Taboo on US Foods

Most Chinese Buddhist’s diets are primarily vegetarian so American food such as beef, pork and chicken is seen to be a taboo. Chinese also believe that there should not be any food left on your plate. Prince Philip once said, "If it has four legs and is not a chair, if it has two wings and flies but is not an aeroplane, and if it swims and is not a submarine, the Cantonese will eat it." It is hard to find anything that the Chinese do not eat, with the exception of cheese. 

Our outlook on other cultures changes as our culture changes. The United States is a diverse place to live and experience the cultures that surround us.  I feel that some Americans can completely reject other culture and see the American way of living as the best way to live (ethnocentric). But what makes up the U.S. is all of the cultures and sometimes it is best just to acknowledge that our own culture may be seen as unusual to other countries.  Eating certain foods is a way that our cultures differ.  Eating dogs may in fact be a delicacy in Asian countries, but we see it as inhumane.

 I believe that if the U.S. were to go under a crisis in which all other meat products were not available, people would begin accepting the fact that dog meat could be another source of food.  It is just hypothetical and I do not see this happening in the future, but by thinking about the circumstances under which people live, it can make sense to see what they eat.  Consider the question: why do we eat beef? If you think about it an individual cow contains a lot of meat, easy to breed, and are cheap to feed. If dogs or other animals were this easy to sell on the market it would have happened, but I do not think it is going to take hold of the U.S.

http://chineseculture.about.com/od/chinesefestivals/a/Chinese-Taboo.htm