14 DEC 05: HOW 'BOUT THEM DOGS?
Sometimes this blog receives e-mail that's a bit out of the ordinary. Take this one which arrived last week:
Dear Richard,
I really enjoy your blog! It is the best one in Columbus. I have an off the wall question though which has nothing to do with anything you are currently discussing. Recently I was watching the HBO show Curb Your Enthusiasm and it was an episode which talked about the fact that Koreans still eat DOG MEAT. Now, I just couldn't believe it, I'd heard over the years about Korean restaurants in America being closed down when what they were serving was discovered, so my sister and I looked it up on the internet and apparently it is true! According to some websites, Koreans consider eating dog meat at least once in their lives a cultural experience for their "souls" . Since we live in an area where quite a few Koreans have settled due to soldiers marrying them etc. I thought maybe you'd have some Korean readers who might be able to answer this question....
I knew Columbus was famous for Scrambled Dogs, but this was something else completely....
First of all, I'm a bit suspicious of anything they show on Home Box Office. After all, this channel led people to think Sarah Jessica Parker of "Sex and the City" never could find a husband.
But what about this claim on "Curb Your Enthusiasm?" I happen to know a woman with a Korean heritage, so the other morning I asked her about dog meat. This isn't the sort of question you simply blurt out to someone, you know -- unless perhaps you're on the Jerry Springer Show.
"I've never eaten dog meat, and my mother's never eaten it," the woman told me. These were comforting words - since I can't imagine the Humane Society selling it for extra money.
A couple of people told me the dog meat story may go back to the Korean War, when food was scarce and people resorted to eating anything they could find. Of course, some say they're still this "old school" in North Korea today....
Thankfully, there's a restaurant in Columbus where we can get a definitive answer about this. I spent lunchtime Tuesday at Korea House, near 55th and Veterans Parkway -- one of the few places where you can find authentic Seoul food.
Korea House is a small restaurant - so small that you can see a two-door refrigerator-freezer at the back of the dining room, with children's pictures on it. Trouble is, I sat at the opposite end of the room. So I couldn't see any pet pictures clearly.
But Korea House didn't strike me as a 100-percent Korean place. Several crosses can be seen in the dining room. Family Radio's WFRC-FM plays from a cash register boombox. And there are no shrines to Kim Jong Il anywhere in sight.
The Korea House menu did NOT list "dog" anywhere on it. There's shrimp, chicken, beef, pork - and one dish with eel. No, it was NOT listed in the "Fear Factor" section.
(It was a typical Oriental menu, with at least a couple of misspellings. The "Korean HOSE Specials" on the back page probably are served steaming hot.)
I ordered the Teriyaki Chicken lunch special - and the server (the only worker I saw at all) convinced me to get the "box" version. That means it comes with salad, a dumpling, and three "side dishes" I'd never seen before. Thankfully, none of them had any noticeable fur.
After admitting to the server I'd never been in a Korean restaurant before, she explained the side dishes. Yellow bean sprouts were all right -- but the cabbage and turnip dishes in separate bowls were quite spicy for me. Thankfully, it's the Japanese restaurant which serves hot tea instead of iced....
My lunch and drink with a tip cost me ten dollars - but I still had to ask the question which brought me to the Korea House. And did I mention you don't simply blurt out questions about dog meat? One of my friends actually predicted I'd get kicked out for bringing it up.
I tried to ask the server the big question at the cash register, feeling a bit like I was asking her out for a date. "This is an awkward topic," I confessed - but it did bring an answer.
"They do," she said. So some Koreans still have a thing for Fido fillets.
I left the Korea House without pressing for more details. Any more questions, and the manager might have come out and made ME "dog meat" - as in being fed to a rottweiler.
BLOG UPDATE: Round four in the Wal-Mart war was waged before Columbus Council Tuesday. It appears a final vote will come next week on rezoning land in the Midland area. How about having the Councilors in favor wear yellow smiley-faces to the meeting?
Wal-Mart assured Columbus Council it plans to spend $1.7 million to improve roads around the proposed Midland SuperCenter. Gateway Road would be widened from two lanes to five, with eight new stop lights -- which should win the support of drag-racing teenagers.
SuperCenter opponent Rebecca Shepard argued Columbus should redevelop existing commercial areas, before starting new development in Midland. There's only one problem with that argument. All the available department store space keeps getting gobbled up by budding megachurches.
(Well, there IS one possible location in the middle of Columbus. Now will Rhodes Furniture please shut up with the commercials and go out of business?)
Critics of the proposed Midland Wal-Mart also say it's quite close to a planned SuperCenter site which Columbus Council already has approved, near Columbus Park Crossing. If the council applied this principle citywide, about half the Spectrum stores would have to close.
One opponent in Midland actually told WRBL Wal-Mart should build its SuperCenter in Green Island Hills! As if the wealthy people living there would want to be caught DEAD inside a Wal-Mart?!
Columbus city officials say traffic on J.R. Allen Parkway near the proposed SuperCenter is increasing seven percent a year. In other parts of town, traffic is increasing three percent a year. Maybe so, but our older-model cars feel like we're moving in bigger crowds.
Phenix City Mayor Jeff Hardin told the Ledger-Enquirer the other day he expects his city will lose tax revenues, as Wal-Mart SuperCenters open in Columbus. He may be right, but there's one troubling thing about his comments - why is he cruising around the Wal-Mart parking lot, checking my license plate?
There could be a hidden reason to support a new Wal-Mart SuperCenter. WRBL did a revealing price comparison Tuesday night, showing some items cost much less at the Phenix City Wal-Mart than at the Columbus locations. It's nice to see the manager have pity on the poor people of Alabama.
Now let's put our shopping carts back in the collection spot, and check other Tuesday news:
+ Columbus Council approved David Arrington as Deputy City Manager. He comes from the fire and EMS department - so don't be surprised if alarm bells go off when you walk into his office.
+ Lee County Sheriff Jay Jones said he's found nothing to support Commissioner John Harris's claim that someone broke into the courthouse five years ago. Is Opelika a large enough city to have urban legends?
+ A drive down Airport Thruway led to a sighting of the Georgia Insurance Commissioner's traveling "fire safety house." I assume the CD player in this house doesn't play any Matchbox Twenty music.
+ Gas prices jumped about seven cents a gallon across Columbus, to a low of $2.09. Aw c'mon - as if we get gas from that burning refinery in Britain? Not even British Petroleum would bring fuel from there to Columbus.
+ Thurman Barnes of LaGrange received his G.E.D. certificate - at age 96! [True/WRBL] Counting all his years probably was enough to pass the math portion.
+ The United Health Foundation ranked Alabama 45th out of 50, when it comes to the healthiest states. Someone apparently told this group about the Continental Carbon plant....
+ Atlanta Falcons coach Jim Mora assured reporters Michael Vick will play Sunday in Chicago, even though he has bruised ribs. Uh-oh -- we all know how much they love to devour ribs in Chicago.
+ Which Columbus business has openly and brazenly put this sign on its front door: "Merry Christmas spoken here" ? Well, I guess I should have expected the Mustard Seed Christian Store to do that....
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