thit cho...

I have a pretty strong stomach. Or so I thought.

Until I came to Nam.

I was used to seeing all manner of creepy crawlies on the plate in Beijing but nothing prepared me for dog meat - thit cho - which all Viets eat with gusto, every month end. It is supposed to be good for the heart and for sex drive..really??!!!

I quickly learnt to avert my eyes every time we passed the street vendors at the corner of most wet markets in Hanoi. The main problem being that the Viets believed in advertising what they were selling. The dog is roasted whole, teeth, tail, eyes and all. And then cut and sold to the line of people waiting to eat thit cho.

Ro and me had this argument when he kept saying that dogs were bred specially for this purpose and that they were like sheep or pigs. My p.o.v? Dogs are pets, they live with us because man wanted their companionship and they do not have any natural predators. Sheep, pigs and all other animals in the wild all have natural predators. Have you ever noticed that wild dogs are at the top of the food chain and will even chase away lions and tigers to get to the kill. A fight between a lion and 3 Hyenas, also a variation of the dog species, will usually be evenly matched.

Anyway, enough of the wildlife lecture...the whole case in point? The poor dog has now a predator - man, who it thought, was a friend. They have a thinking brain and are man's companion..or so they say...not in Nam - they are eaten like cattle,pigs and hens...(Note: pigs are supposed to be more intelligent than dogs..any thoughts?)

I stuck resolutely to my resolve never to try the meat. I am aware of all the arguments on trying new things and being adventurous, but surely there has to be a better way to prove that I have an adventurous spirit.

Soon afterward, we went on a weekend trip to a small town 70 km from Hanoi. The trip is a completely different story but what we passed on the way to this small town completely shook me. I had somehow agreed to what Ro had said, in some corner of my brain, that there must be places where these dogs are bred specially for the meat and that they were treated like sheep or pigs.

We saw a lot of cages along the way in which a lot of street dogs were kept. I thought nothing of it until I saw one in a separate cage and 2-3 guys cutting up one already dead dog, in front of the other silent dogs. The dog in the cage was whining like it was in pain already( it obviously knew what was in store). I stood transfixed. I could not take my eyes off the scene and walk away. Ro stopped to take pics and the whole scene is reliving itself in front of my eyes now as I write this. The dogs were normal street dogs - obviously coerced to come with the men and then caged up. ( I do have the pics but will not put them up...I frankly do not want to open the folder ever again)

I was distraught. Ro told me by way of comfort that the dogs were first electrocuted - stunned and then cut up. Thanks a lot.

End note:Ro tried Thit cho in the village - and hated the meat. Was it because of what we saw? Is the taste just bad?We will never know, but I do know this - i will not try it. Ever. Not in a million years. Also having second thoughts now about snake blood and snake meat...But that is also another story.

I do not understand humans!!!!!!!