Sooooo... Last night I ate dog meat.
It's such a Korean stereotype that a couple of days ago I asked my wife "Why haven't I eaten dog meat yet?!". She looked surprised as most Koreans actually don't really eat it, and said "You want to try it? I'll let my dad know". (Even she's never eaten it and has no desire to try it). I told her "I can't imagine it tasting like chicken, yet I can't imagine it tasting like beef... I just can't imagine it tasting like anything!". She said "Apparently it's like beef but yummier". But she still doesn't want to try it. In some circles it's also bad luck to eat it.
Anyway the very next day around 5pm she told me that the in-laws would be taking me out to a dog-meat restaurant that night, while she stayed at home with bub! I suddenly got a bit nervous... I wanted to try it but now that we were actually booked in and there was no backing out, all sorts of images ran through my head, like what if I actually hate it, spit out the first mouthful and then I'd be wasting my inlaws time/money, etc on making an occasion of taking me out to a restaurant.
Well the 3 of us got to the restaurant and chose a table (by the way, my Korean is very minimal, and they speak practically no English either, so if I needed to say "Holy sh*t this it horrible!", I wouldn't have been able to. First food to come out was all the little side dishes that usually accompany a Korean meal; Spinach, onion, carrot sticks, sauces, etc. plus one side dish of dog stomach. Yes, they start with the best bits! With a picture of fido in my head I tried a couple of pieces and was not particularly impressed but fortunately didn't need to hurl either.
You know how a taste can remind you of a smell or visa versa? Well, the taste of this dog meat reminded me of the smell of a wet dog. Not pleasant. Here's hoping the main meal doesn't taste like this...!
So finally we had the gas burner in the middle of the table going as the main meal was set on it, cooking away. I tried a piece of meat from here and it was so much better. I was told by MIL (roughly, and with body language) that the earlier side-dish was stomach, but this meat was the good stuff - from the legs. It certainly was better, but I was still having a bit of trouble eating it. After a few more bites I finally decided that the revulsion was just my mind playing tricks on me and if I just stop and think about it logically for a second, the meat is actually quite tasty.
YEAH!
By the end of the meal I was just eating it all up and almost forgot it was fido. And my guesses were right; It doesn't taste anything like chicken, it doesn't taste anything like beef... it doesn't taste like any other meat I've ever had. I still have no idea what breed it was or whether or not it was killed humanely, etc, etc. but all-in-all I can say dog-meat is yummy! Not that I have any desire whatsoever to eat it ever, ever again
-Ian
p.s. Really looking forward to some Aussie grub when I get back!
It's such a Korean stereotype that a couple of days ago I asked my wife "Why haven't I eaten dog meat yet?!". She looked surprised as most Koreans actually don't really eat it, and said "You want to try it? I'll let my dad know". (Even she's never eaten it and has no desire to try it). I told her "I can't imagine it tasting like chicken, yet I can't imagine it tasting like beef... I just can't imagine it tasting like anything!". She said "Apparently it's like beef but yummier". But she still doesn't want to try it. In some circles it's also bad luck to eat it.
Anyway the very next day around 5pm she told me that the in-laws would be taking me out to a dog-meat restaurant that night, while she stayed at home with bub! I suddenly got a bit nervous... I wanted to try it but now that we were actually booked in and there was no backing out, all sorts of images ran through my head, like what if I actually hate it, spit out the first mouthful and then I'd be wasting my inlaws time/money, etc on making an occasion of taking me out to a restaurant.
Well the 3 of us got to the restaurant and chose a table (by the way, my Korean is very minimal, and they speak practically no English either, so if I needed to say "Holy sh*t this it horrible!", I wouldn't have been able to. First food to come out was all the little side dishes that usually accompany a Korean meal; Spinach, onion, carrot sticks, sauces, etc. plus one side dish of dog stomach. Yes, they start with the best bits! With a picture of fido in my head I tried a couple of pieces and was not particularly impressed but fortunately didn't need to hurl either.
You know how a taste can remind you of a smell or visa versa? Well, the taste of this dog meat reminded me of the smell of a wet dog. Not pleasant. Here's hoping the main meal doesn't taste like this...!
So finally we had the gas burner in the middle of the table going as the main meal was set on it, cooking away. I tried a piece of meat from here and it was so much better. I was told by MIL (roughly, and with body language) that the earlier side-dish was stomach, but this meat was the good stuff - from the legs. It certainly was better, but I was still having a bit of trouble eating it. After a few more bites I finally decided that the revulsion was just my mind playing tricks on me and if I just stop and think about it logically for a second, the meat is actually quite tasty.
YEAH!
By the end of the meal I was just eating it all up and almost forgot it was fido. And my guesses were right; It doesn't taste anything like chicken, it doesn't taste anything like beef... it doesn't taste like any other meat I've ever had. I still have no idea what breed it was or whether or not it was killed humanely, etc, etc. but all-in-all I can say dog-meat is yummy! Not that I have any desire whatsoever to eat it ever, ever again
-Ian
p.s. Really looking forward to some Aussie grub when I get back!