Nice work, professors

I have never eaten dog that I know of, but I really don’t begrudge people who do. Actually, I do. If the dog is killed in the traditional manor, beating it to death, slowly, I would call that barbaric.

The Joongang has an article about dog soup (with no mention of how the dogs meet their end) that sounds like Dr Hwang (‘the man who can clone anything) Woo-seok’s best.

Dr Ann, in the article, says dog is especially nutritious, but that his own claim cannot be proven.

Quote:

“Professor Ann Yong-geun of Chungcheong University waded into the controversy last
month when he said that there is a nutritious property of dog meat that cannot be proven by Western medical science.
He said in a CBS radio program that although dog meat has less protein and fewer minerals than pork, chicken or beef, eating dishes like gaejangguk and boshintang (dog stew) mysteriously allow more energy to enter the body.”

Another snippet (not from Professor Ann):

“Also, dog meat eaters believe that the meat is low in unsaturated fat and high in protein with low levels of cholesterol.”

This might be a translation error or a simple mistake on the reporter’s part: unsaturated fats are the good ones. I would expect, by the way, that dog would have lower cholesterol than beef, for example.

In answering the question, “Is dog meat really good for stamina?”, Dr Joo baldly states, “Yes”, then goes on to describe how dog-soju is made. That’s a great way to avoid the question.

Stamina, by the way, is usually code for, “sexual endurance” and Koreans seem very concerned by it. As an off-topic example, my sword-fighting instructor once pulled me away from the younger students and suggested an exercise that increased stamina. I don’t know if he had just learned that English word and wanted to try it or thought I wasn’t getting enough at home.

Throughout the article, the professors describe the doctrines of ancient oriental medicine as though we should care. This offers another interesting correlation with Dr. Hwang. Recent reports (couldn’t find a cite) suggest that Dr Hwang did do a few things right and his work has some value.

Likewise, oriental medicine may be effective in certain situations but that doesn’t mean its value is a given when looking at other situations.