“We Plan to Develop Canned Dog-Meat Juice, Which Football Fans Can Enjoy in Their Stadium Seats”

Travel Blog  •  Michael Yessis  •  05.07.02 | 10:30 PM ET

We’re a couple of the rare Americans who can’t wait for World Cup South Korea/Japan 2002. Many of the games will begin at 4 a.m. where we live, but we don’t care. We’re watching—for the football, and the inevitable cultural confusion, enlightenment and head-butting that comes when fans and teams from 32 countries get together to fly their flags and chant their songs. With less than four weeks remaining before the Cup kicks off, the zaniness has already begun.

Los Angeles Times sports columnist Grahame L. Jones has unearthed a series of odd tidbits from Asia. Among them: South Korean restaurateurs are preparing an offensive against world opinion—some Koreans eat dogs, and Brigitte Bardot and many other people don’t seem to like that—by offering free dog-meat samples outside the stadium in Seoul; the Italians are importing beef from Australia; and soccer-mad Thailand is making its prison population an offer that it can’t refuse. “Soccer fans who find themselves behind bars—as opposed to in them—during the tournament will be allowed to watch games only if they conform to prison rules,” Jones writes. “Thailand’s overcrowded jails, combined with the June heat, make for unbearable conditions, and allowing well-behaved inmates to watch the World Cup is a way of decreasing stress.” Jones adds that there’s no truth to the rumor that those Thai prisoners who behave badly will be allowed to watch only the U.S. team. Ouch.

Tags: Dogs, Asia, Japan, South Korea


2 Comments for “We Plan to Develop Canned Dog-Meat Juice, Which Football Fans Can Enjoy in Their Stadium Seats”

Online Pet Store 07.05.08 | 6:14 PM ET

I can’t believe they eat dog meat. How cruel can you be? My puppy is like a child to me. As for the World Cup, it was overly talked about and I could really only watch the finals. Brazil was brilliant, but Germany was very very strong.

dog traveling 08.27.08 | 12:12 PM ET

I am amazed that people can still think of dogs as food. I agree with the first poster, most dog owners think of them as their children. I realize this is an old post, but either way this bothers me a great deal.

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