the chinese phuilosphy on nutrition

how can it be economical to raise meat-eating animals for meat? Won't they consume more meat to produce than they will yield?  I know we feel all moral and everything about our stance on not eating certain animals, but most of the animals we have chosen to raise for meat were originally chosen due to economics. You get more for your buck if you raise your young horse to adulthood and use him for labor instead of killing him while he is young and tender for his meat.  Same with dogs.

They don't feed them meat.  Dogs and other meat eating animals raised for food (salmon,  pigs, etc) can survive very well on vegetable protein for long enough to raise them to slaughter weight.  People have gotten used to the taste of "corn fed" meat, in fact, to the extent that they even believe it's superior.

I live surrounded by animals raised for meat.  I respect them and give them a humane life as close to their natural inclinations as possible.  I still cry every time a good old ewe dies.  Jenny is right, they are clever in their own ways, and I respect those who choose to avoid eating them. 

I'd love to go that way myself - I know it would be a lot healthier.  But with two growing kids, it would be difficult and expensive to feed them veg - especially with one allergic to milk and the other allergic to soy (as am I).  Maybe someday when the kids are older and our finances are better.

what is the problem with eating predator animals (other than cats and dogs)? i see a shark as being just a big fish. am i missing something?

Next, there will be a new chinese cookbook. "101 Ways to Wok your Dog", by Hoo Flung Doo.

 
[sm=rofl.gif] Nice...
 

what is the problem with eating predator animals (other than cats and dogs)? i see a shark as being just a big fish. am i missing something?

 
Well, I think it has to do with the amount of chemicals and toxins that would be in them. They consume other animals, which are themselves full of toxins, and most don't get readily flushed away, they're stored in fat and muscle. So say a shark eats 100 smaller fish in its lifetime, with their own levels of heavy metals, pesticides, etc., that shark would have 100 times the amount that one of those fish would. Make sense? The higher up on the food chain you go, the more nastiness is in their meat. At least, that's why I wouldn't want to eat predator animals (although..isn't tuna pretty high up on the food chain?? guess that's why there's so much worry about heavy metals in it. I don't eat tuna very often, don't like it much, but a lot of people do), and why I think everyone else is saying that. But I guess if the dogs aren't fed meat, then it's moot. I of course hate the idea of eating dogs, but I imagine it's like someone else said, how Hindus must think of us for eating cows.

Everybody gets ALL bent out of shape about other cultures eating dogs. Ever wonder what Indian people (who will not kill RATS, and have a temple, for the rats) think about all of your disgusting habits?

Factory "farming" is a horrible, horrible practice. It is equally as horrible to ANY animal as it is to another. All life is sacred. The dog is no better than the cow.

ORIGINAL: chelsea_b

The higher up on the food chain you go, the more nastiness is in their meat.

 
Yep.  There are several species of fish that are referred to as tuna.  The more expensive tuna is from bigger fish (e.g. bluefin and albacore) and tends to have higher levels of mercury and other heavy metals.
 
The cheaper stuff is actually safer.  "Farm raised" tuna is a new industry that seeks to produce a healthier product...or so they say.  That was not the result with farm raised Salmon.

i guess i was just always more worried about bottom feeders like catfish and flounder. that is what our local news always talks about since a big company in the area has admitted to dumping tons of PCB's into the local rivers and lakes.

[8|]I just want to tell you that philosophy is spelt like that.  []


Cultures are different all over the world.  We need to step back one step and then criticize.  (surely they do)
 
editing in here.  I did not read the St Bernard meat thing initially .  I guess that is just quite odd.  No idea why one would attribute food status to a dog breed. ???
 
I have no idea why they would promote such a market.  Seems demonic, but once again....culture is often quite different in other parts of the world
[8|]
 

ORIGINAL: jennie_c_d

Factory "farming" is a horrible, horrible practice. It is equally as horrible to ANY animal as it is to another. All life is sacred. The dog is no better than the cow.

