Dogs as pet and meat

From Roger Cohen's Op-Ed in New York Times, Dog Days in China:

Another noted a local saying: "when the dog meat is being simmered, even the gods become dizzy with hunger."

Growing up in China, I ate a lot of dog meat. It is more flavorful than lamb, a bit chewier, and quite delicious. In New York, my wife and I had a Cocker Spaniel, Tom. When it passed away several years ago, we buried it in our backyard instead of making it a stew. If today I travel to China and eat in a Chinese restaurant that legally serves dog meat, I will order it. There is no evolutionary reason not to. Tom will not know, or care.

I suspect that "the gods" - plural in the quote from New York Times - refer not to the Christian God, but to numerous Chinese deities. There are plenty of Chinese folklore in which a dog becomes a meal for its palindromic counterpart.

I love dogs very much, both as pets and as meat. It depends on whether they are sitting by my table, or on it.