I probably shouldn’t have “gone there” with this discussion. It’s just the anthropologist in me and the traveler in me that likes to churn out these stories.
Domesticated pets don’t just exist because of friendships between people and cats, dogs, etc. Those animals were attracted to human settlements and gradually became domesticated to provide security (dogs) and rodent control (cats). The animals benefited from eating the rodents that were attracted to human structures and trash heaps, and dogs began rummaging around scraps and the ones with "friendly genes" stuck around and evolved over thousands of years into the many breeds of domesticated dog from around the world. There is also some evidence that cats and the parasite toxoplasmosis (which is found in many humans who have cats) worked together to kind of domesticate humans to like them.
I grew up with lots and lots of pets. I love cats and dogs and have deep bonds to this day with the dogs I grew up with. I think of entire eras as being defined by which dog my family had at that time. I do, however, see this is a cultural anomaly. In the non-Western world most people don’t form these deep relationships with dogs that Euro-Americans do. That doesn’t make it irrational or wrong to do so - not at all.
Anyway, I guess ultimately the point is that Kava doesn’t taste like wet dog, based on the small amount of experience I have. Lol
Also, I have never “asked” for dog or cat to be prepared for me. I only had either of them once, and they were served while visiting someone’s home. In much of Africa, refusing to eat at someone's home is pretty much the biggest insult you can deliver. So it is always important to work through strange dishes. Even if it does often end of making you ill. The same could be said for other crazy things I’ve ate - python, monitor lizard, pangolin, leopard, giant bush rats, tons of weird antelopes, fried termites, and all kinds of other fun stuff.
