While it is widely known that dog meat is eaten in Southeast Asia, Mr. Doan says some Vietnamese restaurants also offer cat on the menu. To keep thieves from catching an unsupervised cat to eat or sell to a restaurant, pet owners keep their felines close.
Eating cat is traditionally thought to bring good luck, according to Mai Pham Thi Tuyet, the director of the Asvelis veterinary clinic in Hanoi. But this practice is becoming less common, she says, because the improvement in the standard of living, particularly in the cities, has enabled more people to keep animals as pets.
Friday, July 23, 2010
On the menu in Vietnam
Oh. I knew there was a bar-b-q rat industry in Vietnam. I assumed that they probably ate dog. But I didn't know this:
I remember seeing something on the ABC a few years ago on the feral cat plague in central Aus, and how the cats had started to become a reasonably important food source to the locals.
ReplyDeleteDunno, I've shot my share of feral cats but I'm quite fond of cats as pets (don't ask me why, I'm allergic to them, prefer dogs too).
Still very uncool with the eating of dogs thing too! Now, I get the whole different culture thing but I rationalize my feelins by saying that dogs evolved alongside humans, specifically as companions for humans.... That's my line and I'm sticking to it!
Cats just saw us as a convienent source of vermin via our stores of grain!!