• [email protected]@sh.itjust.works
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    15
    ·
    3 days ago

    Watched a short, surreptitious filmed documentary on North Korea and they confirmed that dog was on the menu. It’s on the pricier side but cheaper than exotic and premium meats

    • jaybone@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      8
      ·
      3 days ago

      Do they actually mass produce it to the point where it’s canned? Are there dog farms for this purpose?

      • MNByChoice@midwest.social
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        6
        ·
        edit-2
        3 days ago

        I cannot answer for North Korea. I have doubts about independent verification being possible.

        ~~ South Korea has documented evidence. Here is one photographers photos of a dog farm. https://www.sophiegamand.com/dogmeatfarm ~~
        Edit: Sorry, that farmer had fighting dogs, not meat dogs.

        Given that North Korea can mass produce artillery shells, I don’t doubt they can mass produce canned food of amy type they can access.

        • ForgotAboutDre@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          9
          arrow-down
          2
          ·
          3 days ago

          Dogs would be more expensive to farm chickens, cows and pigs. They eat meat, so you need to produce meat to produce meat. It doesn’t seem like a sensible thing for North Korea to be doing to feed its soldiers rations.

          In time where food is scarce it makes sense, but to actually farm them. They would have to be farming them as a ‘luxury’ product, in which case they aren’t going to be using it for rations.

          • MNByChoice@midwest.social
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            4
            arrow-down
            1
            ·
            3 days ago

            In the USA, we often feed dogs grains. I don’t know that dogs would cost more to raise as livestock than cows. Cows eat a lot.

            • MutilationWave@lemmy.world
              link
              fedilink
              arrow-up
              3
              ·
              3 days ago

              Yeah but cows produce so much more meat. The calculation of cost to raise versus amount of meat obtained is definitely in favor of the cow.

            • ForgotAboutDre@lemmy.world
              link
              fedilink
              arrow-up
              2
              ·
              3 days ago

              They also produce much more meat. They also eat indigestible (to humans) food. Cows stomachs can eat and gain calories from grass in a way humans or dogs can’t, for dogs and humans grass is fibre and doesn’t provide many calories.

              Cows are great in this case for food security, ground that would struggle to produce much grains or vegetables can still produce grass. If you feed your cows a lot of grains the food security aspect is nullified. Even feeding dogs grains for a country like North Korea that struggles with food security is not a rational unless the dogs provide a benefit like guard dogs etc. During World War Two many people in UK cities killed their dogs when rationing was put in place (not to eat) purely because it was suggested the pets would consume food that could have been human food.

          • Miles O'Brien@startrek.website
            link
            fedilink
            English
            arrow-up
            2
            ·
            3 days ago

            I personally hope it’s not true simply because I like dogs so much. And I don’t think if it’s more expensive than other meats that it would be given to rank and file soldiers.

            That said, I could see it being something special some of them brought from home (I know some us vets who would take what food from home they could, it didn’t last long but it was something from home)

            I could also see it being like a perk of sending the soldiers to another country. Like “yeah, these guys are fighting over there but they get these cool perks!” but given I have very little information about the north Korean military, I have no idea if either of those things would even be an option.

            Regardless, it’s 100% not a standard military ration.

      • [email protected]@sh.itjust.works
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        2
        ·
        edit-2
        3 days ago

        I don’t recall them mentioning anything about it being in cans. Definitely an option at restaurants and “upscale” delis, but the time spent in stores was often spent speaking to people, rather than reading labels. As an aside, culture’s closer to Chinese than South Korean. More curt, less formal.