Protest in China closes cat meat restaurant

[draggonlaady]

From SlashFood

http://www.slashfood.com/2006/06/18/protest-in-china-closes-cat-meat-restaurant/

Posted Jun 18th 2006 5:48PM by Nicole Weston
Filed under: Restaurants, Eastern Europe

In the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen, a group of approximately 40 demonstrators gathered to protest the sale of cat meat at the Fangji Cat Meatball restaurant. Protestors initially demanded that any live cats on the premises be freed or turned over to them, but the shop owner had already removed them from the premises. Instead, a search of the kitchen revealed cat meat and a whole, skinned cat in the fridge, which reduced some of the protestors to tears. The restaurant was chosen as the site of the protest because workers at the restaurant had been seen killing cats in the street, something which concerned parents said was traumatic for children attending school nearby.

The owner of the shop defended the sale and consumption of cats - which are, along with dogs, considered to be traditional, comforting fare in the province - but said that he would close his shop.

Perhaps due to outside influences and the increasing popularity of having dogs and cats as pets, the animal rights movement is gaining momentum in China. An increasing perception of these animals as companions and not food could eventually put a stop to the practice all together.

A local beauty queen, who participated in the protest, even urged people to "stop eating cats and dogs and become civilised."

Ok, the rest of the debate about eating critters aside, "workers at the restaurant had been seen killing cats in the street". Now, I've never been to China, so maybe slaughtering things in the street outside a restaurant is normal there, but does anyone else find that strange? And a lot frightening from a food-safetly standpoint? Also, it doesn't specifically say this, but I have to wonder if the cats they were killing in the street belonged to the restaurant or were they just neighborhood cats who happened to be wandering by?

Comments

[tmercenary.livejournal.com]

That reminds me of a time when I was 9 years old. My mom had recently met the man who would be come my stepfather. The 3 of us went to a chinese restuarant near my soon to be stepfathers house, that he dined at often. During the meal, he told me they served cat on the menu here. I didn't believe him, but he insisted that they did.

As we left, we saw the chef out the parking lot holding a meat cleaver and serving plate, looking around and under cars saying "here kitty kitty" in the borken english of a natural chinese speaking person.

It turns out that because my stepfather was such a regular there, we was well acquainted with the staff, who went in on the joke on me, that my stepfather setup.

[draggonlaady.livejournal.com]

I think your stepdad and my dad'd get along smashingly. Asked my dad where the kitten was once, he told me he fed her to the dog. Didn't believe him, but when I went outside again, the kitten was sitting right in the middle of the dog dish. (Happily eating the dogfood, while the dog looked confused.)

[benchilada.livejournal.com]

While not common, it's not entirely uncommon for restauranteurs to do some butchery in the alley behind their restaurant. Two of the reasons being: in some places they don't have space in their restaurant to do such cutting, and it other places it's because the area may just be tons of stalls, so there's an area for cutting, et al...

[draggonlaady.livejournal.com]

Hmm. I wouldn't think butchering cats would take much space...not quite as heavy or difficult to handle as cattle. But it is interesting to know; do you happen to know what kind of contamination prevention would be taken in that kind of arrangement?

[sagaciouslu.livejournal.com]

In my experience, it is not uncommon for smaller live animals to be kept on hand and slaughtered freshly for each customer. Common critters are, of course, fish, lobsters and crabs, but also poultry, cats, small dogs (ever think of how the 'chow' dog got its name?), snakes and rodents. It all depends on the area and what the local delicacies are....

Contamination prevention? Uhhh....not so much. Except that they cook the meat.

[draggonlaady.livejournal.com]

Chows aren't all that small, and somehow i hadn't figured "chow" as being a chinese word for food.

Hmm. well, cooking's good for killing most things, i guess. but seems like a lot of mess to have to clean up. Guess i'm just a spoiled american, used to keeping the cooking away from the gutting.

Chow....

[sagaciouslu.livejournal.com]

You're right. So far as I know, 'chow' does not mean food in Chinese. However, it does refer to a kind of dog, a dog that was (and still is, I believe) used for food. In English, 'chow' is a variation on 'chew', and 'chow-chow' is pidgeon-English (used in India and China during the period of the tea / opium trade) for a mixture or medley of any sort e.g. pickles, sweatmeats, etc.

So, there you go. Etymology. Still doesn't excuse the Chinese for being cruel and heartless bastards in terms of how they treat their animals. Issues of contamination and cleanliness aside, the level of simple abuse that is considered acceptable is revolting.

Re: Chow....

[draggonlaady.livejournal.com]

Thought chows were bred to guard homes, and eating them was incidental/side benefit?
don't know enough about the way they treat animals to comment, really.

No such thing has public health laws.

[huashan.livejournal.com]

As far as I could tell when I was in China there are no rules about food prep or contamination prevention or really any sort of attempt to keep people from getting sick from the food. I saw several places where butchering obviously happened behind the restaurants in the alley. Butchering is pretty messy, I wouldn't expect them to want to do it someplace where they were also tryingt do other things, regardless of the cleaness of the other activities just because of all the mess. And really, any excuse to get out of the kitchen of a restaurant in China in the summer is a great idea. I thought the midwest and southern US were unbearable in the summer, but China is godawful.

I'm so looking forward to going back next summer! Shantung this time, and the lake country. sweet.

Re: No such thing has public health laws.

[draggonlaady.livejournal.com]

"As far as I could tell when I was in China there are no rules about food prep or contamination prevention or really any sort of attempt to keep people from getting sick from the food."

what a comforting thought :(