But eating its meat especially in North East has created a controversy recently specially after the killing up one mongrel in the elite JNU campus here and writing of a column by the well-known environmentalist Mrs Maneka Gandhi recently. Mrs Gandhi, an avowed vegetarian had written that eating dog's meat could lead to a variety of dreaded disease and other serious complications.

Mrs Gandhi argues that all meat eating is risky because of the diseases it carries and the reaction it causes in the human body, which is intended to be vegetarian. More unnatural is for meat-eating humans to consume carnivores because of their greater disease load, smell and the extra allergy of our bodies to theirs.

Mrs Gandhi said that dogs are eaten openly only in Nagaland and to a smaller extent in Mizoram. So much so that the traffic of dogs into Nagaland is draining the dogs from all the other states nearby like Meghalaya ,Assam , Manipur, Sikkim , Arunachal Pradesh even West Bengal and Myanmar , she said.

But more dangerously some dhabas and roadside restaurateurs routinely pass off cat and dog meat as chicken or other meat, she said.

But several studies have justified not only eating the dog's meat but also highlighting its other supposed values. One study says that contrary to the belief that street dogs are killed and eaten; the mongrel is farmed like goat, pig or cow for meat purposes.

One write up even gave example of the generally vegetarian Hindus eating dogs during the time of food crisis. In one European country dog meat even used to be offered to gods during rituals.

The consumption of dog meat can be traced back many centuries. Dog bones were excavated one of the wall paintings in the Neolithic Goguryeo tombs complex in South Hwangghae Province, a UNESCO World Heritage site that dates from 4th century AD, depicts a slaughtered dog in a storehouse.

Surprisingly, in our neighbouring China, its breakaway part Taiwan, several East Asian countries and even in Western countries dogs are eaten as meat. Dogs have historically been an emergency food source for various peoples in Siberia, Alaska, northern Canada, and Greenland.

Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen famously ate sled dogs during his expedition to the South Pole to survive. By eating some of the sled dogs he was able to transport less dog food, thus lightening his load.

In some countries, apart from being kept as pets, certain breeds of dogs are raised on farms and slaughtered for their meat, one study said. Dog meat may be consumed as an alternative source of meat or for specific benefits attributed to various parts of a dog.

Though the consumption of dog meat is generally viewed as taboo in Western culture, some Westerners support the right to eat dog meat and accuse other Westerners who protest against dog eating in other countries of cultural imperialism and intolerance. But in Islamic culture, eating dogs is forbidden under Muslim dietary laws.

Dog meat has been a source of food in parts of China from at least the time of Confucius, and possibly even before. Mencius, the philosopher, recommended dog as the tastiest of all meats, the studies have shown.

Dog meat is sometimes euphemistically called 'fragrant meat' or 'mutton of the earth' in Mandarin Chinese. In the past in China, during a hard season when the food store was depleted, dogs were occasionally slaughtered as an emergency food supply.

Some people eat dog meat in the winter to help to keep them warm. Ironically this is also the reason why some other Chinese doesn't eat it because they think it will overheat the body.

Despite being a socially acceptable practice, the average Chinese does not usually consume dog meat as it is relatively expensive compared to other meat choices and hence generally more accessible to affluent Chinese. In neighbouring Indonesia, the consumption of dog meat are usually associated with the Minahasa, a Christian ethnic group who consider dog meat to be a festive dish and usually reserve it for special occasions like weddings and Christmas.

But eating dogs has its share of international controversies. During the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, the South Korean government asked its citizens not to consume dog meat to avoid bad publicity during the games. The controversy surfaced again in 2001 during the 2002 FIFA World Cup.

Consumption of dog meat is taboo in Mexico. However, in the time of the Aztecs, dogs were historically bred for their meat.

Hernán Cortés reported that when he arrived in Tenochtitlan in 1519, 'small gelded dogs which they breed for eating' were among the goods sold in the city markets. These dogs, now extinct, were called itzcuintlis, and were similar to the modern Mexican Hairless Dog.

Estimates said that 500,000 dogs are killed annually in the Philippine Islands for human consumption. Dogs were historically eaten in Tahiti and other islands of Polynesia including Hawaii at the time of first European contact. Mrs Gandhi says that some countries have banned dog meat.

In advanced Switzerland, it is believed that dog meat has shorter fibres than cow meat, has no hormones like veal, no antibiotics like pork. But production of food from dog meat for commercial purposes, however, is illegal in Switzerland.

In US eating dog meat is a taboo but the traditional culture surrounding the consumption of dog meat varied from tribe to tribe among the original inhabitants of North America.

Mrs Gandhi said that in a couple of Asian countries including NE states, dogs are eaten. This is not for nutrition but for the most bizarre reasons including foolish belief and superstition, she said.(eom)