Editor’s note: The new issue of Iceland Insider's print issue is out and ready to pick up if you are in Iceland or read in a digital format online. Here is my column from the new issue.
About 15 years ago, an Icelandic entrepreneur proposed establishing a dog-breeding farm with the intention of raising dogs for their meat. As Icelanders have no history whatsoever of eating canines, the idea was pitched as an export business.
![Jón Jón](http://icelandmag.is/sites/default/files/styles/article_body_image/public/thumbnails/image/jk_copy.jpg?itok=2z-u4Poh)
People either met the proposal with outrage or laughed it off as a bad joke, and the project never got off the ground.
In many Asian countries, eating dogs is, however, no laughing matter. The Chinese town Yulin has an annual dog meat festival, and boshintang soup, made of dog meat, has a long history in Korean culture.
So, essentially, whether you are willing to eat man’s best friend, or not, is a matter of cultural taste.
The same goes for another national tradition that has been subjected to years of international criticism. For decades, on the Mediterranean island of Malta, located between Sicily and the coast of North Africa, it’s been the practice to shoot migrating birds as they rest on the island in the spring, as they travel towards their nesting grounds in Europe.
Malta is the only EU country that allows recreational spring hunting. Elsewhere, it’s considered a basic decency to give birds a chance to breed before being hunted.
Just as Icelanders do not eat dogs, they do not shoot migrating birds in the spring. But they hunt fin whales, which are listed as an endangered species by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).
Those in favour of whaling defend it by saying it’s an integral part of Icelandic tradition, which is actually debatable, and that the hunting is sustainable, as the quota for Iceland is only 154 animals, or less than 1% of the North Atlantic fin whale population.
But Iceland has rightly faced fierce international criticism for allowing whale-hunting to continue, as it undermines multilateral efforts to ensure greater worldwide protection for whales.
The support for whaling in Iceland has historically been strong, but it is shifting. In a poll conducted last year, for the first time less than half of the respondents said they supported whaling.
We have seen this happen before. Gradually, and thankfully, some cultural tastes come to an end when people realize they are on the wrong side of history.
Editor’s note: The new issue of Iceland Insider's print issue is out and ready to pick up if you are in Iceland or read in a digital format online. Here is my column from the new issue.
About 15 years ago, an Icelandic entrepreneur proposed establishing a dog-breeding farm with the intention of raising dogs for their meat. As Icelanders have no history whatsoever of eating canines, the idea was pitched as an export business.
![Jón Jón](https://icelandinsider.is/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/jk_copy.jpg)
People either met the proposal with outrage or laughed it off as a bad joke, and the project never got off the ground.
In many Asian countries, eating dogs is, however, no laughing matter. The Chinese town Yulin has an annual dog meat festival, and boshintang soup, made of dog meat, has a long history in Korean culture.
So, essentially, whether you are willing to eat man’s best friend, or not, is a matter of cultural taste.
The same goes for another national tradition that has been subjected to years of international criticism. For decades, on the Mediterranean island of Malta, located between Sicily and the coast of North Africa, it’s been the practice to shoot migrating birds as they rest on the island in the spring, as they travel towards their nesting grounds in Europe.
Malta is the only EU country that allows recreational spring hunting. Elsewhere, it’s considered a basic decency to give birds a chance to breed before being hunted.
Just as Icelanders do not eat dogs, they do not shoot migrating birds in the spring. But they hunt fin whales, which are listed as an endangered species by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).
Those in favour of whaling defend it by saying it’s an integral part of Icelandic tradition, which is actually debatable, and that the hunting is sustainable, as the quota for Iceland is only 154 animals, or less than 1% of the North Atlantic fin whale population.
But Iceland has rightly faced fierce international criticism for allowing whale-hunting to continue, as it undermines multilateral efforts to ensure greater worldwide protection for whales.
The support for whaling in Iceland has historically been strong, but it is shifting. In a poll conducted last year, for the first time less than half of the respondents said they supported whaling.
We have seen this happen before. Gradually, and thankfully, some cultural tastes come to an end when people realize they are on the wrong side of history.