Found at Thirty Three Things—#20:

Imagine that you’re a guest at a dinner party and you’re eating a delicious beef stew. It’s so delicious, in fact, that you ask your host for the recipe. Flattered, she replies, “The secret is in the meat: You need to start out with three pounds of well-marinated golden retriever.” Your reaction to that story—the repulsion—is an example of carnism. Carnism is the invisible belief system that conditions us to eat certain animals. It’s a dominant system that’s institutionalized and structural in America and abroad. People tend to assume it’s only vegans and vegetarians who bring their beliefs to the dinner table. But the fact is that most people in America, for example, eat pigs and not dogs exactly because they do have a belief system; it’s just that their belief system has been invisible.

Well…since my Golden Retriever, Aspen, is a loved one of the family, I am not inclined to consider eating her. On the other hand, I am very aware that other cultures do eat dogs and I’ve seen the outdoor food markets in China where just about anything living is sold for food, including cats—nice fat meowing kitties longingly eyeing their potential buyers from their cages. It was like walking through a pet shop—except the frogs, snakes and four legged mammals of all types weren’t being sold for their qualities as family companions. As a consequence, I do not think it is correct to suggest that the belief system in “invisible.” It’s right in front of you if you look. And it’s simply a culturally influenced matter of choice. I have been conditioned to choose to eat fish, cow, chicken, buffalo, and pig and not dog or cat or muskrat. The differences in attitude reflect multiculturalism, something we are constantly being told to revere.