Jonathan Safran Foer’s Let them Eat Dog is a comical persuasive essay about the arbitrary boundaries that society places over the consumption of animals. He successfully points out the almost silly rules certain cultures place over eating certain animals, using the example that Americans generally viewing “eating ‘man’s best friend’ … as taboo”. (Foer 332) There are many different cultures around the world, each of which have their own general beliefs and social norms. One of these norms is what people should or should not eat. Some cultures will eat one animal that another culture would find repulsive and even possibly disrespectful. Foer says: The French, who love their dogs, sometimes eat their horses. The Spanish, who love their horses, sometimes eat their cows. The Indians, who love their cows, sometimes eat their dogs. (333) Many cultures, like the French or Americans, view dogs at a higher standard than they do cows. Americans generally eat a lot of beef product, 71 pounds annually to be exact. (Molla) In the Indian culture, eating cow is seen the …show more content…
However, they may fail to realize that eating dog is “perfectly legal in 44 states.” (Foer 332) Not only that, but the manner and preparation that some American sub-cultures took to eat dog would seem to be a bit extreme to some. “Dakota Indians enjoyed dog liver, and not so long ago Hawaiians ate dog brains and blood.” (Foer 334) I found If for the most part eating dog is legal, then why are American’s so anti-dog eating? This may have to do with how emotional of an animal the dog is. Dogs are particularly good at sensing human emotion. It probably has to do with how we’ve used dogs over the last few centuries. Dogs, especially in western culture, have been used as hunting companions. This companionship is ingrained in our society, so eating dog is seen as eating your partner or emotional