Did he wash Fido down with TANG?

This is completely disgusting.  Are the Japanese going to bring their whale "meat" too?  What will the traditionalist Maori astronaut bring?

I think chinese "taikonauts" should not be on the space station in the first place.

What's next?  Will cannibal astronauts be feeding their appetites in orbit?

What they eat in China is really none of our business.  Imagine how many are horrified because we eat the meat of cows?  Do we change our habits so as to not insult them and their beliefs?  Absolutely not and neither should the Chinese.  One of the problems in this world is that everyone wants others to conform to their beliefs and standards.  

Dog is actually pretty good meat!

do dogs have more rights than sheep or cows?in europe horsemeat is popular Americans find the consumption of horses abhorrent,what about vegan sensibilities,should we ban meat consumption in space altogether?this is obviously a cultural issue & ignorant comments about cannibalism do not contribute to rational discussion.

I'll pass along my dog's comment: "Rough...rough..."

I'm sure this will continue to dog their every step!  Americans need some education in trans-cultural cuisine.

Cheese is rotten milk in some areas.  Let's get over it, people.

And thanks to your president these people who act like barbarians to their own people let alone animals are going to be on the moon first

Well done Obumba, not only setting new standards in crapulance in outerspace but also handing over the keys to the morality chest!

The strange and bizarre culinary practices of the Red Chinese should be no surprise to anyone in our great nation, since every year it kills approximately 50,000 to 100,000 of us and sickens millions of us . . .

Of course, it probably is a complete and total surprise to most people, but this is only because the few people who know about it never provide all the dots for everyone else to connect, which for the curious can be found by doing a bit of web searching on the phrase "influenza, epicenter, Guangdong, Hong Kong" . . .

For the slower folks, the short version is that the "flu shot" you get every year is designed and manufactured by a team of our best scientific researchers who work diligently to predict precisely which variants of influenza virus the Red Chinese in Guangdong and Hong Kong will send our way, and while the scientific researchers make a few outstanding predictions, they also predict that Dewey will beat Truman by a landslide every few years . . .

The reality is that the everything in the old-school animal and plant kingdoms is on the Happy Soup menu, as is the case with every new biological domain and kingdom in the more recent taxonomic systems, and the consequences are quite consistent with the emergence of new zoonotic diseases and trans-species maladies, where some of the more disturbing examples are Ebola virus, HIV, and Kuru, which ALL are the consequences of primates consuming primates, with Kuru being the most disturbing but the least prevalent, since the fine folks in the Australian Parliament decided sometime in the 1950s to prohibit cannibalism in Papua New Guinea where the recently deceased were laid to rest on a bed of lettuce and served du jour . . .

The fact of the matter is that there are a lot of things that people are not supposed to eat, and while most of us are very selective with respect to which things should be on the menu, there are a lot of other folks in the world who prefer to take a walk on the wild side and then to see what happens, which mostly was not our problem until someone discovered the wheel and then later started building airplanes and boats . . .

At the dawn of the early 21st century, it takes less than a day for truly gnarly stuff to travel from countries where strange and bizarre culinary practices are the norm to our great nation, and this is a useful bit of information to know, especially when one considers the fact that while we are not consuming strange and bizarre foods directly, our various agricultural and food production practices include lots of high-protein organic "fertilizer", "flavor enhancer", "seasoning powder", and "supplement" of one type or another, some of which we produce but a lot of which we import, where the most recent event in the news is the recalling of Romaine lettuce by the CDC, FDA, and USDA due to E. coli 145 contamination, although "swine flu" continues to be the larger recent event thanks in part to the high-intensity porcine corporate megafarming practices of our neighbors to the immediate south, where there are considerably fewer rules and regulations regarding what is acceptable with respect to the way toxic wastes are stored, handled, and processed . . .

Disturbing as it might be, one reasonably can suggest that infecting and killing us with a virtual festival of influenza and other gnarly viruses has become a national pastime for the Red Chinese, and one might suppose that they are ready, willing, and able to pursue their vision for a universe which does not include any of us being healthy in outer space, as well . . .

Of course, since we are very near to a time when we do not have a space program, perhaps the Red Chinese will simply make themselves sick in outer space, and then we can laugh at them while enjoying our bowls of Happy Soup, which is fabulous . . .

Fabulous!
 

There's no moral issue here -- just culturally-based squeamishness. Let them eat what they want. Personally, I'm grossed out by about half the items on their menu:

Day One: Lotus root porridge, crispy tofu with spring onions, braised yellow croaker fish, pork ribs with seaweed, spinach with minced garlic.

