Chapter 2: Dog Memories

Chapter 2 Dog Memories

Hubble is my dog and he spins in circles as I enter my apartment. Today he is wearing a red Santa suit with little tiny red shoes. I guess my roommate wanted to surprise me. He spins himself until he is out of breath and then looks at me with his little tongue out and lets out a little gruff huff. This is his greeting to me.

I take off my shoes and talk to him as I settle in, “Hi, Hubble, how was your day today? Oh, it was good? So what did you do? Oh, right, nothing. Oh, come on you must have done something today. Oh, you took a nap. That’s good. And you hid under the couch. O.K. And you watched TV. What was on? Oh, I like that show. The people are so funny. What did they eat today on the show? Dog! Dog! You’ve got to be kidding me. Did it make you sick? Yeah, I know. Huh? Huh? Have I ever eaten dog?”

“Have you ever eaten dog?” is a question that I often get. I’m a foodie and I’m currently living in Korea. I write a lot about food and sometimes my readers ask me questions about Korean food. “What’s special? What’s the best Korean dish? What’s not spicy? Is there anything vegetarian? How do they cook it? Do you recommend any restaurants? What’s the weirdest thing you have eaten? What’s good? Where can I buy good cheese? How is that healthy? Have you ever eaten dog?”

I mean maybe I should try to downplay it because it is such a taboo to eat man’s best friend. Tackling this question depends on who is asking the question. Some ask this question as a kind of judgment of character. If I answer yes, I could be instantly condemned. In their eyes, I’m less of a person because I have polluted myself by eating something sacred. The judgers that are dog lovers are the worst. They see me as a threat. They imagine me at my house sharpening my knives as I stare at my refrigerator that has posted pictures of their dog. When I am invited over to their house they try to keep the dogs away as if I am the “weird” uncle.

Others ask for a sense of personal shock. They are adventure seekers that just want an answer. They don’t want any details- a yes will suffice.

Others are generally curious. They want to know the flavor. They want to know if it is a delicacy that others have overlooked simply because of personal prejudices. If reasons are convincing, they’ll go out and give it the old college try.

I have a prepared answer for all three. For the judgers:

“Yeah, but I didn’t know that I was eating dog. I was out with some businessmen and they told me they were going to take me to a ‘special’ restaurant. At that time, I was new to the country so I couldn’t read Korean or anything so I was like ok. At that time, I lived in a small country city, so the businessmen couldn’t speak English well. I was poor, I was lonely, and I was happy that I was out with some people.

They took me to this small restaurant in a hidden alley. It looked very old and inside it was very provincal.”