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Vietnam Open quote - Canines cower as Vietnam rings in Tet By Dean Yates HANOI, Feb 14, 1999 (Reuters) - Dogs may be man's best friend, but at a chain of restaurants on the bank of the giant Red River in Hanoi the canines feel suitably lonely. Not only do Vietnamese enjoy dogmeat, but most also believe eating the tender flesh at the end of each lunar year helps wipe away bad luck. With celebrations known as Tet set to ring in the new lunar year this week -- ironically, the Year of the Cat in Vietnam -- the hounds have been howling as patrons jostle for a plate of skewered, sauteed or grilled dog meat. For Vietnamese, Tet is the country's main annual festival. Back at the Red River dog restaurants, Pham Quang Hoi tucks into a plate of some helpless terrier. Dogs are normally hand-reared in rural areas and trucked in to Hanoi. "The dog meat here is cheap and delicious. People eat it not only for removing bad luck," said Hoi, an editor. "Businessmen especially eat it to shake off bad fortune." End of quote. The following Vietnamese images are from AAPN. These are all expandable (just left click), although unpleasant.          The following is from the Bangkok Post, August 19, 2000. Open quote - It's out of the kennel and into the frying pan for the dogs of Vietnam, but only the upper class can afford this delicacy If you have a special passion for dogs of any kind and cannot tolerate the thought of the four-legged "man's best friend" being consumed by humans, you may want to skip this article. You've been warned. In some parts of the world, the dog is treasured not only for its level of intelligence and loyalty to humans, but also for its delicious taste.
Here on Tayho Street in an old part of Hanoi, every dog, pedigree or otherwise, is fair game for its tender meat, low-fat quality and, according to local belief, its ability to boost health and increase longevity. There is perhaps nowhere else like Tayho Street in the Dinh Tien Hoang area where a huge crowd turns up, especially on the last day of the month, to savour dog meat delicacies. Called Thit Cho, restaurants serving dog cuisine line both sides of the street with other small food vendors serving similar dishes squeezed in-between. Although some Thit Cho restaurants have existed here for more than a decade, the phenomenal popularity of such restaurants has only become apparent during the past few years. Unlike other conventional food outlets where a wide variety of cuisine is on offer, the Thit Cho offers only one gourmet choice: dog meat. "I started dog meat trading 12 years ago," said Nguyet, the owner of one of the Thit Cho restaurants on this street. "My business has been brisk. Here dog meat has become even more popular than Vietnamese food. Most of our customers are teenage boys as well as adults. Traditionally, the Vietnamese, like the Chinese, believe that dog meat enhances health and longevity." This belief is still firmly rooted in Vietnamese society. Yet the dish is served only to the rich and the middle-class who can afford the high price (about 200 baht for a small serving). Simple and open-air, most of the Thit Cho restaurants are built in the same fashion: a wooden house without seats or tables. Customers sit on the floor while they savour the dish. But before doing so, they must select which of the dogs in a nearby cage will be killed and cooked for their meal.
