Legislators in California are working towards a ban on the trade or possession of shark fins which are harvested through the controversial and frankly barbaric practice of live finning the fish and throwing the body back into the sea. Here in British Columbia the consumption is still common, while more progressive diners shun the dish. Critics of the ban in California call the impending ban racist against the Chinese community as sharks fin is a long standing traditional wedding banquet dish and an attack on Chinese culture, however to my mind the Chinese community is more than robust enough to withstand the removal of one dish of not very good soup from it’s celebratory menu. The HSBC Chinese Restaurant Awards, (full disclosure, I am a member of the judging panel) partook in the discussions for the organization to formally not adjudicate Sharks Fin Soup as a signature dish.
Leaving aside cultural considerations and arguments, a ban makes sense from an ecological viewpoint, as harvesting the oceans apex predators to extinction bodes poorly for every other animal below it on the food chain, species we rely on for sustenance.
~KT
Editor’s Addition: clip from Chef Gordon Ramsay’s TV special “Shark Bait”
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According to my Aunt (who is in the restaurant business, but does not sell shark’s fin) there is talk that there will soon be a ban on importation of shark’s fin. Many restaurants have been looking for an alternative to shark’s fin as a marquee item – including Kirin which is pushing sustainable Mexican abalone as a house branded product (http://www.kirinrestaurants.com/pdf/California%20Mexico%20Abalone%20Information%20Package.ENG.pdf).
Frankly – I know no one who actually likes shark’s fin. Not even peope in my mother’s generation think highly of it anymore – and certainly the vast majority of Chinese diners I know, actively shun it. Yes – there those in Asia who still want it, simply because it is a very expensive ingredient. But unlike other dried seafood products (conpoy, abalone, sea cucumber) – it has no real inherent taste and does not serve any real culinary purpose.
As much as I hate food bans (keep your hands off my foie gras) – I think that a ban is a good idea, and will help hasten the end of something that should have been shown the door a long time ago.
anyone who thinks such a ban is racist doesn’t have a very good idea of what racism is.
I thought about the foie gras parallel too, it was the first item California legislators successfully banned. To my mind they are different issues though. Foie gras is an agriculturally produced product and the rest of the animal besides the tasty liver is also turned into deliciousness, whereas 99% of the sharks body weight is thrown overboard.
If there was a way to farm sharks sustainably to harvest the fins, then I’d say fill your boots, but there’s not so an pretty significant difference exists in my mind.
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