Team DailyPedia
Disturbing photos of “whole pigs” served with salad on the side and some “whole pigs” floating in a bowl of soup circulated on social media and received various reactions from the netizens. The photos were from a Japanese restaurant.
” I eat pork. But not eat whole pig at once!”
“Excuse me, waiter. I ordered a pork salad, not a pig salad!”
It did not take long before the real story behind the viral photos were revealed. According to People’s Daily Online via Daily Mail, the “pigs” are actually plastic replicas for restaurant window displays.
While the Japanese resto’s purpose was to attract customers, some instead refused to dine there, saying that the “realness” of the pig ruined their appetite.
Debates between animal lovers, vegans, and other consumers were also raised because of the pictures. Although some already knew that these were fake pigs, it reminded them of the cruelty of killing and eating animals.
“Its not about what you eat on your plate! It’s morally and ethically wrong to eat animals!” one netizen pointed out.
To give a brief background, it has been a Japanese restaurant tradition to use fake food made of polyvinyl chloride (PVC) with added coloring to make it look realistic and use them for food displays. The practice started around 1920’s to help customers decide what to order when they enter the store.
The controversial photos were released by Nagao Sample, a food replica company in Tokyo, last July 17. They said they are open to people’s opinions, adding that they wanted to further expand the business.
