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by Dhiraj Fernando

"Mmmmmmm, delicious"! She said, "try some dahling". I could only stare at her with a look of revulsion on my face as she tried unconsciously to avoid grimacing while stuffing her mouth with that shiny, black, odiferously sticky mess that is caviar.

"Lovely", she said, as another spoonful disappeared down her slender throat. She had noticed my revulsion towards the stuff and was putting on airs of instantly acquired class, breeding and pedigree that woman tend to display when in social gatherings.

"You see, it's an acquired taste my dear' she continued. I wondered how she could have developed an accent in the short period since I picked her up from her place. She was perfectly normal then. "You feeling alright?" I asked. "Why yes, sweetie, thanks," she said, her pea sized brain unable to grasp the subtle sarcasm. Those dumb blond jokes are true after all, I thought to myself, only, this ones hair is a shiny jet black, rather like the caviar.

"An acquired taste", it definitely was. Acquired being a key word, for caviar is the gastronomic status symbol of the `affluent effluence',- or the `filthy rich'. "It is the Rolls Royce of the discriminating palate" said someone famous. Swallowing a car of that size must be painful, I mused.

Exotic tastes in food are generally the preserve of the rich, and culinary experimentation can include the bizarre in some parts of the world. For example; in Vietnam and certain provinces in China, monkey brain is considered to be a delicacy. Its preparation is unique, for it requires no cooking.

Instead, aficionados gather around a specially designed table with a hole in the middle, the table itself being in two halves with the dissection running through the hole in the centre. A live monkey is then proffered, writhing and screaming its protestations, and its neck placed in the hole with only its head protruding above the table.

Thus immobilized, the monkey is then scalped and its skull cracked open in a circular fashion along its brow and ears with a sharp knife revealing the much sought after brain. The monkey, still alive but obviously in immense pain is then subjected to its final misery; Its brain, live and quivering jelly-like is picked and eaten raw with chopsticks.

The animals writhing and screaming as the chopsticks hit nerves connected to various functions in its body are a great source of amusement to these diners.

There is a belief that the great surge of adrenaline produced in its body and brain would have positive affects on those who consume its organs. This belief extends to the practice of dog eating in Korea, Vietnam and some parts of China.

The upcoming Football World Cup in South Korea later this year has focused international attention on this country as various animal rights groups attempt to enforce a ban on the consumption of dog meat. Leading the battle is French actress turned animal rights campaigner, Bridgette Bardot.

Bardot has threatened to distribute pictures showing the horrific treatment of dogs bred for food in that country. The dogs deaths are as inhumane as their rearing. The majority are beaten to death, as it is thought to stimulate the production of adrenaline that Korean men believe will bolster their virility.

Once beaten to the point of losing consciousness, the dogs are dropped into boiling water, skinned and hung by the jaw from a meat hook. Many cooks then use a blow-torch to glaze the carcass of the animal that was just boiled alive.

Before arriving in the grim array of cages behind restaurants, most dogs endure the misery of a Korean canine farm where puppies are reared 10 to a cage, covered in sores and lice. It is estimated that a staggering 50,000 dogs are killed for commercial purposes each year.

A pound of dog meat can cost upto 350 Rs.in Seoul. At the rear of shops, eight month old puppies - considered to be the prime age for eating - are packed together in tiny cages from which customers choose which of the live animals they want.

The dog is then taken to the back of the shop where a flimsy curtain obscures the sight, but not the sounds of the dog being subjected to the treatment mentioned before.

However, most Koreans seem immune to the criticisms of foreigners regarding this barbaric practice. A pro-dog meat lobby group accused European condemnation as self-righteous and hypocritic. "We in Korea do not understand the snail eating and horse meat eating habits of Westerners. Nonetheless, we neither criticise them or demand that they stop indulging in it", said the lobby in a statement.

Another totally bizarre indulgence that I witnessed myself happened in the Middle-East a few years back. It was late evening and I was frying a couple of eggs in the open air kitchen behind my workplace, when my Arab employer and a friend of his walk in. There happened to be thousands of moths attracted by the lights swarming around. Upon seeing this the Arab friend of my boss took my frying pan and buttered it well.

He then waved it around through the swarm of moths making them stick by the hundreds.

He then fried them on the gas stove for a few seconds and casually popped one after another into his mouth while conversing.

Yes, people do eat the strangest things. Sago palm grubs are a delicacy in Papua New Guinea, as are Wichity grubs to Australian aboriginals, and what must be the most revolting drink concocted by man; A type of beer fermented with ; `Human Saliva'! though I forget which country that originates from.

Then there's the weirdest thing ever smoked; in Nepal certain villagers in remote districts are in the habit of catching gheckos, sun-drying them for days, crushing them into a fine powder, mixing it with tobacco and smoking it, apparently deriving a narcotic benefit from it.

All of these practices do have a certain cultural significance, and it can be argued that no other nation or community should attempt to discourage or ban them. However, there are certain instances in which basic norms of human decency should prevail over custom and taste.

For example, the Japanese flouting of the International Ban on Whaling, with the Japanese pro-whaling lobby, mainly restaurateurs, insisting that whales killed by Japanese whaling boats are simply for scientific research purposes, regardless of the fact that the whales end up on restaurant tables all over the country after the dubious `research' is over.

Of all the practices mentioned, the most inhumane and abhorrent must surely be the Korean dog eating phenomenon. It transcends all constraints of inter species respect and understanding in it's cruelty and utter inhumanity. A ban on dog eating would hopefully be the most positive outcome of the upcoming Football World Cup that South Korea will be co-hosting later this year.

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Copyright 2001 The Associated Newspapers of Ceylon Ltd.
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