Dog meat increasingly popular with skin-conscious North Korean women

SEOUL, South Korea -- Dog meat is increasingly popular among women in North Korea because the traditional Korean delicacy is believed to be good for the skin, a pro-Pyongyang newspaper in Japan reported Wednesday.

Dog meat has long been regarded as a stamina food in both Koreas, widely consumed on hot summer days in particular.

North Korea is believed to have a greater variety of dishes with dog meat, known in the North as "sweet meat." South Korean gourmets who have tried the delicacy in the North, say Northern dishes taste better.

"Sweet meat has various vitamins, including Vitamin A and B and is good for digestion problems and fatigue," the Choson Sinbo newspaper said on its Web site seen in Seoul.

The paper quoted a cook at a dog meat restaurant in the North's capital, Pyongyang, as saying an increasing number of women are visiting the restaurant.

"Customers get convinced about the efficacy of sweet meat when they see the skin of our employees and cooks," the paper quoted the chef, Ryu Jong Mok, 47, as saying.

The paper said Ryu also has "resilient and fine" skin.

Dog meat is also widely consumed in South Korea, especially among middle-aged men on belief that it's good for stamina and virility. But women in the South are usually less willing to try the food.

Earlier this week, a poll showed that more than 35 percent of South Korean dog owners also eat dog soup.

Dog meat is also eaten in some other Asian countries, including China, Vietnam, the Philippines and Laos.

Activists regularly criticize the practice and call for bans on eating dog meat.

So?

How is this any different than eating any other meat? Apart from social acceptability of course.

One more reason to hate asians.

Why hot summers day??!
Why is dog meat so different to any other kind of meat?

I'm pretty sure it's frowned upon because dogs are carnivores. It's like a food chain thing...humans are just not supposed to eat carnivorous animals.

that's not why it's frowned upon

it's frowned upon because dogs are cute and we like to keep them as pets here in the west

That's also not why it's frowned upon.

a kid in my class made a documentary on the way they "prepare" dogs

You must spread some Reputation around before giving it to Diablo_ again.

And what are your other reasons? Let me guess- you don't think Asian women have big enough boobs?

That's certainly a part of it.

Care to expand on this? I know what I've heard, but I'd like to hear what it is you believe about it.

__________________

only domesticated/able animals have a soul

Why are you just telling us why it's not frowned upon? Please offer your suggestion/explanation.

I stand by mine.

Oh? Says who?

my new puppy was going to be meat, or just killed on the street.
she's 6 months old now, but would have been long gone had we not adopted her from Taiwan.

it's sad that dogs are food, and i don't think they should be. but i hold that belief because i live in a society where there are both other options and a different social culture surrounding animals (specifically domestic animals like dogs and cats). in the context of other societies, i understand why dogs are meat more than companions.

once my mom made some filipino dish for an asshole neighbor and after the neighbor ate it, she told him it was dog. (it was pork)

thats kinda sick funny. i think if ihada asshole neighbor i would pull that on them.

Blow the "cultural relativity" off. Dogs are human companions (one of the only animals that is so) to all. Asians just suck for eating dog.

i think any animal has the capacity to be anyone and evryrone loves to be taken care of

well if you lived below the poverty level in a shitty hut with a roof made of misc. scrap metal pieces, had no electricity, no running water, no money to afford resturants or to live in more developed cities, no safeway stores, and your only means of surviving was to live and eat off the land and what you could afford and create yourself. -- you might eat dog too.

laos, the phillipines, vietnam and cambodia are freakin third-world countries where lots of its citizens are destitute and famine is rampant. dog is really not considered a 'delicacy' in those southeast asian countries, it can be seen as a last resort in some cases, after all of the farm animals (assuming the family/village has a farm) have been eaten.

cat is pretty popular in thailand.