Dog meat
Dog meat, also known as fragrant meat or simply fragrant, is the meat derived from dogs. Historically, human consumption of dog meat has been recorded in many parts of the world.
In the 21st century, dog meat is consumed to a limited extent in Cambodia, China, parts of Northeastern India, Indonesia, Ghana, Laos, Nigeria, South Korea, Switzerland, and Vietnam. In these areas, the legality of dog meat consumption varies with some nations permitting it or lacking a nationwide ban. It was estimated in 2014 that worldwide, 25 million dogs were eaten each year by humans.
Some cultures view the consumption of dog meat as part of their traditional, ritualistic, or day-to-day cuisine, and other cultures consider consumption of dog meat a taboo, even where it had been consumed in the past. Opinions also vary drastically across different regions within different countries.
Historical practices
Aztecs
In the Aztec Empire, Mexican hairless dogs were bred for many purposes. Hernán Cortés, an enemy of the Aztec, claimed in a letter that when he arrived in Tenochtitlan in 1519, "small gelded dogs which they breed for eating" were among the goods sold in the city markets. No other source corroborates this practice. These dogs, Xoloitzcuintles, were often depicted in pre-Columbian Mexican pottery. The breed was almost extinct in the 1940s, but the British military attaché in Mexico City, Norman Wright, developed a thriving breed from some of the dogs he found in remote villages. The genetic heritage of the breed has been almost erased through interbreeding with other dog breeds to keep its looks alive.Native North Americans
The traditional culture surrounding the consumption of dog meat varied from tribe to tribe among the original inhabitants of North America, with some tribes relishing it as a delicacy, and others treating it as a forbidden food. Native peoples of the Great Plains, such as the Sioux and Cheyenne, consumed it, but there was a concurrent religious taboo against the meat of wild canines.The Kickapoo people include puppy meat in many of their traditional festivals. This practice has been well documented in the Works Progress Administration "Indian Pioneer History Project for Oklahoma".
On 20 December 2018, the federal Dog and Cat Meat Trade Prohibition Act was signed into law as part of the 2018 Farm Bill. It bans slaughtering dogs and cats for food in the United States, with exceptions for Native American rituals.
Europe
, Plutarch, Pliny, and other Latin authors, describe the sacrifice of puppies to infernal deities, and for protection against grain-rust, the meat being subsequently prepared and consumed.Austronesia
Indigenous Taiwanese
The Indigenous Taiwanese originally had taboos against eating dogs, which featured prominently in their cultural myths. The indigenous Taiwan Dog was deeply valued as a hunting companion. However, they also started consuming dog meat after it was introduced by incoming waishengren Han Chinese migrants in the mid-20th century, leading to the near-extinction of the Taiwan Dog.Maritime Southeast Asia
Domesticated dogs were carried into the Philippines by the Neolithic Austronesian migrations from Taiwan, whose dogs in turn were acquired from the pre-Austronesian cultures in Neolithic southeastern China. Dog meat were consumed in some pre-colonial Philippine ethnic groups during certain shamanic rituals and special occasions. However, dog bones are very rarely found in middens in archaeological sites, in contrast to pig and deer remains; and most complete dog remains in archaeological sites are of dog burials near or beside human graves. This indicates that while dogs were sometimes eaten, they were primarily kept as companions and hunting dogs, and not as food animals. The Spanish historian Francisco Ignacio Alcina have detailed descriptions of the affectionate treatment of dogs by native Visayans in the 17th century, during the early Spanish colonial period. Alcina disapprovingly records that dogs were treated by locals like their own children. Thus, the rise in the consumption of [|dog meat as food in the secular context] in some ethnic groups in the Philippines is likely to have only occurred some time after the arrival of the Spanish.The tradition of eating dog meat for ritual purposes in some ethnic groups survived into the modern times in the Cordillera highlands of the Philippines. Among Cordillerans, dogs are sacrificed and eaten in a cleansing ritual known as dao-es or daw-es. The ritual is typically done after a person dies unexpectedly, gets severely ill, was released from prison, or witnessed death firsthand. Cordillerans believe that dogs have one of the purest souls among animals, comparable to humans, and thus they are the most appealing to the ancestor spirits. The dog soul is sent as a messenger to the spirit world by a shaman, which is believed to cleanse the minds of participants of images of death and evil spirits. These rituals are still legally permitted, though they are required to keep records and are overseen by the Committee on Animal Welfare.
