I've been reading this fabulous new book by J. A. G. Roberts, China to Chinatown: Chinese Food in the West, which Dan found for me. I'm completely engrossed! Here is a particularly satisfying passage:

"The aversion to the eating of dogs and cats has been expressed so loudly by Westerners that it is important to point out that dog-eating was certainly practised in Germany until early in the twentieth century, and that the killing and eating of cats, as an ingredient in spells or for medicinal purposes, was common in France in the eighteenth century." (p. 20)

Spells! Oh my....