Eating Dogs

One of the benefits of working in the public school system is the sense of camaraderie among the staff. We hadn't worked two full weeks when we were first invited out to dinner with my fellow fifth grade teachers.

Immediately after accepting the invitation my then co-teacher blindsided me with: "Do you like dog?"

I was aware that dog meat is consumed in this country. I have since learned that dog soup is commonly eaten by older men in the springtime to increase virility. I was told that kids do not like to eat dog meat, but after conducting an informal poll myself, I am conflicted.

I guess I just wasn't prepared to be asked "Do you like puppy meat?" this early in the game.

Caught unawares, my reply was a truthful, "I don't know. I have never tried it."

"I like dog," my increasingly creepy co-teacher informed me.

By the time we sat down in the traditional Korean BBQ restaurant with my co-teachers, I had worked myself into deciding that "When in Rome, do as the Romans" and eat slaughtered puppy brain. I wondered- Would it be a yellow lab puppy? Maybe something cuter?

We were served a plethora of raw meats which were fire grilled in front of us. There was a fatty bacon-like unsalted pork (the famous samgyupsal), beef ribs, shrimp (which they eat whole, heads, tails and all), sausages, and of course, the dreaded canine flesh.

The dog meat was sliced thin and looked pinkish with a brown piece of crispy fat. I ate it wrapped in lettuce with some rice and bean paste. It reminded me a little of smoked ham, but leaner and firmer in texture. I tried it with a sauce that I think was oyster sauce and brown sugar. It was delicious.

I enticed Sami to try some without letting her know what it was. After she swallowed I decide to really lay it on.

"Do you know what you just ate?" I asked with a sly smirk.

"You just ate Lassie."

"How does that make you feel?"

As her face turned white, I feel the urge to throw in one last insult.

"Woof! Woof!" I mock.

"No," my co-teacher interjected. "Not woof woof, quack quack!"

It seems that I had misinterpreted my co-teacher all along. In her Korean accent "dog" was actually "duck."