Day Two: Spicy pig skin, braised duck neck, hairy crab with ginger, chicken liver with chilli, pine nuts with sweetcorn, three-flavour soup.

Day Three: Poached egg in fermented rice soup, Harbin sausage, Huajiang dog, baby cuttlefish casserole, eel with green pepper, spicy beans with dried tofu.

Apples, pears and oranges served with every meal, as well as rice, noodles, sweet potatoes.

(From the British Telegraph article that Alan linked to.)

Stop crying about other peoples cultural traditions that don't happen to fit in with your own.  People had pot-bellied pigs as pets, but I bet that doesn't stop you from eating bacon.  I wouldn't eat dog.  But it isn't my business to judge a culture that has for thousands of years.

Dogs have been Mankind's friends and helpers for thousands of years.  They are NOT food!  Yes, the Hindus don't like beef eaters, we think Japanese eating whale is wrong, Jews and Muslims don't eat pork, etc.,

But, cows, whales, and pigs aren't 'Man's Best Friend'.

It's barbaric to me and that's what matters.  [...]

Too funny.  This is not a moral dilemma, just different cultures.  Apparently, it's too hard for people to wrap their minds around this.

get over the meat issue. Lets all go vegitarian.. wait I read that plant have feelings.. Let's all just eat rocks. So don't judge other cultures because what you were raised on.

It is their culture, and that's how they've done it for thousands of years. But times are changing. They have a rich heritage they can cling to, and they can leave eating dogs behind. Dogs are man's best friend, and it almost seems cannibalistic to me. I would never, ever, eat dog meat.

Um, Connor from Perth, Americans were already first on the moon quite some time ago.

"Would that be an acceptable reflection of their national culture, or an unacceptable example of bad taste in an increasingly international space workplace? What do you think?"

Well I'm a practicing Hindu, and since Indians are becoming a prominent nation in space exploration shouldn't Americans think about ending beef supplements? Oh right...America = right way

For Pete's sake, it is a different culture!  Let them eat what they want, as long as it is not an endangered species.

Would you like it if Muslims insisted that US astronauts could not eat pork??

Wasn't this kind of issue already illustrated in Star Trek back in the 60's? Or even in TNG in the 90's? What about monkey brains as shown in the Indiana Jones film?

Different cultures, different tastes, different customs. Aren't we supposed to grow up and embrace the global diversity whether appealing or appaling?

why does it matter what the chinese eat they will eat what they want to and can't stop them and we eat pork which the muslims hate and beef which india considers holy. We should just leave them alone.

I know  that once the Koreans get into space they will serve a fabulous Korean Bar-B-Q (dog) to their space inhabitants. How about a well cooked Mexican chihuahua (still on the menu in Mexico since the Aztecs ruled the country). Roasted strap dog is a rare treat when accompanied with a case of beer in the Philippines. Stop moralizing and practice minding your own business. Who cares what the Chinese eat in space or on the ground? It is none of our business.

They have meat on their bones, there for they are edible. If they want to eat meat, how is it our right to tell them what they can and cannot eat?

If anything, you guys should be eating dog meat instead of going to McDonalds every damn day and bogging down our medical health system with your overweight obese ass causing a strain on the rest of us healthier tax payers.

Meat is meat.

I really don't understand why this is news. Okay, our culture doesn't like to eat dog. We may find it "digusting". I personally have never tried dog, and under my cultural conditioning, I would feel very odd to do so.

However, none of these people's arguments hold water. Finding a food disgusting is no reason to call a people barbaric. That's where human rights records, government oppression, the squashing of an individual's rights, etc. come in (and even then, that isn't necessarily a reason to call a people barbaric, just their government).

To say "dogs deserve more" because they are "man's best friend" or because some of them find earthquake victims, etc. doesn't hold water either. I'm sure the particular dogs that help in other tasks like bomb sniffing and survivor location were not eaten. I bet the Chinese have certain breeds and facilities for just this purpose, just like we have cattle ranches, pig pens, etc. The bovine's cousin, the ox, was incredibly important to U.S. continental expansion. Should we say the bovine "deserve more" because they fulfill more than one role?

Many commentors here shrug off the fact that many cultures refuse to eat pig and bovine meat for cultural reasons. These people have completely skirted this fact, then call eating dog "barbaric". Please try some empathy here. Outer space is being explored in an international effort. It would hard to get things done up there if a Hindu astronaut called out a secular astronaut everytime he bites into a juicy hamburger. Astronauts come to accept it as a cultural difference. One day, the Chinese will finally kick their military out of their space program and they'll join the international effort. When that time comes, you, the public, will have to bite your tongue and leave the culinary matters of each person to themselves so we can continue getting our species into interstellar status.

