My Guilty Conscience
I think hybrid cars are great. I recycle bottles and cans. I'm against drilling in Alaska. I try to minimize the amount of carbon dioxide I exhale. But by no means do I consider myself a tree-hugger. I enjoy long, hot showers. My job requires me to kill trees by printing massive loads of crap. I wash my car and watch the oily suds collect in the gutter knowing they'll end up in a storm drain.
One of the things that makes me feel guiltier than most is Shark Fin Soup. It's considered a luxury dish in Chinese cuisine and possibly other Asian cultures. It's an expensive delicacy, a sign of affluence and usually saved for special occasions. The Sharks Fin appears in the soup as thin, gelatinous shreds that don't really have a taste, but have an interesting texture to them, almost crunchy.
The environmental problem with the soup is that sharks are now being overly hunted for their fins. Fishermen can demand a high price for the delicacy. It's also common that the sharks are hunted for the sole purpose of their fins, their bleeding bodies dumped back into the water left to die. With fewer sharks in the water, the ecological balance of the oceans is disrupted, which may lead to unforeseen consequences in the future.
Okay, enough lecturing. So, last night, my extended family celebrated Chinese New Year a week early, dining at a popular Cantonese style restaurant in Rowland Heights. As is typical, the parents order and the kids just eat whatever comes to the table. Because it was a special occasion, the soup that was ordered was Shark Fin.
As bowls of the steaming liquid were passed around, I had a brief second of internal conflict, should or shouldn't I? Will my one bowl of soup make a difference? Would my protest stop my other family members from ordering it in the future?
I then raised my soup to my lips and drank.
After we had finished eating, I peeked a glance at the bill. $50. The cost of the soup. Is the life of a shark and the well-being of the oceans worth that amount?
My conscience is guilty.
One of the things that makes me feel guiltier than most is Shark Fin Soup. It's considered a luxury dish in Chinese cuisine and possibly other Asian cultures. It's an expensive delicacy, a sign of affluence and usually saved for special occasions. The Sharks Fin appears in the soup as thin, gelatinous shreds that don't really have a taste, but have an interesting texture to them, almost crunchy.
The environmental problem with the soup is that sharks are now being overly hunted for their fins. Fishermen can demand a high price for the delicacy. It's also common that the sharks are hunted for the sole purpose of their fins, their bleeding bodies dumped back into the water left to die. With fewer sharks in the water, the ecological balance of the oceans is disrupted, which may lead to unforeseen consequences in the future.
Okay, enough lecturing. So, last night, my extended family celebrated Chinese New Year a week early, dining at a popular Cantonese style restaurant in Rowland Heights. As is typical, the parents order and the kids just eat whatever comes to the table. Because it was a special occasion, the soup that was ordered was Shark Fin.
As bowls of the steaming liquid were passed around, I had a brief second of internal conflict, should or shouldn't I? Will my one bowl of soup make a difference? Would my protest stop my other family members from ordering it in the future?
I then raised my soup to my lips and drank.
After we had finished eating, I peeked a glance at the bill. $50. The cost of the soup. Is the life of a shark and the well-being of the oceans worth that amount?
My conscience is guilty.
posted by stella at
11:26 AM
1 Comments:
But it tastes so good when it hits the lips!! Actually, I've had imitation shark fin soup before, and though not nearly the same, it's still pretty damn good, and you come out with a clean conscience.
By
Anonymous, at 1/22/2006 8:25 PM
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