San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1897-12-07
THE DOG AS FOOD
Eaten by Many Races Since Time Im-
memorial.

Eaten by Many Races Since Time Im-
memorial.
THE more we know of men, the moro
we like dogs" writes misanthropically,
that great friend of animals, M. Tous-
senel. Perhaps it is because the in.
habitants of the Celestial empire do
not know men sufficiently that they
still regard the dog as an edible ami
NAL, and as one of the most savory Of
morsels. But it is to be hoped that in
the progress of civilization day will
come when these brave animals-"can-
didates for humanity" according to
Michelet's picturesque expression
will no longer figure on the menus of
state dinners at the court of Picking.
Darwin relates somewhere that when
the inhabitants of Terra del Fuego ara
pressed by famine they kill and eat
their old women rather than their dogs,
and that in Australia fathers will sac
rifice their children in order that the
mothers may be able to nourish this
useful servant of man. The Chinese,
however, tend and fatten their dogs
carefully-to eat. They also consider
the cat choice dish. Able lie Noir, in
travels in the Far East" relates that
in the markets of many cities are to
be seen dogs and cats hanging side
by side by the head or tail, and that
on most farms these animals are kept
in little coops like hencoops. They
remain thus from two to three weeks,
condemned to almost complete immo-
'bility, and are fed on nothing but
mixture of rice and farina. We do not
know the edible dog or the edible cat
in France, but probably since the siege
they have been but little served-open.
ly at least-ou the tables of Paris res
taurants. At Picking and throughout
China, however. there is no dainty re-
past without its fillet or leg of dog;
the cat is rather dish of the poorer
classes.
These same customs that are so re-
pulsive to us as to seem like kind of
semi-cannibalism existed, nevertheless,
among the people of classic antiquity.
History tells us that in early times
the dog was always regarded as an
edible animal. The inhabitants of
certain homes of Egypt piously en-
balmed their dead dogs, but others con-
sidered that it was more in conformity
to the doctrines of wise economy to
kill and eat them. Plutarch tells us
that the jewellers in Cynopolis, where
dogs were honored as divine, made war
on the Oxyrinchis, who had committed
the sacrilege of eating dogs. In his
book on Diet, Hippocrates, speaking
of common articles of food, is of the
opinion that the flesh of the dog gives
heat and strength, but is difficult of
digestion. Our fathers" says Pliny,
regarded small dogs as so pure food
that they used them for expiatory vie
tins. Even to-day young dogs flesh is
served at feasts held in honor of the
gods" And further on: "This meat
was used in the installation feasts of
the pontiffs." According to Apicius,
who has left us curious treatise ''On
Cookery" the Romans ate also adult
dogs.
The savages of North America, for
lack of provisions, often sacrifice their
companions of the chase. We are told
that before the introduction of cattle
the Gpaniards in Mexico used the ma
tive dogs so freely as food that the spe-
cies has now completely disappeared.
According to Capt. Cook, the natives of
New Zealand ate their dogs and clothed
themselves in the skins. Forster adds:
They love the flesh passionately, and
prefer it to that of the pig" The
Greenlanders and the Kamchatkans
also sometimes eat their dogs, but only
when reduced to this cruel extremity
by famine. In Africa dogs form the
food of certain negro tribes; in the
Ashantee country the flesh is eaten
both fresh and dried. And it appears
that in the lower Congo region, among
the Batekes. there is.a custom that must