Bosintang
Bosintang or gaejangguk, called dangogiguk in North Korea, is a Korean soup that includes dog meat as its primary ingredient. The soup has been claimed to provide increased virility. The meat is boiled with vegetables such as green onions, perilla leaves, and dandelions, and spices such as Doenjang, Gochujang, and perilla seed powder. It is seasoned with Agastache rugosa before eating. The dish, one of the most common Korean foods made from dog meat, has a long history in Korean culture.
History
The consumption of dog meat can be traced back to antiquity. Dog bones were excavated in a neolithic settlement in Changnyeong, South Gyeongsang Province. A wall painting in the Goguryeo tombs complex in South Hwanghae Province, a UNESCO World Heritage site which dates from 4th century AD, depicts a slaughtered dog in a storehouse.Approximately in 1816, Jeong Hak Yu, the second son of Jeong Yak-yong, a prominent politician and scholar of Choseon dynasty at the time, wrote a poem called Nongawollyeonga. This poem, an important source of Korean folk history, describes what ordinary Korean farmer families did in each month of a year. In the description of August, the poem tells of a married woman visiting her birth parents with boiled dog meat, rice cake, and rice wine, thus showing the popularity of dog meat at the time.
In Dongguk Seshigi, a book written by a Korean scholar Hong Suk Mo in 1849, contains a recipe of Boshintang including a boiled dog and green onion.
A common misconception is that Boshintang is outright illegal in South Korea, this is not quite true. It is not classified as a livestock, which some have taken to indicate its illegality, but it simply means it is unregulated except by the more general Food Sanitation Law. As such, restaurants serving Boshintang are subject to regular inspection by city food hygiene inspections, as are all other restaurants. The conditions of the raising and of the slaughtering of the animals are not subject to inspection, unlike the above regulated livestock. Dog meat is still regularly consumed and can be found easily at many restaurants across South Korea. In 2006 it was, in fact, the 4th most commonly consumed meat in South Korea, after beef, chicken and pork.
Names
There are many different names for this dish in the Korean language.| Revised Romanization | Hangul | Hanja or mixed script | Translation |
| boshintang | 보신탕 | 補身湯 | "invigorating soup" |
| yeongyangtang | 영양탕 | 營養湯 | "nutritious soup" |
| boyangtang | 보양탕 | 補養湯 | "invigorating soup" |
| gaejang | 개장 | 개醬 | "dog soy bean paste soup" |
| sacheoltang | 사철탕 | 四철湯 | "soup for all seasons" |
| dangogitang | 단고기탕 | 단고기湯 | "sweet meat soup" |
| gutang | 구탕 | 狗湯 | "dog soup" |
| gujang | 구장 | 狗醬 | "dog soy bean paste soup" |
| jiyangtang | 지양탕 | 地羊湯 | "land sheep soup" |
| meongmeongtang | 멍멍탕 | 멍멍湯 | "woof woof soup" |