The Fine Line Between Loving Cats And Loving Cat

Remember the show Alien Nation? The Slags (they'd prefer "Tenctonese" or simply "Newcomers", but we're not a nice species) had some pretty odd eating habits. Sour milk got them drunk. Raw beaver tail was a favorite snack. And most unlikely of all, sea water would kill them. 

It's OK to be disturbed by this photo.

Well... minus the seawater silliness, those food choices aren't really all that strange. Fermenting is a form of rotting, and I'm sure more than one French Canadian trapper chowed down on a beaver tail or two when the pickings were slim.

So while the photo I took in Da Nang won't sit well with PETA, it's completely acceptable, if not disturbingly accurate, for Vietnam. (And no, I didn't partake.)

Here's the harsh reality, fellow human: most (if not all) of cultural food aversions and taboos have absolutely nothing to do with our ability to ingest said food. With very few exceptions, our guts will happily suss out the protein and nutrients found in the bodies of all the animals we co-inhabit the planet with. It might impact your conscious, which could send a oh-hell-no signal to your tummy... But that's a learned response. Clearly, as this sign attracts, not repels, customers.

Welcome to another side of the world, Westerners.