Bosintang

Description

Even though the consumption of dog meat is frowned upon these days, this practice has been known since ancient times in places such as Rome, Mexico, and China. There have been many archaeological and historical findings in South Korea that support it, including a recipe from a book by a Korean scholar named Hong Suk Mo, published in 1849. Bosintang is a soup that's prepared by boiling vegetables, namely green onions, perilla leaves, and dandelions with dog meat. The soup is seasoned with doenjang (a type of thick Korean bean paste), gochujang (Korean condiment), and perilla seed powder. Right before eating, bosingtang is additionally flavored with Agastache rugosa (Korean mint). Said to taste a bit like lamb, dog meat is nowadays very rarely consumed in South Korea, although eating it is not illegal in the country. The popularity of dog meat has declined significantly among younger and urban populations, and continues to decline further, with most people nowadays in Korea saying they have never tried it and/or never would. Also, there's been ongoing pressure from the animal rights groups to completely ban the consumption of dog meat in South Korea, with some small legal victories they've won thus far in an effort to achieve that goal.