Shark Fin Soup: Just Say No!
by A staple for Chinese New Year’s tradition, weddings and special events, the harvesting practices of this product is appalling. Prized for its gelatinous texture in soup bearing its name, the shark’s fin is actually quite tasteless on its own. It is more tradition and a sign of prosperity to eat this.
It is the ability of cooked Shark Fin cartilage to absorb the flavors of other ingredients that makes it so coveted. You know what? Tofu (soy bean curd) does the same thing. Shark Fin Soup typically is flavored with chicken broth, pork and other ingredients. Nothing fancy.
There is no healthful or essential epicurean benefit to be derived from eating Shark Fin Soup other than the prestige of stroking one’s own sense of self-importance in public eateries. It is merely a visible and outward sign of wealth, prosperity and power to dine upon this so-called delicacy which incidentally, has no flavor of its own. Shielded from the consumer who knows nothing of how it is harvested, it reeks a foul stench of bloody death and wanton environmental disregard. Anyone that wants some rarefied and esoteric gastric experience to stroke their sense of self-importance should stick to something not so destructive to the planet, something like bird’s nest soup. That is another traditional oriental soup and by the way, it is considered to be the most expensive animal product in the world. It is just seaweed and bird saliva, chiseled from the side of a cliff.
We’re allowing millions of sharks to be killed each year for just a few pounds each of fin, and wasting the rest! We’re killing the oceans by decimating this top-level predator. I won’t go into some feigned bunny-hugger diatribe of ‘leave the pretty sharks alone, live & let live,’ and ‘have you hugged a shark today’ speech, for I eat meat. I love seafood too. I know some cultures and persons use personal choice in favor of a vegetarian or even stricter vegan existence. That’s fine with me. I am against the eating of over-hunted, endangered species and vehemently against it in those cases where the prey is slaughtered in the deplorable manner such as this. This is admonishable with its unregulated and wasteful tendencies. Maybe if the harvests were regulated and the product was used responsibly and wholly, I might consent that it is, maybe, okay. I have had shark steaks before recall enjoying it. I was assuming that the entire shark was used for food. Shark Fin Soup does not meet even that requirement. In fact, quite the opposite!
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Post CommentGlynis Smy
On January 31, 2009 at 5:38 am
That was really interesting!I will stick with minestrone tho, thanks.
Anna Ski
On January 31, 2009 at 7:18 am
Never would I imagine to eat that! Blah!
I’ll stick to the one I know.
Lee Altman
On January 31, 2009 at 9:25 am
It’s really not for me. Plus how many other fish are being killed just for the fin.
Little Miss Lizzy
On January 31, 2009 at 10:24 am
I like tomato. I can’t think of anything worse that sharks fin.
R J Evans
On January 31, 2009 at 12:14 pm
Never tasted this and after reading your artricle I never will!
To help spread the message I have blogged this – you can find it at…
http://www.webphemera.com/2009/01/shark-fin-soup-just-say-no.html
Thanks a lot for a great read on a serious subject.
Katien
On January 31, 2009 at 1:29 pm
Very informative. I’m sure, as you say that because it is readily available people assume it’s ok. It’s horrible to think of all these animals being horrifically killed just for their fins.
Betty Carew
On January 31, 2009 at 5:54 pm
Very informative article. I will never deplete the shark population by eating it. I swear lol
Ruby Hawk
On January 31, 2009 at 8:27 pm
Don’t worry about me eating shark skin soup. That is one delicasy I will pass up. Anyway I am a vegetarian. I don’t eat any flesh.I am against killing anything for food unless you are hungry and nothing else is available.
Rudy Falcon
On February 1, 2009 at 12:23 am
“Your silence is part of the problem.”
I lost all respect for you right here.
You basically stated that the people who dont do anything, the people who dont know, and the people that dont care are the problem. The problem is the people who fish them, and as a matter of fact, most sharks are indeed sold whole. I have been to China for work (As i am a marine biologist) and they do indeed, sell 85% of sharks body parts.
