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Loved and condemned: Indonesia’s internal battle against dog meat cuisine
Opposition toward dog meat has been rising in recent years, but the cuisine proves to be hard to erase in Indonesia.
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Crystal clear: "Sop B1", the code name for dog meat soup, is written on the glass display of a Batak eatery in Jakarta. (JP/Radhiyya Indra) (JP/Radhiyya Indra)
Opposition toward dog meat has been rising in recent years, but the cuisine proves to be hard to erase in Indonesia.
Late October marked a huge win for animal defenders around the country as the district court of Kulon Progo, Yogyakarta, jailed a dog meat trader for animal cruelty after finding 16 among the 78 dogs in his pickup truck had died of starvation.
The canines were initially en route to Surakarta, where a lot of restaurants serve the meat in soup.
Dog meat is still quite a popular dish in some parts of Indonesia and is known for being an alternative source of protein. It has a long, deep-rooted history in various ethnic communities. But due to recent social sensibilities, the government has tried to get rid of this tradition one step at a time, stating the risk of the diseases dogs bring, and also not recognizing dogs as food under Law No. 18/2012, even though the law never states the beloved pet’s name explicitly.
And yet, almost a decade later, the dog-meat-free sentiment and movement is still struggling to put an end to the selling of the meat.
Hiding in plain sight
The efforts of animal rights activists cannot be considered fruitless, however. The number of traditional restaurants that usually sell dog meat, like Lapo (Batak eateries), have recently dwindled. At least in the capital city.
