Eat Dog?? [Ask a Cross-Cultural Couple]

“If I have one more person ask me if I eat dog or cat, I think I’m going to scream. That should be one of your blog posts! It’s what everybody wants to know.” (Direct quote from a friend who just returned home to the U.S. after six months in China.)

Pretty place setting! But what poor pet will soon fill it???

Unfortunately, I do not have any graphic stories of dog or cat meat, as I haven’t eaten or seen any during my 3.5 years of living in China. My most traumatic food stories involve having to give up macaroni and cheese, and eating meat with the bones still in (and sometimes with its head and feet still connected).

I’ve also had to eat more vegetables here (Oh! The horror!!), and there are SO many more vegetables to eat! Often my Chinese husband’s vocabulary and the dictionary fail us, and he simply tells me that what’s on the table is a “Chinese vegetable.” Eventually I just stopped asking.

Chinese food in China is nothing like Chinese food in the US, by a long shot. So I thought I’d share some photos of the food that I (and many of my friends) actually eat in China – but sorry, no dogs or cats! (Disclaimer: Chinese cuisine varies A LOT between provinces and even cities, so the following is only a glimpse of the expansive realm of real Chinese food.)

My husband's breakfast of choice is this "Chinese pizza" or "Chinese pancake," called bing 饼. 

Meat (usually pork) and vegetables are stuffed inside.

Just your normal dumplings, purchased frozen from our local supermarket and boiled at home. 

I dip mine in soy sauce, but my husband likes to add vinegar and some spice.

Fried soup dumplings in Shanghai. 

Pretty sure these guys squirted me in the eye with their hot soup.

Totally worth it, though!

More Shanghai soup dumplings (this time not fried)!

Bring on the noodles! We call this "noodles with meat sauce." 

Professionals, we are.

(Not dog meat... Just plain old pork or beef.)

Noooooooodles!!

And whatever green vegetable this is, the Chinese freaking love this one.

I struggle with seafood, but my husband LOVES fish. 

Here are some of the roasted fish we ate for his birthday. He was so happy!

Chinese weddings are predominately dinners, and the dishes just keep coming...

...and coming... stacking up!

Dinner out with some friends a few weeks ago included a smokey seafood dish, as well as mushroom soup, shredded potatoes, asparagus, and lot of other yummy dishes!

Now I will say something about Chinese baked goods. 

Do not eat anything covered in this shredded stuff - it is meat floss, and it is terrible.

The Chinese also have cake, though it is light, airy, fluffy, fruity, and essentially not cake.

This beautiful piece of edible art is a moon cake, traditionally eaten during Mid-Autumn Festival. 

There are many different flavors and designs, but most are filled with red bean or seed paste.

Fruit picking is crazy popular here, and primarily involves eating the fresh fruit until fully satisfied and then taking some home, too. I've picked strawberries, grapes and mulberries before. There's nothing like a sweaty summer afternoon picking sweet fruit and the juice running down your hands and face... Ah!

Hope you enjoyed this brief food tour!

While I haven't encountered dog or cat, the strangest food I’ve seen in China has mostly been parts of (other) animals that we don’t eat back home, like chicken feet or duck tongue or something’s intestines. While I can’t stomach it, I can’t really hate on it either. The Chinese just aren’t wasteful; they eat everything that’s edible. And considering recent history, it’s completely understandable. My husband’s grandparents lived through a period of nationwide starvation. (Look up the Great Chinese Famine.) When I comment on how the younger generation in China is much taller than their parents, I’m told it’s because these kids ate more meat growing up. China is a rising world power, yet it’s also a developing country.

Q: Do they eat dog in China?

I’ve eaten so many delicious things and climbed the Great Wall and walked the Bund and traversed ancient palaces and mountains and caves and temples, and this is the question asked??

A: No… Do you?

[Ask a Cross-Cultural Couple]

I would like to do a series of posts answering people’s questions about cross-cultural relationships and/or expat life in Asia. Please leave your question in the comments!