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11 July 2009

Shark's Fin Soup

Hubby and I was watching a TV documentary on shark's fin soup today. It disturbed me very much that I need to talk about it here.

Shark’s fin soup is a Chinese delicacy that has been a popular item of Chinese cuisine usually served at special occasions such as weddings or banquets. Consumption of shark fin soup has risen dramatically with China's growing economy and the middle class becoming more affluent.

The high price of the soup means that is often used as a way to impress guests at celebrations as a luxury item, a symbol of wealth and prestige in Chinese culture.

Sharks' fins is derived from fins cut from living sharks called Shark Finning. The finless and still-living sharks are thrown back into the sea as shark meat is worth much less and more room is available on board the ship if only the fins were retained. When returned to the ocean, the finless sharks are unable to swim and sink to the ocean bottom and die. The process has become highly controversial and the practice is brutal.

Due to the good demand for shark's fin and the margin restaurateurs are getting, it is hard to scrap off the delicacy from its menu. The abuse in shark-finning industry and the damage it is causing to the oceans ecosystems. It is a primary contributing factor in the global decline of many shark species.

We didn't serve shark's fin soup during our wedding dinner. Hubby is against the brutal action. I agreed with him but I was concern over guests' remarks as serving shark fin's soup was a luxury thing to impress guests. I'm glad that I went with hubby's idea of not to serve shark's fin soup and replace it with herbal chicken broth.

Some people said the shark is already die anyway. If we don't eat, its worse for what the shark has sacrificed. It is a chicken and egg process. If there's no demand, the supply will stop and shark finning will stop too.

Do you support the serving of shark's fin soup at wedding or banquets?

6 comments:

Kiasu Mom said...

I totally agree with you. It is BRUTAL! It is going to be hard to change the mindset of the people but I am sure every little thing we could do will make a small difference. And yes I remembered that you didn't serve sharksfin at your wedding and I think that was really nice :-)

Saw Leng, KOH said...

After watching the TV documentary, I felt it more. Can't believe the brutal action that human does just to make the extra bugs.

Wow .. you have such a good memory on my wedding. Did you think we were trying to save on banquet cost or against the brutal action?

Anonymous said...

Good post. This issue needs to be brought up more. I stopped eating this dish a number of years back when I found out about shark finning. It's a truly brutal thing to do. However, some people say that some restaurants do not serve shark fin anymore and instead replace it with a kind of noodle. I wonder if the restaurants would tell you the truth about it if you asked them. It would be an interesting experiment.

Saw Leng, KOH said...

My hubby is against Shark's Fin Soup and my dad is against suckling pig. So, when we have family dinner, we will ask the restaurant to alter the set menu.

Anonymous said...

I feel that the younger generations are more aware of the consequences shark finning will bring to the ecosystem.
It is normally the older generation who will insist on serving sharks fin during wedding dinner to avoid unnecessary comments or remarks by the guests.
I'm definitely against serving sharks fin and suckling pig. I've never eaten suckling pig all my life and have stopped eating sharks fin more than one year ago.
I'm trying to educate my family as well as my bf's on this REAL cruelty that is going on.
This action may seem small but if everyone choose to take this small step, it'll make a big difference to our future generations.

Anonymous said...

I feel that the younger generation is more aware of the consequences shark finning will bring to the ecosystem.
It is normally the older generation who will insist on serving sharks fin during wedding dinner to avoid unnecessary comments or remarks by the guests.
I'm definitely against serving sharks fin and suckling pig. I've never eaten suckling pig all my life and have stopped eating sharks fin more than one year ago.
I'm trying to educate my family as well as my bf's on this REAL cruelty that is going on.
This action may seem small but if everyone choose to take this small step, it'll make a big difference to our future generations.