moving
on the plate if i am going to eat it. What about how they eat the
monkey brains in japan?? now that is disgusting. the monkey is still alive
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wow im with you on this one to Dave. i dont want anything moving
on the plate if i am going to eat it. What about how they eat the
monkey brains in japan?? now that is disgusting. the monkey is still alive
The only thing more horrifying is.... if the wife wants all those exotic things on the wedding menu (remember that classic scene from Indiana Jones with baby pythons & eyeball soup...) AND THEN they present you with the bill later.... something like 200,000 RMB x 10 :icon_cheesygrin:
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wow im with you on this one to Dave. i dont want anything moving
on the plate if i am going to eat it. What about how they eat the
monkey brains in japan?? now that is disgusting. the monkey is still alive
The only thing more horrifying is.... if the wife wants all those exotic things on the wedding menu (remember that classic scene from Indiana Jones with baby pythons & eyeball soup...) AND THEN they present you with the bill later.... something like 200,000 RMB x 10 :icon_cheesygrin:
Yea... I remember the scene from The Temple of Doom. Discusting!!! And the monkey brain thing in japan, disturbing! I can't see how they justify that as a gourmet meal.
wow im with you on this one to Dave. i dont want anything moving
on the plate if i am going to eat it. What about how they eat the
monkey brains in japan?? now that is disgusting. the monkey is still alive
The only thing more horrifying is.... if the wife wants all those exotic things on the wedding menu (remember that classic scene from Indiana Jones with baby pythons & eyeball soup...) AND THEN they present you with the bill later.... something like 200,000 RMB x 10 :icon_cheesygrin:
Is that a typical bill for a wedding dinner?
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no it is based on how many people the menu and drinks u have
acutally not bad at all but you could go to the extreme if you want to
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There are some reasons why Chinese people do not eat cat and also ban to eat dog. But I only know two and want to share with you guys.
1. There are 56 Peoples in China, and the majority is Han People. There is a special group of People named Hui People. They believe in Islam. Islamites do not eat predators or omnivorous animals, including pig, dog, cat, snake, rabbit, etc.
2. Sometimes people are superstitous in China. We like to take certain kind of thing to stand for another thing. Cat in Chinese pronounce mao. You know the first Chairman in China is Chairmao. His family name is Mao. Though the tone of Mao is a little different to mao(cat), it is very similar. So at that time, cat standed for the Chairman. In the past, if people wanted to eat a cat--mao, it means that they wanted to kill the Mao--the Chairman. They would be seriously punished. People had to treat cats well at that time. So until now people still hold the idea not to eat cats.
These are some of the reasons why we do not eat cat or dogs. I hope these two reasons will help you clear your doubts. ^_^
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Thank you Zhu Zhu for that History lesson . Us westerner's can use all the help we can receive .:huh:
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It still doesn't change the fact that I want to eat some cat!
Unfortunately someone .....wouldn't let me last time I was there :icon_cheesygrin:
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Irish , I have some Neighbor's Cat's that piss me off sometimes .. thinking my Backyard is their Litterbox / Playground and the Flower's are to lay in . I can catch - freeze and send them to your Home in Ireland if you want . haha
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I can catch - freeze and send them to your Home in Ireland if you want .
Does anyone know the proper way to field dress a cat? :-/
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Irishman...next time you are in China, go see Chong. He sees cats being sold at the market all the time. I ate dog in Hunan. With all the spices, I can't really tell you what it tasted likes. It was hot.
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I can catch - freeze and send them to your Home in Ireland if you want .
Does anyone know the proper way to field dress a cat? :-/
The quickest and easiest way is to make it road pizza.
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It still doesn't change the fact that I want to eat some cat!
Unfortunately someone .....wouldn't let me last time I was there :icon_cheesygrin:
C'mere pussy... koochy koochy koo ! Good pussy ! :icon_cheesygrin:
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My friend is a cat. All his relatives and friends are in various rackets (Raquets).:angel:
Willy