If we are going to just bicker about what other people on this planet eat and say they shouldn't be able to because we find their choice disgusting, I'm not confident that we will make it.

Look, I don't eat dogs because I like them.  I even work with them and rescue them and find them adoptive homes on my own time, volunteering.  Still, you give me one real reason why the life of a dog is more valuable than that of a cow, or a lamb, or a deer, or a fish, or a whatever.  Where you draw that line your mind is purely rationalized bullshit.

I have to admit that I find chowing down on dog reprehensible; however I couldn’t help thinking of Amundsen eating his dogs on the way back from the South Pole…

To all of you...  When you get hungary enough, you will eat almost anything, whether you like it or not, or whether it is endangered...  What we eat and what they eat are two different things, and mostly will never meet, but just because they are different, doesn't mean that it is wrong...  To each his (or her) own...  

Some of the same people criticizing consumption of dog meat see nothing wrong with feasting on Bambi. In Japan, deer are considered sacred and roam freely in at least one city's park. But in the US they are hunted, shot, skinned, cooked and their heads nailed to a wall. We slaughter cattle, grind it up and serve it to our kids in a Happy Meal. It's all a matter of perspective, so get over it and move on.  

who are we to say what is right or wrong of a culture.

yes that makes me squeamish,as a young american in the philipenes they ran over my puppy than dug it up and tried to invite me over for supper....not cool...I thought the astrounauts ate toothpaste like goo anyways...if we were going to raise animals in space for space food I would like to think it would be fish shrimp and lobster..now who but the very strictest of vegans could complain about that?????...in the meantime I will start researching the replicator for my venture...please help me with that cause a chinese rescue ship with dog for food is worse than dog food...at least to me.  

As consumers who purchase from China, it is our business.  In addition, as a society that brings dogs into the family, we see this on a deeply emotional level.  So, it's not about "respect" as you claim.  It's about a society that considers the dog as a family member.  It's so great that you recognize China's point of view, so why can't you recognize the other point of view?  

"What they eat in China is really none of our business.  Imagine how many are horrified because we eat the meat of cows?  Do we change our habits so as to not insult them and their beliefs?  Absolutely not and neither should the Chinese.  One of the problems in this world is that everyone wants others to conform to their beliefs and standards.   "
EGJ (Sent Thursday, May 13, 2010 7:00 PM)

The first Animal in Space? What about the Monkey that went up there?

[ALAN ADDS: Laika was the first animal in orbit. There were other critters, including a monkey, that went into space first on suborbital flights.]

"And thanks to your president these people who act like barbarians to their own people let alone animals are going to be on the moon first"   You might want to check your history books.  The US was on the moon close to 40 years ago!!! Though I will give you points for the most ridicules stretch to slam Obama yet.

Every culture has foods that others will frown upon.  In the end everyone will eat what they need to survive. Iceland has rotting shark, England has blood pie, China has dog, the US has the big mac.

Its good to appreciate other cultures but just because some people have embraced it, it doesnt make it right. Dogs have been our companions, have gone to war with us, have helped locate people after natural disasters, and have even went to get help on their own for humans. I dont think its right about how cows, chickens and any other animal in the U.S. gets slaughtered either, i think if we have to eat meat the least we can do is put them down humanely. I do believe dogs have earned our respect and compassion so its not wrong for someone to be across the world trying to save them from ignorant people that only help create diseases by eating everything under the "rising sun". Hell, even though im not one, its a fact that if you want to lead a healthier life and live longer, vegitarianism is the way to go. Imagine  where all the food we feed the animals we eat could go? I seriously think it could be used to feed the hungry and if not end world hunger, it would at least put a huge dent in it. In the words of Ghandi..."The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated"

People have been raising dogs to eat for 15,000 years.  How is this news?

Well,I am a Chinese and I never eat dog and will never do that in my lifetime. But I don't think anyone should be blamed for doing that. It has nothing to do with MORALITY or even IDEOLOGY Actually, as far as I know, only few people in China eat dogs, while so many people especially in urban have dogs as their best friends.By the way, news and reports like this is what all the Western media always present about China to mislead people on political purposes. But time had changed. Next time you clever see such news, think about it and survey it(through a relatively open and fair paltform), then give your judges.

I'm an Australian studying in China and while dog is available here I haven't yet met a single Chinese who isn't grossed out at the thought of it. Even here, people who eat dog are far from being a majority. So you can be disgusted by the eating habits of that particular astronaut if you like, but remember there are plenty of Chinese who would agree with you.