Oceania
Dogs lost their economic importance as hunting animals among Austronesians that reached the smaller islands in Melanesia and Polynesia. They became a competitor for limited food resources and thus were themselves eaten. The Austronesian domesticated dogs originally carried by the Lapita Culture migrations were eaten to extinction in many islands since ancient times. Dogs were reintroduced later on from surviving populations in other islands as well as dogs that descended from non-Austronesian Mainland Southeast Asian populations. This caused a marked discontinuity in the genes of domesticated dogs, as well as the terms for dogs, among Austronesians in the Pacific Islands, in comparison to other Austronesian regions in Island Southeast Asia.Dogs were historically eaten in Tahiti and other islands of Polynesia, including Hawaii at the time of first European contact. James Cook, when first visiting Tahiti in 1769, recorded in his journal, "few were there of us but what allow'd that a South Sea Dog was next to an English Lamb, one thing in their favour is that they live entirely upon Vegetables". Calvin Schwabe reported in 1979 that dog was widely eaten in Hawaii and considered to be of higher quality than pork or chicken. When Hawaiians first encountered early British and American explorers, they were at a loss to explain the visitors' attitudes about dog meat. The Hawaiians raised both dogs and pigs as pets and for food. They could not understand why their British and American visitors only found the pig suitable for consumption. This practice seems to have died out, along with the native Hawaiian breed of dog, the unique Hawaiian Poi Dog, which was primarily used for this purpose.
Although Hawaii has outlawed commercial sales of dog meat, until the federal Dog and Cat Meat Trade Prohibition Act it was legal to slaughter an animal classified as a pet if it was "bred for human consumption" and done in a "humane" manner. This allowed dog meat trade to continue, mostly using stray, lost, or stolen dogs.
Religious dietary laws
According to kashrut, Jewish dietary law, it is forbidden to consume the flesh of terrestrial mammals that do not chew their cud and have cloven hooves, which includes dogs.In Islamic dietary laws, the consumption of the flesh of a dog, or any carnivorous animal, or any animal bearing fangs, claws, fingers or reptilian scales, is considered haram, whereas the Maliki school deems it makruh.
Dogs as survival food
Wars and famines
In most European countries, the consumption of dog meat is taboo. Exceptions occurred in times of scarcity, such as sieges or famines.In Germany, dog meat has been eaten in every major crisis since at least the time of Frederick the Great, and was commonly referred to as "blockade mutton".
During the 19th century westward movement in the United States, mountainmen, Native Americans, the U.S. Army, as well as the Confederacy during the American Civil War frequently had to sustain themselves on dog meat; the first to be consumed would be the horses, then the mules, and lastly the dogs.
During the Siege of Paris, food shortages caused by the German blockade of the city caused the citizens of Paris to turn to alternative sources for food, including dog meat. Dog meat was also reported as being sold by some butchers in Paris in 1910.
In the early 20th century, high meat prices led to widespread consumption of horse and dog meat in Germany.
In the early 20th century in the United States, dog meat was consumed during times of meat shortage.
A few meat shops sold dog meat during the German occupation of Belgium in World War I, when food was scarce.
In the latter part of World War I, dog meat was being eaten in Saxony by the poorer classes because of famine conditions.
In Germany, the consumption of dog meat continued in the 1920s. In 1937, a meat inspection law targeted against trichinella was introduced for pigs, dogs, boars, foxes, badgers, and other carnivores.
During severe meat shortages coinciding with the German occupation from 1940 to 1945, sausages found to have been made of dog meat were confiscated by Nazi authorities in the Netherlands.