 
I totally agree.

I guess it's some sort of breed-ism. When Japan occupied Korea, Japanese army killed most of native Korean dogs (for fur, etc.) except for Jindo because they believed that Jindo was a superior breed and others were worthless.

ORIGINAL: dvet

I won.t eat wharka either and it really tickes me off that the orientals will catch  sharks, cut off their fins for shark fin soup and then throw the finless sharks back into the water leaving them to be killed by other sharks

 
I'm new here....but boy
 
Oriental?  That's racist and ignorant.  That's like calling a black person a nigger or an Irish a Mick.  (excuse my language, if you cringed, so did I at the word Oriental...I just wanted to bring out a point.)
 
Oriental is a derrogative term.  It described an OBJECT from the Orients, not a person. 
 
It's kind of like you eating a cow...you eat the filet mignon and porter house steak, but the utters, tongue, tripe, etc, you would throw it in the trash.  (Other countries it's considered a delicacy.)  At least they're making use of the rest of the body parts!

By the way, if you can consider any animal a "pet," then you have a luxury you and many of us have taken for granted.  You can afford to feed him, shelter him, spoil him.  Other people cant even feed their own flesh and blood.
 
I cant imagine not knowing how I'm going to survive tomorrow, or the next..even now....living in America.  We all know that having a pet is EXPENSIVE.  Food, toys, vet fees etc.  If I couldnt provide for him for the next dozen + odd years.... or didnt have the time and energy for him.. wouldnt it be worst for me to provide him with the false security of a home, then bringing him to a shelter not knowing if he will be euthanized if he isn't rehomed?  What?  Just because I'm not doing it myself or see it right?  It's ok.
 
We have a lot to change within our own country before we can critize others.  We're not perfect either.  We have a choice not to eat dogs... many others dont.

My mother's father was from Germany and I've been called a kraut. I survived it.
 
I've been a victim of racism, as well. I wasn't worth spit because I'm white.
 
Am I provincial, yes, we all are. Some won't eat cows for particular religious reasons. I'm cooking some cow right this very minute. Doesn't mean that I can transfer that ability to Dog de Provence'. We are all raised in a particular culture and are canalized somewhere in late childhood.
 
I think we dislike eating dog from our own cultural viewpoint and many here would rather go hungry than eat our dog. That doesn't make us bad, just different. I think the trooping nature of humans is part of what makes us xenophobic on some level. We consolidate around our sensibilities to preserve our way of life and the exposure to something alien to us will get a reaction. Which doesn't mean we are bad. We're just human.
 
When we make food drops in 3rd world countries, it is because the corrupt govts  there will not allow us to land, so we have to drop it. And warlords come in and take it over. And there are other challenges to being able to farm, from poor soil to corrupt govts. The first Aid concert by Bob Geldoff made a drop in the bucket but it can't change how man mistreats man. And that money gets absorbed in administration and food still gets dropped from 200 feet. We have enough food that people wouldn't have to eat dogs. The case of China, to me, is a matter of taste. Different culture, different sensibilities. And I, as an american, can still disagree with their choice. And it doesn't make me bad.

I think we dislike eating dog from our own cultural viewpoint and many here would rather go hungry than eat our dog. That doesn't make us bad, just different.

ORIGINAL: ron2

I imagine cultures who eats dogs consider non dog eating countries hypocritical and wasteful because shelters kill millions of dogs a year and do not make the meat available for human consumption.

I use to think it was SOOOO stupid for people to starve to death when cows were all around them, but their belief forbade them eat cattle, so they would starve reather than kill and eat a cow.  Now that i have "grown up"  I realize that for them to slaughter and eat cows would be no different to them than turning my back on a large part of my beliefs would be to me.
 
However, i see nothing wrong with calling  eople Orinetal or Asians any more than calling us "westerners" or even Yankees (but being from the south, I do prefer not be be called a Yankee LOL .