Neither is hammerfan. You're disowned! :(

There is a pretty good joke in here....but I ain't going there

YOU ATE KITTY?!?!?!?!?!

...

Well. On the realistic side, most of the country is extremely impoverished, so the concept of not only keeping a pet "fun" but to spend money on feeding it as well is really out of the question - My students didn't really have "pets" - If there were cats around the house, it was explicitly to catch mice.

While I can't ever imagine eating cat, the fact of the matter is, it's not like there are spay and neuter laws there (or the $$ to widely spay and neuter), so you see wild cats and dogs EVERYwhere, especially dogs.

There was a particular section of the local farmer's market that I had to avoid because it was where they kept the puppies in cages. :(:(

'Tis true - :( - While I was there I seriously considered becoming vegetarian because of this - While PETA may cry about animal abuse here, it's really nothing compared to other countries, and China is no exception... To be honest, I think that it's a different mindset - Not that I'm excusing them, but culturally, they literally do not thing that animals have feelings. Animal is food, just as cabbage is food - Cutting up cabbage isn't considered "abuse," so they don't necessarily consider mistreatment of animals to be abuse either.

I don't condone it, but it's hard to argue with a culture that honestly does not think that animals have feelings. They're FOOD, not PEOPLE. Also, not hard to argue with a culture where a majority of its people are poor and starving. China is truly a 3rd World country still - People don't necessarily realize that because the cities (especially Shanghai) are so rich and modern - The countryside is just that - Country, farmers, herders, etc.



I guess it depends on where she stayed and their "local specialty" - I remember "fish balls" being quite popular and they were absolutely disgusting. Luckily, for the most part, where I stayed had a lot of varieties in terms of the meats and veggies, so any meat or veggie dish we wanted, they'd prepare for us (cooked fish was delicious, though I didn't like the fish soup - Never got the hang of picking bones out of my teeth... Another specialty was this egg and tomato soup which was fantastic... Mushroom and pork soup which was fantastic... Man I'm really blanking now - Good eggplant dishes if I recall correctly...)

YES HANDS DOWN - LOVED the noodle soups they served on the street! Also loved the skewers (didn't have the cat and dog - that I knew of - but I loved the chicken, pork, lam, and squid). Also loved the little dumpling places... Best dumplings I've ever had. Actually, it ruined dumplings and noodle soups for me permanently - Their Ramen Noodles that I would just head up in my wok were better than some of the soups I get in these here parts...

You have me curious, what are "fish balls"? (seriously)

That is an awesome photo dude!

Indeed

......

thanks guys.

I ate the meat out of curiosity, plain and simple. I've always wanted to sample as many flavours as I can - I can honestly say that if it was legal and ethical (say a person had volunteered) and it was prepared in a good way, I'd probably eat human.
Somebody put it to me quite well whilst I was out there. If I'm all fine and dandy to eat the beef, the pork, the chicken etc. then if anything, it's hypocritical for me to exclude other animals on moral grounds. Not to say that I feel everybody is a hypocrite for not WANTING to eat dog and cat - naturally, people can feel weird about it when they have such a personal connection to the animals, but again, it links back to my curiosity.

As for the ethics, yes, it is the unfortunate truth. I saw some things out there which were really quite upsetting, but again, I had to remind myself - as Chrono says - that it's a different country with different ways. When half the country are living in absolute luxury in magnificent apartments towering above Shanghai, others are living in squalor, struggling to make ends meet. If they have access to something like animals, which will always sell well, they're going to take it and try to make as much profit as they can - ethics are the least of their concerns. Even then the meat was insanely cheap. One of these skewers was 20p. A fair price, I think, but in England that would be unheard of!

http://a3.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphot...03477212_n.jpg

As for the noodles and dumplings - SOO happy you agree with me Chrono, although I'd me amazed if you didn't! You're right about it ruining noodles - I don't think I'll ever match it unless I return to China! Massive portions of noodles with such exquisite flavours were the perfect way to end the day.
http://a6.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphot...43385888_n.jpg

Looks awesome!

Also, I'd totally eat dog if I went over there. It's a part of the way of life and travel is about experiencing other cultures and deciding what you like and don't like about them. If I could know for sure all of my views on everything without experience I'd be either one brainy, spiritually/philosophically brilliant or (more likely) arrogant bastard.

I guess the best way to describe them is that they're kinda like meatballs, except with fish - They're a greyish color (ick) and are kinda mushy and mealy... And fishy. Also, they don't typically take out the bones so you wind up picking fish bones out of your teeth.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fish_ball

Sometimes they would serve them in soup, and that was the worst (especially if you're a dump foreigner like me and was expecting one of their otherwise delicious soups ;)).