I don't eat duck for various personal reasons and you can imagine how difficult that is to avoid here, from menus to whole carcasses in supermarkets to live animal markets. I hate it, but I'm a guest here and I'm not about to force my views on an entire people, most of whom historically (and indeed currently) never got to be picky about what they ate.

We forget how lucky we are. If your ancestors had dealt with poverty and famine for countless generations, I'm pretty sure you wouldn't turn your nose up at dog either. Not if it would keep you alive.  And I might shut my eyes when I'm walking past certain restaurants or markets, but that doesn't mean I don't respect someone's right to eat something I don't.

More food for thought.  The first dog in space was sent by the Russians.  There was no plan to recover that dog.  It just died in space.

Conner olde boy! - I find it disapointing that someone who actually reads the science and technology issues here is so far off base as to poke a finger at the US President (let alone some off-shore yahoo who obviously thinks the world is run from Washington) for "allowing" a Chinese national (+20% of the planets population) to be aboard the "International" space station after being launched from a "Russian" spaceport and returned to an "Asian" landing site?  Oh yes by the way the US was already first on the moon in 1969 sorry you missed it. Must have had your head stuck in Roo's pouch. As for eating dog, I've seen more disturbing items being offered as snacks at a redneck bar.

Now that this is out, will PETA attack China and drag us into mucear war? ROFLMAO

Dogs have the same emotional intelligence as pigs, but Americans eat them w/out giving a thought to the conditions in which they were raised/slaughtered. Our agribusiness is just as, if not more, reprehensible then any Chinese meat market.  We Americans offend most of the world with our gross over consumption, so get off your high horse (and, apparently, eat it if you're in Europe!).

Oh come on stop westernizing everything in this world.
some cultures do not eat beef or pork so why are the people against animal cruelty say something about people eating cows and pigs.

We have a virtual menagerie of live amphibians on sale for human consumption right next door to me @ a huge Vietnamese supermarket. The treatment of the turtles & frogs especially upset me but nobody holds a gun to my head and makes me shop there. Since 90% of the food package labeling is in some language other than English (they offer Lao, Thai, Korean etc foods too) there could very well be parakeet, dog & hamster for all I know. The Free Market is good enough to justify everything else America does, let whoever eat whatever & when they die from bizarre tropical diseases we can sell 'em coffins too

Some of these comments are just another example of what needs to change in the American persona.  America is the land of the free, based on the Constitution and the inherent right of every person to live as they desire, within the majority population's sanctioned and approved laws.  We export our belief of freedom to other countries, through diplomacy, friendship, war, or humanitarian support. However some Americans think that everyone should think and act like they do, THAT IS NOT FREEDOM IT IS DICTATORSHIP.  If you really are American and you do believe in freedom then exercise it, let people do what they believe is right while you continue to live as you feel is right.

Oh, by the way, I am not Chinese, I am American and a Soldier charged with protecting your freedom.  I do this gladly and without regret regardless of what you believe or how you wish to live, my personal beliefs are just that …PERSONAL, and though freedom of speech allows me to voice those personal beliefs, if I so choose, they have no meaning when it comes to the execution of my duties.  If we let personal beliefs affect our judgment in external actions then we are no better than the bigots of the earlier age of the US when blacks and women were segregated or treated as less of a person.  It would behoove more people to think of that before they declare their PERSONAL BELIEFS in a public forum that confirm other nationalities belief “Oh right...America = right way “, thank you Anash, Itanagar for proving my point.

Their reasoning for doing or committing atrocities is they have medicinal value or killed for scientific research.  What a croc.

Derp. Pigs are smart and can make great pets. But we subject them to terrible conditions, and then eat them. Oh no. So sad. I had a friend who had a chicken as a pet. LOVED that chicken, was horrified when her grandmother killed it and made it into their dinner that night, while she was out (funny story, when remembered after the fact). One man's pet (or God, if you ask any Hindu person) is another man's gourmet. Get over it. Facts of life, guys. Don't get your pantyhose in a knot.

I mean is this a joke with some of the posts on here? How malicious are some of you people? Killing anything is taboo for me, I dont support PETA and I am far from a hippie but its the death part that gets me. They have to use a hammer in China, thats not humane. Here in the United States at LEAST the cows and pigs are stunned before, or at least they try to be, being stuffed in small cages like in China IS a problem, its inhumane and needs to be stopped, or if everyone is going to bi*ch about that then they at LEAST need to have better conditions for the animals before slaughter. Its all about respect

While I find eating dog meat abhorrent to my american sensibilities, what is really th biggest issue here is the inhumane way that we know the Chinese use to farm their meat food sources.  Animals are tortured and skinned while still living.  If they had humane farming practices I think that perhaps this cultural "finger" to the West might be more accepted.

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