A holiday roast

She worked on a farm, one of the big ones, with the rich farmer family.

The family was quite whealty,fertile land, many animals.
Mostly cows and sows, the animals with whom big money could be made and who needed good feed.

The farm was located on the flat land near the river Donau where the climate was mild and expensive crops could be grown.

One might think that the rich people had more to give, but the richer the farmer, the poorer their heart was.
They had an own building for the farm workers, so as not to dirty their home with the lowly folk.

There was gruel in the morning, a grain soup during mid meal and a gruel before bed, also much potatoes.
The workers on the smaller farms often ate better than on the big farm.

The food for them was cooked in the same pot as the grain mush for the pigs...because it was the same.

But the pigs got also the table scraps from the farmer family and the whey from the cheese making.

The farm workers had to do with the gruel, potatoes and sometimes bread.

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Holiday season came up and the righteous farmers family did their duty as good christians, going to church, giving money and special 'holy'buns to the farm workers and the precious farm animals to wish good health on them.

For the children it was time to say good bye to one of their four legged friends whom they saw as a small newborn, growing up until he was 6 months old.

The best time to slaughter them, when the meat was tender and juicy.

It was no use that the children cried for their friend, the older ones knew it was useless and kept silence, the oldest even had learned to enjoy the slaughter and assisted his father.

To show his children that animals must have a purpose and this ones was to be a special roast, the best meat ever and that some animals were made to be eaten, some were meant to give milk or lay eggs, he forced them to look on.

Children had to learn to loose that useless sentiment, animals were made to be eaten, god said so.


Their childhood friend came trusting with them, snuffing their hands for some goodies they always smuggled from the table, he tried to dot on them and dry their tears because they cried and he seemed puzzled when they didn´t want to play.


But then their father threw a rope around his neck and tightened it, slamming a bat on his head until he broke down, kneeling on his cheast so the weak struggles were useless.

Than the blood ran free and the eldest son  tied the hindlegs to hoist the animal up, letting the blood run onto a bedding of  oats and wheat hulls to be soaked up and feed to the hogs, because dogs wouldn´t eat their own kind, and animal matter in the dogs food would make their meat taste bad.

The roast their made was a young dog, a meat much sought after.
A delicacy that was reserved for the holidays.


Some dogs had the purpose to breed, the puppies either used for their meat, the fur used for clothing.
Some dogs used as watchdogs, some as sheep dogs.

The children could play with the pups, but pets, why pets? Feeding a useless dog just for the purpose of petting it?

Either it worked, was usefull or would be eaten.

Dog meat is a delicacy and until a short time ago, dogs were eaten,why not?

If god hadn´t wanted them to be eaten, why did he make them out of meat, delicious meat.

The farmers family could have eaten a calf or a suckling, but they always ate dog because it was the best in their opinion.

Meat was for humans, dogs just like other farm animals were mostly feed on grains.
The breeding ones got a better feed with some leftovers, milk, sometimes eggs and bread but no meat.
Because meat was eaten by the humans and dog meat would obtain a bad taste if the animals were feed with meat.

Dog meat was darker, a bit like beef or deer, tasting more like wild boar.

The dogs that were meant for meat, had the best life next to the hunting dogs of the royals.

The dogs that had to watch the house didn´t get table scraps, it all went to the hogs, hogs had a purpose and made the farmer richer.

The watch dogs didn´t make the farmer richer, this was their reasoning for feeding them the minimum of grain gruel and the water from precleaning the dishes after the scraps were scrubbed into the hog pot.

Watch dogs were the pittiest bunch of them, scruffy, deranged because of their mistreatment,often chained.

The meat dogs had warm straw beds in the barn, good food and they were allowed to run free most of the time and had a good, happy life...until it ended with their premature death, long before they would have naturally died.

Smoked dog ham especially was a delicacy and still is in switzerland, the original Berner ham was made from Bernese mountain dogs.

The meat dogs didn´t even have to work, the dogs needed to keep the herds safe had a hard life, but enough food to keep them strong and healthy to protect the lifestock.

They got the same gruel as the hogs.


Dog was treated similiar to game in the kitchen, marinated in buttermilk or red wine depending on the taste of the family.
Chestnuts went well with dog, the sweet taste of the chestnuts and the dog meat harmonized with each other.

After such a meal the dogs all made a wide bow around the people, they could smell the odour of dog meat emitting from them.

Every animal has a purpose, a man made one, especially if they are considered a delicacy.


Most people nowadays might shy away because of the stigma that lays on dog meat, but in reality there is no reason why one tradition is considered good and when you use tradition as a reason for something different, tradition is considered bad.

People always have eaten dog, even the 'civilized' folks  have been known to eat dogs until a short time ago.

Even in the 70's of the last century you could be invited to a roast where dogs donated the main dish, not just in germany.