So the Japanese aren't that sophisticated after all

Just found a couple of blogs quoting me on the Asian dishes topic. It looks like I was wrong, the Japanese aren't too sophisticated for whale burgers after all. Thanks to Simonworld for that.

I realise there are a lot of soybean substitutes for shark fin and whatnot, again this will give the consumer more choices. My emphasis is that Asian culture, I feel, is somewhat being vilified in western media because of their taste for these things. I know of Asian people who, after watching documentaries on how they de-fin sharks, have chosen to not eat shark fin soup anymore.

Personally, I am not an adventurous when it comes to food. Actually, I'm rather squeemish. I'm not really into trying exotic new species or anything like that, I much prefer the soya bean version of them.

I'm not here to promote shark fin soup nor McDonalds.

After you watch the whaling documentary, remember to watch the McLibel one too. I think they showed chickens lining up to be decapitated, so that's a warning to other squeemish people out there.

UPDATED: Here's a more balanced article covering the issue of shark finning and ecology.

Some interesting bits from the article:

Shark-fin soup -- who eats it?

Shark-fin soup was just a regional delicacy in Canton, south China, until the late 1980s. The Beijing government had derided shark-fin soup as a symbol of elitism, but it ended this stance in 1987. Increased East Asian affluence quickly made shark-fin soup popular at wedding banquets, birthdays, feasts and business dinners, as a way of honoring guests. The demand has escalated astronomically in the last 15 years, and now it's a standard dish.

Hong Kong has roughly 50 percent of the global trade in shark fins. I've seen entire streets there lined with shark-fin shops; huge burlap bags brimming with shark fins are stacked into warehouses. Its safe to assume that most of the shark fins in Chinatown are from Hong Kong.

Wow! Is it delicious? How's it prepared? Is it healthy?

It's cooked for a very long time until the shark fin separates into needles of cartilage that look like clear noodles. The fin itself has no taste, but it's served with a broth of chicken, ham and shiitake that it absorbs. The final texture is supposed to be interesting.

Shark-fin soup is traditionally regarded in Chinese medicine as a tonic. [It's good at strengthening the waist, supplementing vital energy, nourishing blood, invigorating kidney and lung and improving digestion, according to the Compendium of Materia Medica] Modern nutritionists find it rich in protein, and the large amount of gelatin contained can help the growth of cartilage. But scientifically speaking, shark fin has little nutritional value--and, in fact, it may even be harmful to health over the long term, as shark fins have been found to contain high levels of mercury.

Does WildAid want shark fishing to become illegal?

No. Sharks are an important source of protein in certain parts of the world, like India and West Africa. It's primarily the huge value for fins that endangers sharks--its like a global gold rush. What WildAid wants is an international ban on finning.

What exactly is finning? "Finning" refers to the practice of cutting off only the shark fins and discarding the body. Sometimes sharks are dead when they're pulled into the boats, but often, they're still alive as their four fins are cut off with a knife. When they're thrown back into the ocean the sharks either bleed to death, or they drown, because sharks can't swim without fins, and they need to go forward to get oxygen. Divers have discovered hundreds of dead finned sharks at the bottom of the ocean in huge shark graveyards.

Fifty percent of sharks are bycatch -- they're accidentally caught by boats that are looking for tuna, swordfish or other fish. Many of the boats don't want to keep the entire shark, so they just fin them. This greatly increases the amount of sharks killed, because a fishing boat can hold an enormous amount of fins.

A few points drawn from the article. Firstly, shark fin soup was a very localised cultural thing for Cantonese people (since they tend to live near the sea...), until the 1980s when Beijing decided that it should become a symbol of elitism. This corresponds with China's opening up reforms, where the CCP states "to get rich is a good thing" and shark fin soup equates to being rich.

And secondly, the article focusses on advocating against the process of obtaining these shark fins, not fishing for shark itself. As I stated in my previous article, I am annoyed that western media portrays Chinese culture as inately cruel because it eats those poor sharks' fins. The problem is an ecological one, not really a cultural one. The problem here is that by only taking the fin, and not the whole shark (instead leaving it to die a cruel death, drowning) means more sharks are killed.

The media, I feel, should focus more on the dealers and finners, as opposed to in effect saying the Chinese are a distasteful culture, they eat shark fins. Really, some Chinese don't feel comfortable with the way the information is sometimes being presented by westerners: YOU SHARK KILLER, YOU MAKE ME SICK.

Ok, I think I'm done beefing on this topic. No more shark fin posts for awhile I hope.