Quote:
Originally Posted by Scrat335
I know, you're a city kid. I told you about my childhood in Montana already. My mom was surprised I survived it.
I think I understand you opinion of the Chinese and what they will eat. I've heard the saying "Chinese will eat anything with a spine to the heavens" and to one degree or another considering conditions there in the past I won't point a finger at them for it, even today. It's about survival. When it comes to fruit bats in soup just as a stunt to impress your friends or whatever that's not right.
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No Scrat, it's not about ALL THAT exactly; it's not exactly about the "survival."
If people need to eat giant insects ( because they are poor and insects can be a source of protein too,) I wouldn't hold it against them - I am not particularly judgemental in this respect.
After all, this beef tongue dish mentioned by Zimogor, ( that came to Russians from the ever decadent French cuisine,
) can be detested by Americans, but boiled, chilled and thinly sliced, served with horseradish - yes, I don't see anything repulsive in not wasting any part of animal, already destined for a slaughter. You might as well make the best out of it.
So no, it's not about that.
Number one, as I've already mentioned, if I come from the culture that sets pretty rigid definitions of "what's for food, what's for companionship and what should be left alone all together," ( unless we are talking about the "emergency mode,") obviously I can't have much of mutual understanding with people from a culture that uses dogs for food on a regular basis, (instead of being in "emergency mode.")
More than that; people from such cultures don't seem to have ( forgive me for such mundane terminology as "Christian,") but that's what they seem to lack - such simple thing as understanding of "mercy," when it comes to animals.
Certain images I saw on-line - the way they skin alive the critters for their fur, the way they celebrate their "Yulin dog meat festival," and some other images that make me cringe, make me reject this culture all together, as basically barbaric.
And it doesn't matter to me what "great infrastructure" they build in their cities, or what "scientific research" they excel in, or what "great economy they created," - those repulsive images, the basic philosophy of their society makes me reject it all together; not the fact that they "eat snakes."
After all, snake is an animal too, ( which is a source of protein,) and as any animal it can be treated in humane way and slaughtered humanly, before being consumed.
But that's not a case in Chinese culture ( not when you watch what was going on in those markets, the kind that was FINALLY shut down in Wuhan.)
As I've said - Russian TV showed the grainy footage from there, and... well,
this description is pretty close;
"It’s a sickly, almost sweet and nauseating smell of death. Once inside, the fetid stench — made worse by blistering temperatures and zero refrigeration — is overwhelming, and it is places like this where the deadly coronavirus originated.
In stall after stall, a mix of live and dead animals, which run the gamut from the known (pig, ox, duck, chicken) to the rare or unknown due to the condition of the carcass — stare back at you. In the wet areas of the market — usually reserved for fish and sea creatures and where the ground is slick with water and often blood — the stink is worse. The animals that have not yet been dispatched by the butcher’s knife make desperate bids to escape by climbing on top of each other and flopping or jumping out of their containers (to no avail). At least in the wet areas, the animals don’t make a sound. The screams from mammals and fowl are unbearable and heartbreaking.
These unregulated and usually filthy markets are found all over Asia and Africa."
And, as I've said, it's not the "filthy" part that bugs me so much.
P.S. By the way that "bat soup" glamorized in social media, was not consumed by someone "out of desperation."
That girl in the pics looked like a well-to-do blogger, that was earning bonus points.
But the images were ( yet again) nothing but disturbing if you ask me.
Oh, and bats are known to carry a lot of viruses.
Just saying.
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