AHC: Make dog, cat and generally pet meat an acceptable foodstuff in Europe.

MusuMankata · Mar 20, 2015

As for the title. Make it so that butcher and eat what are usually considered "pet animals" isn't unacceptable and/or illegal, a bit like guinea pigs on the Andes, or dogs in Asia.

riggerrob · Mar 20, 2015

How hungry are you?
Did the last invading army eat all your food reserves?

Ramontxo · Mar 20, 2015

I have eaten (and enjoy them) horse meat, rabbit, snails, little lambs, little pigs, plus all of French "charcuterie" I have been able to (living at the French border). Not so many years ago Tolosa (a Gipuzkoan village) was famous for serving cat whenever you asked for rabbit*... OTOH both cats and dogs are carnivore, so no really suitable as meat cattle, but count on me for trying...
*You know small village rivalries, after the SCW that was true probably in all of Gipuzkoa and not only in Tolosa...

MusuMankata · Mar 20, 2015

Perhaps I should have specified that I've asked this in regard of dogs and cats begin eaten as food even in times of relative prosperity/ abundance of food.

wietze · Mar 20, 2015

Ramontxo said:
I have eaten (and enjoy them) horse meat, rabbit, snails, little lambs, little pigs, plus all of French "charcuterie" I have been able to (living at the French border). Not so many years ago Tolosa (a Gipuzkoan village) was famous for serving cat whenever you asked for rabbit*... OTOH both cats and dogs are carnivore, so no really suitable as meat cattle, but count on me for trying...
*You know small village rivalries, after the SCW that was true probably in all of Gipuzkoa and not only in Tolosa...

we had a hotel in a neighbouring town that served "water rabbit" for a while
(until the general public found out what it was lol (musk rat))

pa_dutch · Mar 21, 2015

You can't really compare dog and cat meat to guinea pig, as guinea pigs aren't carnivorous and were originally domesticated as a food source. Eating guinea pig is akin to eating rabbit.

MusuMankata · Mar 21, 2015

pa_dutch said:
You can't really compare dog and cat meat to guinea pig, as guinea pigs aren't carnivorous and were originally domesticated as a food source. Eating guinea pig is akin to eating rabbit.

Still, if I try to eat a guinea pig, I can get arrested for Animal Abuse.

pa_dutch · Mar 21, 2015

MusuMankata said:
Still, if I try to eat a guinea pig, I can get arrested for Animal Abuse.

That's because guinea pigs were ultimately adopted into Western cultures for purposes other than human consumption, just as dogs and cats were. To change the perception of dog and cat meat in Europe, you'd have to have them accepted as a food source from a very early time just as guinea pigs were in the Andes - Probably during prehistory.

Riain · Mar 21, 2015

Carnivores tend to accumulate heavy metals and other nasties in their organs as they are an accumulator of these things by eating them in other animals. Hence Antarctic Explorer Douglas Mawson got Hypervitaminosis A from eating his sled dogs to survive and all of his skin started to slough off.

As obligate carnivores cats are worse in this regard than dogs, who will happily eat some vegetable matter as part of their diet. I believe that in the Americas some small dogs were eaten for this reason, they'd eat scraps including vegetables and thus were a handy source of extra protein.

Also carnivores are not en efficient means of growing meat, as they must be fed meat themselves so if you are going to grow herbivores to feed a carnivore you may as well eat the herbivore yourself.

Mark Ford · Mar 22, 2015

Dogs and Cats are eaten in societies that have low rates of pet ownership, you can't go to a restaurant to eat a meal that includes braised dog and then return home and play with your own dog in your back yard. From what I have been told, it takes at least two days for the odour of what your have eaten to dissipate enough for a dog to want to come anywhere near you.

carlton_bach · Mar 22, 2015

Cat is harder than dog. Dog was eaten regularly until the eartly twentieth century, though as a poverty food. Fun fact: slaughterhouses built under Prussian ordinances hads to set aside an area for processing dogs. Cat is a bit more problematic for hygiene reasopns. Many dogs were working animals fed a primarily vegetarian diet that could be despatched at the end of their useful lives like a horse or ewe, something that especially farmers and pedlars would do. Cats, on the other hand, were either pets or semiferal, which meant their diet was harder to control. They were never officially included in slaughterhouse stock.

Keep Europe significantly poorer, and people will contiue to eat dog. Alternatively, reduce the sentimental middle-class child-substitute bonding that dominates modern pet ownership. Then, dog could be rediscovered by hipster foodies, like skirret and crabapple.