Ze local cuisine

Because I foster rabbits for an animal shelter, and had rabbits of my own when I was little, my friends are sometimes careful not to mention eating rabbit around me (not that it comes up often). Actually, I don't mind it; nobody's eating my rabbit, and I've tried rabbit myself. Odd taste.

However, I don't have any particular compunction about this issue myself, and have often enjoyed telling the story of how my brother was bound and determined when he went to Korea to eat dog (soup, it's mostly served as a very spicy soup). This is due to all the ridiculous Brigitte Bardot-type 'they're such barbarians' kind of dialogue that centered on the 1988 Olympics in Seoul. I notice that whether due to China's might or the passage of time, there was less talk of a critical nature during the Beijing Olympics, though even I flinched when I saw the kebab of fried mice.

When I was in Poland last year, my brother dragged me north of the main tourist area of Krakow to a really wonderful open-air food market with tons of fresh produce, cheese stalls, bakeries, and sausage stalls. He was hunting down horse sausage, and finally found it. He handed it to me; I took a careful bite, and handed it back. He said, "You don't like it?" I said, "No, it's good. Lean. Flavorful. But, you know, I really like horses, and I just can't quite keep going."

I'd eat it again, though. Maybe not a whole pile of it, but I'd definitely take a bite.

Recently, I was talking to my dad about this whole cuisine issue. We were marveling at the Chinese; he was curious about the horse; and we circled around to rabbits. I pointed out to him that he's mentioned he had to kill chickens for the family dinner as a youngster, but I never heard of him killing the rabbits. "Koreans don't eat RABBIT," he declared indignantly. "Rabbits are PETS."

To each his...


p.s. I forgot it was April Fool's -- but this is not an April Fool's post. I suppose it might look a bit like one!