"I love eating dog meat while drinking liquor. It's tender and forms a low-fat diet. I come here every month with my friends," said one customer. Unlike other meats, dog meat cannot be eaten daily. Tradition prohibits consumption on the first day of the month, and misfortune will befall those who break this rule, according to local superstition. "Most dog-meat lovers start eating after the tenth of the month, but the most suitable time is the last day of the month," said Hoang Quang Hai, a tour operator who frequently visits a Thi Cho restaurant. The seasonal peak comes during the winter; as cold winds sweep through the country, Thit Cho restaurants are particularly congested with a steady flow of customers. One reason is that consumption of dog meat is believed to increase heat in the human body, thus creating a warm energy that wards off the freezing weather. A typical menu offers customers 15 different dishes. Boiled, baked, grilled and fried are some of the choices. Livers and intestines are also served: One of the most popular delicacies is dog sausage - deep-fried intestines stuffed with spices and chopped meat. Dog's leg and tail soup is also on the menu. The dishes are eaten with a special dip that is a mixture of shrimp paste, fish sauce, lemon juice, chilli and lemon grass. On this street, the day begins in the wee hours of the morning when dogs are slaughtered and the meat sliced in preparation for the day's business - preparation which begins many hours before the first customer walks through the door. Judging from the number of restaurants lining the street, it might seem that competition is fierce. However, demand is much higher than the supply, and the number of customers continues to increase, according to restaurant owners. "Dog meat sells like hot cakes. Ten dogs are killed each day but quite often we sell almost everything by early evening, with nothing left for other customers who come late," Nguyet said. About 80 percent of the dog meat aficionados, she said, are regular customers from Hanoi; the rest are from other provinces. The supply of fresh dogs for these restaurants comes in a rather unconventional manner. Dog vendors peddle their living wares caged in two baskets attached to their bicycle's back seat. Restaurant operators like Nguyet select and buy dogs while they are alive. Most are transported into Hanoi from rural areas, especially from Bang Ninh and Tien Quang provinces. All are raised as domestic pets before being sold as food to a dog vendor. "The vendors do not come to Hanoi that often, so I have to buy as many dogs as I can to stock up - about 30 dogs at a time. They are kept in the cages for a few days before being killed," Nguyet said. Only the healthy ones are killed for their meat. Any dog that shows signs of illness or disease is screened out, she explained. The prices of live dogs vary, depending on their weight (one kilogramme is about 60 baht). Big dogs with an average weight of 10 kilogrammes are about the right size for shop owners. "Grown-up dogs provide tender, sweet meat," Nguyet said. "There's no difference between the meat of male and female dogs; they are equally delicious." According to Nguyet, the price of dog has been constantly increasing, along with the demand. A few years ago, one kilogramme of dog meat was about 20 baht; now it is about three times higher. One customer attributed the Thit Cho phenomenon to an improved economy. As more Vietnamese become affluent, they can better afford luxury food, including dog cuisine, he said. "Dog consumption has always been part of our eating habit, but now we can afford it more often than before," he said. After consumption, leftovers - such as bones - are sent to factories to be ground up as feed for chickens and pigs. Not all Vietnamese eat dog meat, however. Many find it distasteful, deeming the consumption of man's best friend immoral. "I have tried the dish but don't like it. I felt guilty chewing dog meat because I myself have dogs as pets and they might find out what I have been doing to other dogs," said Nguyen Hong Quang. End of quote. The following is from The Age, Australia, November 4, 2003. Open quote - Police save 800 dogs from dinner plates Bangkok More than 800 dogs destined to be smuggled to Vietnam where they would be butchered and eaten, have been rescued in a police raid on a farm in north-eastern Thailand, officials said yesterday. Authorities acting on a tip-off found the dogs crammed into small metal cages on a farm in Nakhon Phanom province, department of livestock development official Apai Suthisung said. "The dogs were caught all over north-eastern provinces and were to be traded in exchange for consumer products like plastic tubs," he told AFP. Six people were arrested in the raid and charged with smuggling animals out of the country, which carries a maximum two-year jail term and a fine of 40,000 baht (about $A1,420). Licensed dog breeders can sell the creatures, but smuggling them across Thai borders is illegal, Apai said. The dogs, many of which appeared well-groomed and in healthy condition, were to be ferried across the Mekong river to Laos before their journey to Vietnam where they would be sold for 300 to 400 baht ($A10.60 to $A14.20) each. Dog eating has come under fire in places like South Korea, but the practice has gone unchallenged in Vietnam. The communist country has no animal welfare organisations and no laws to protect animals from cruelty, and the practice enjoys runaway popularity in the country's north including the capital Hanoi, where streets in some neighbourhoods are lined with dogmeat restaurants. Apai said the hundreds of rescued dogs would be taken to their new home at a Thai livestock checkpoint in Nakhon Phanom, adding that the station was already soliciting contributions to help feed the animals. - AFP End of quote. |
