Tainted and expired steamed buns were reportedly sold in many Shanghai supermarkets, while producers also added illegal chemicals. Does this make you concerned about food safety?

Nowadays we're seeing many food safety problems, but you are still not imaginative enough to predict in which aspect of life we will encounter the next scandal. Am I right? The punishment is still not severe enough for me. One day I picked up a Singaporean passenger and he told me that his country used to have similar food safety problems many years ago, but that the Singaporean government had set extremely heavy punishments for those who were involved in scandals, which had a massive impact on the situation. Our government is still very soft on such incidents in terms of punishments, in my opinion. We need to deliver a heavy blow to these offenders. After all, every one of us has to eat.

Pet lovers last week rescued 430 dogs from a truck taking them to the slaughterhouse after staging a 15-hour blockade in Tongzhou district. What's your take on this? Do you eat dog meat?

It's ridiculous. If it's OK for people to eat pork or mutton, why are people so against eating dog meat? It's not illegal, is it? I cannot find the logic. For me, I love eating dog meat and have done so many times. When I went to Guizhou province, there is a very famous dish called huajiang gourou, literally "river flower dog meat". It's really delicious. I've not only eaten dog meat, I've also tried cat, hedgehog, crow and weasel. I just love trying different foods. China actually has a culture and history of eating dogs. You can find a lot of restaurants cooking dog meat in Guangzhou and Chengdu, as well as in Jilin province. Korean people also love eating the meat.

Keeping pets and having a tender heart are two different things; don't mix them up. Just like eating dog meat and committing crimes, they have nothing to do with each other. If you want to prove you are a man with a kind heart, there are more beggars or homeless old men on the streets who deserve more sympathy. Don't make a fuss about dog meat.

Want the inside track from METRO's talkative taxi driver Dou Keying? E-mail your questions to metrobeijing@chinadaily.com.cn.

(China Daily 04/21/2011 page)