China Bans Dog From the Menu

Interesting news article: I think that while we foreigners will be horrified by dog being on the menu, I do not think that it was necessary to ban it. Foreign countries mean foreign food. We do not have to eat it. But who does not know that wierd and strange foods are eaten in places other than North America? Do we really think that the majority of chinese culture will be trying to impress us? I think not. The culture and political govenment are not about the western world.

China has ordered dog meat to be taken off the menu at its 112 official Olympic
restaurants in order to avoid offending foreign visitors.
Restaurant workers
are advised to "patiently" suggest other options to diners who order dog.
Any restaurant found violating the ban would be black-listed, the state-run
Xinhua news agency reported.
Dog - known as "fragrant meat" - is eaten by
some Chinese for purported medicinal properties.
The ban, issued by the
Beijing Catering Trade Association, forbids all designated Olympic restaurants
from offering dog and urges other food outlets to remove the meat from menus.
"If a customer orders dog meat, restaurant staff should patiently suggest
another entree," said Xiong Yumei, deputy director of the Beijing Tourism Bureau
told Xinhua.
Act of respect
The measure has been implemented to "respect
the habits of many countries and nationalities," the Beijing News quoted the
municipal food department as saying.
The BBC's James Reynolds says the ban
is one of several steps taken by China to avoid foreign visitors being amused or
offended by local customs.
Authorities have also told people to queue up
politely, to smile and not to spit on the streets.
During the 1988 Seoul
Olympics, South Korea also banned doggie dishes from menus. Officials invoked a
law banning the sale of "foods deemed unsightly".
Dog meat is eaten in some
other Asian countries, including Vietnam, the Philippines and Laos

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You can chase a butterfly all over the field and never catch it. But if you sit quietly in the grass it will come and sit on your shoulder.
~~Unknown~~