In yesterday’s International Herald Tribune, August 14, 2006 a front-page picture of NBA Rocket Yao Ming accompanied a feature story reporting that the basketball star has publicly renounced eating shark fin soup.

Yao’s deprecation is impressive as it is rare for a Chinese national to promulgate on cultural or political issues. As stated by the ITH, other stars that have voiced an unpatriotic opinion have quickly seen a downturn in their careers, or been met with public disdain.

One female pop star was attacked, having feces smeared in her face after posing in a magazine holding a Japanese flag. Though he is considered a national treasure, it is possible that Yao could face similar backlash.

Shark fin soup has been a long time issue for animal rights activist. Fetching prices of $100 a bowl, this Chinese delicacy is ordered by the upwardly mobile to celebrate a wedding or businessmen closing a deal. And the rich, who in a continued tradition of taking delight in such inordinate meals unavailable to the working class Joe.

I have issues with sharks. I will leave it at that, and though I’d swim easier if all sharks were eradicated from oceans, it concerns me that to make the controversial soup fishermen take part in finning. The practice of cutting off a live shark’s fin, then discarding the body back into the ocean where it is left to die, alarms scientist concerned with dwindling population numbers. It is purported by wikipedia, that over 100 million sharks are slaughtered every year solely for their fins.

But Yao’s big move led me to thoughts of my host country’s dark culinary secret.
Dog soup, or bosintang. Earlier in the month, The Korea Times, on the final day of bok (the three days marking the beginning, middle, and end of the summer heat wave), published an article concerning dog soup, accompanied with a photo of pooches in cages, and being inspected at the market.

Let me set the record straight. Not all Koreans eat dog meat; many abhor the practice. Only a specific breed is raised for the purpose. Dog is usually sold in nondescript alleyway city restaurants, or minimally signed ones in the suburbs.

Bosintang is eaten for its supposed energizing properties; to get through, excuse the pun, the dog days of summer. Men also use dog soup to, ahem, increase stamina. 8,428 tons of dog meat is consumed each year.

Yet, the Korean diet is rich with energizing meals, samegaetang (a chicken soup with ginseng), and natural aphrodisiacs, eel for one. I deduce that dog meat is eaten simply because it has been done so for generations.

To date the only celebrity to denounce dog meat stew has been Brigitte Bardot. Who with classic French arrogance told a radio interviewer, “Eating dog meat seriously hurts the image of your country.” And, “Cows are grown to be eaten, dogs are not. I accept that many people eat beef, but a cultured country does not allow its people to eat dogs.”

While I’m keen to follow this 60’s French icon, a widely respected Korean or celebrated American celebrity (Nick Cage or Tom Cruise) is needed to exhort forsaking the tradition. But here’s the kicker. No one can come up with a cross-cultural absolute as to why we shouldn’t eat dog.

For me, eating dog is something that will never happen. In my culture dogs are breed for companionship. I respect Koreans decision to eat it or not. It certainly isn’t up to me to tell them what is right and wrong. I can only hope that as Korea continues to modernize into a technological superpower and financial capital of north Asia, locals will start to reassess whether eating dog meat is really necessary.

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