Also, sharks are not endangered, dont be fed into the lies that PETA tells you. PETA is not refutable.
thestickman
On February 1, 2009 at 8:18 am
I thank you for your opinion, and grieve your loss of respect for me. Note that I also stated that I eat meat, and have eaten shark steaks. Hell dude, -I go DEER HUNTING in the Fall and love it. But this is legislated, managed and enforced with quotas and laws to protect and manage. Apparently, the culling of sharks in the open sea solely for their fins is not.
No, I don’t trust (or even really believe) just about anything that PETA tells me and probably less than half of what they show me. Ibid for GREENPEACE. However, the video seems to show some sort of waste. There are dozens upon dozens of similar videos on YouTube showing some sort of slaughter for fins, and discarding the bulk of the body. By ’silence’ I mean that if this menu item is offered to you in a restaurant, you refuse, verbally, stating that this is inappropriate. You don’t have to campaign with signs and attend rallies and scream ‘hell no, we won’t go!’ to voice an opinion. You’d speak up and object the same if “kitten & biscuits w/ gravy” were on the menu, yes?
They use 85% of the shark bodies? -That, I can respect (if true, but its your word and, like mine, presents no tangible proof here on this page.)
You ‘lost all respect for me?’ -My heart bleeds. :-
love the above comment
On June 3, 2009 at 11:22 am
Why only sharkfin !!! You might as well tells all thouse english men to stop eating fish and chips have u had any idea that it is made of shark’s meat !!!! Its even wrosttt stop eating fish and chip and they will stop eating sharkfin
thestickman
On July 29, 2009 at 7:36 am
“…they make use of all parts of the fish” Which explains the hundreds of de-finned sharks that lie dead at the bottom of the sea and/or wash upon shore. No, I have eaten shark steaks and liked it. I’ve eaten farm-raised alligator, ostrich and bison. FARM raised. I am not a goddamn bunny-hugger Greenpeace or PETA fan either, They are sadly misinformed and deluded about their moral superiority. I eat meat. I hunt deer. I fish. But I am against waste. Waste not, and I’ll help ya drag the damn sharks ashore and cut it up for ya for a share of the booty. What the video and article are about is the waste of the product to feed a yuppie lifestyle. The fins are being harvested in a wanton fashion to feed the Porsche-driving golf-playing martini-sippin’ CEOs that have developed a taste for something they don’t give a rat’s ass damn about.
Inuits (native people of northern Canada) here eat the flesh of seals and whales. As such, their tradition is allowed under law. I have no problem with that, -until your local Arthur Treacher’s Fish -n- Chips Seafood franchise or Red Lobster starts offering clubbed-to-death baby fur-seal burger and deep-fried beluga whale fillets then again, I will complain you bet your ass I will! The traditional food of local people may/may not be objectionable to me is not the problem; the problem is when ‘big business’ or entrepreneurial locals (vis the video in my article) start feeding a greedy, already over-fed western vacationing world-traveler clientele such as yourself. THAT is the reason for this article. I don’t think we’re that far apart on our opinions. And for the record, -I would not order shark fin soup if presented the option on a menu BUT if a bowl was presented to me as a guest, -I would like to try it. I just cannot imagine though how the tasteless, gristly beef-bouillon-flavored shark fin and watery soup would appeal to me as a regular fare.
I’m going to leave your comment on my article assignment (instead of just deleting it, as is my option) because I like the controversy and respect the opinions being shared.
hmmm
On March 11, 2010 at 4:24 pm
No offense but sharks fin soup is a long tradition of China and what makes u think u can judge other country\’s tradition? Who said eating cow and pigs and chickens were normal in the first place? god?? white men???
People eat all kinds of different things all over the world and because it is something different and unfamiliar than what we are used to – we are so quick to judge. why don\’t you go and see how they kill pigs chickens and cows. It is JUST as brutal and disgusting – and in fact they are ABUSED before getting slaughtered.
We eat all other sea animals such as tuna salmon crabs and ect. what\’s the difference?
I personally don\’t find sharks fin soup appetizing nor plan to eat it in the future for i\’m a vegetarian but I do think America is too quick to judge. In China sharks fin soup is as normal as eating tuna ahi in america. So before you call other people\’s tradition disgusting and unmoral, why don\’t you go and see how unmoral what YOU eat can also be if you think in such narrow minded ways.