In Cambodia it is not uncommon for men seeking "renewed libido" to eat "medicinal dog meat," and on this day a stranger came through the village looking to make a quick sale.

🚧 Lodge Construction Interrupted 🛵

I was doing some curating on Hive when I heard Hive account@srey-yuu say that someone was selling dog meat along the road. As our village only has 30 people and is 30km away from the nearest settlement, I was curious to see who was selling and/or possibly kidnapped someone else's dog. Luckily the lady trying to slang dog meat wasn't from our village, but she was also wearing a mask and not revealing too much info about herself.

Eating dog meat isn't illegal in Cambodia, but year-by-year it becomes increasingly taboo because the source of the meat is usually a stolen pet and also cultural norms are shifting with the times. We can safely assume the seller and her son are masked up not because of COVID protocol, but because it would make it harder to identify her in the future if someone comes asking about a missing pet.

🐶 Dog Meat Not Quite Taboo Yet 🍴

My family and I are vegan, so selling it to us wasn't gonna be easy, but as I walked up to the road I overheard my in-law construction crew discussing the idea of sharing the cost together and buying some. I don't think they purchased any because they would've had to have used their own money, and dog meat is expensive in Cambodia when compared to chicken, beef, or pork. My money is used to buy meat for the workers each day though, and because of this their food costs are 300% more than what my family of 4 is able to live on.

To each their own though, and as a person that tries not to use or support any violence when it comes to feeding myself, I can say that a cow seemingly enjoys its life just as much as a dog does. In my mind eating dog meat is no less weird than a cow's flesh, but perhaps the only caveat is that historically dogs are domesticated wolves that mostly partnered with humans throughout history. In this way it is kind of feels like eating a friend to me, but Italians and Slovenians eat horses and Ecuadorians eat guinea pigs, so different strokes for different folks.

Sidenote - I can't stop admiring the view that future lodge guests will have when dining and hanging out.