Friday, October 29, 2010

Hot Dog - Batak Style

Riding my motorbike through a remote part of Sumatra near Lake Toba I came through this tiny village where they were busy cooking up a local delicacy. I thought at first this was the famous roast suckling pig which the dominant Christian population eat, but no, it was our favourite 4-legged friend that was on the menu today. What amused me about this picture was the dog way in the background looking on and wondering when his turn was!
In Indonesia, eating dog meat is usually associated with people from the Batak Toba culture, who cook a traditional dish named saksang that is like a dog-meat stew. Batak is a collective term used to identify a number of ethnic groups found in the highlands of North Sumatra, Indonesia. Their heartland lies to the west of Medan centred on Lake Toba. Today the Batak are mostly Christian with a Muslim minority.
Around the shores of Lake Toba you can see numerous villages, many with Christian churches, and sometimes you may come across local villagers preparing a dog to eat. After killing the dog the fur is burnt off in a fire and removed prior to cooking the meat.

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