When the coronavirus first crossed over from Asia to Europe, I read nasty comments on social media and news sites. They ranged from supposedly innocent jokes about the Chinese eating habits to downright racist remarks. What it came down to: if those damn Asians wouldn’t have sold bats, porcupines, baby crocodiles or snakes in their markets, we wouldn’t have to go through this terrible health crisis*. Mind you, these were the days before we learned that the coronavirus didn’t even take off in Wuhan’s infamous wet market.
(*Loss of habitat is a much bigger problem. But that might be a topic for the next blog post)
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I’ve been a vegetarian for almost fifteen years now, so I certainly echo the sentiment that eating bats, snakes or dogs is wrong from an animal welfare point of view. Just like I believe no one who cares a tiny bit about the planet should eat a beef burger, a portion of chicken nuggets or a can of tuna. (I don’t discriminate in my disgust for eating living things.) I’ve been in Asian markets – such as the bird market in Yogyakarta, where you can buy anything from owls and bats to Tokay geckos and pythons – and no, they’re usually not the type of places where I’d linger for a picnic.
Yet, before jumping into conclusions, it’s necessary to learn about the culture where these habits come from. Sure, it’s easier to go in with two feet forward and tackle everything that looks weird or outlandish in your western eyes. It’s much harder to try to understand. It’s also intellectually more honest.
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Long-term travel and living in a place for a while are some of the best ways to shift your perspective. It requires you to look at the world with an open view. After all, when something doesn’t fit into your worldview whilst travelling, you’re the weirdo, not them. It’s not always easy, on the contrary. But if you believe strongly that your own country does things best, you’d better stay home. Try to understand rather than to judge immediately.
I remember an online discussion I (almost) had with a former classmate. He had posted an article about the death of a young Indonesian pop singer during a performance with a king cobra. Served her right, he argued, for exploiting a wild animal. I refrained from pursuing the discussion with someone who had never been to Asia, let alone Indonesia. He wouldn’t understand. Because, even though I’m the last one to promote animal exploitation, I’ve also been to the kampongs of Java, the villages where every way out of poverty needs to be explored. But again, it’s easier to shout opinions that are surely going to get some thumbs up from the trigger-happy social media crowd than to properly inform yourself.
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I’ve seen fried bats in Indonesian warungs, both in Java and in Sulawesi. The latter is, in many ways, less developed than Java. It also hosts some of the most notorious animal markets in the archipelago. I remember trying to find food in Tentena, a small city in Central Sulawesi, and getting into lots of trouble. “Batman”, the owner of a warung said when I pointed at a yellow curry with bamboo shoots. He flapped his arms diligently, as if his point wasn’t clear yet. “Woof, woof”, he barked when I pointed at a different dish. When it turned out that the next bowl contained goldfish, I ordered a portion of white rice.
I would’ve done so too, however, if those dishes contained pork, salmon or turkey. The meals in that Sulawesian warung are simply a result of cultural differences. We are disgusted by a bat or rat in the frying pot, while other people might think it’s insane that Belgians eat horse sausages. In parts of Africa, bushmeat is one of the rare sources of protein. Some Koreans consider dog stew to be a potency enhancer, whilst Indonesian Muslims wouldn’t get close to dogs or pigs. They consider them unclean animals.
“Most people see rat or dog meat and think it’s disgusting”, says Denny H.R. Pinontoan, a scholar who studies the Minahasan tribes of northern Sulawesi. “They call it exotic meat. But that’s what experts like me call Orientalism. We’re looking at an Eastern tradition from a Western perspective. What makes them different from other animals we eat? If all animals are sacred, then none of them should be eaten?”
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This logic goes further than what ends up on our plates. The idea of a bat burger might appal us, but then again, Indonesians would think it’s batshit – pun intended – that we put our old parents in retirement homes and visit them once a month. We might lambaste the idea of cockfights, which are popular in many parts of Asia, but forget that they happened in Europe as well. And still do in some parts of France, where they’re legal as long as the label ‘tradition’ is slapped onto them.
It’s all a matter of perspective and the true traveller is best armed to realise that.