Why only shark fin soup

[moon88]

Dear cecil,
I read somewhere that shark fin soup is very popular among chinese people. Why only fin soup why not the whole fish. And why it continues to be popular knowing that shark are the endangered species and can become extinct any day. Thanks.

[Cecil Lee]

Dear Anon,
1. Sharks fin soup is indeed a delicacy amongst the Chinese.
2. It is a tedious task to boil the sharks fins in broth until it becomes soft, yet `cruncy' (I hope I said this correctly).
Sometimes, crap meat is added to the soup.
3. On other occassions, it comes concentrated with a `lump' of sharks fins. Depending on the quantity and restaurant, it can costs as much as US$30 or more for one small plate of this delicacy.
4. Usually, the restaurants buy the sharks fins in bulk and as they can easily be `kept' e.g. dried, they can be boiled whenever needed.
Contrast this with the meat of sharks. Shark meat like other fish meat, need proper storage.
5. Sharks meat tastes more like a `normal' fish so, it is thus not considered a delicacy. Some `exotic' food restaurants do serve sharks meat.
Since they are not popular, they are not often eaten. Chinese prefer "quality" fishes like the Groupa instead during Chinese dinners.
6. Nearly, every `quality' Chinese dinners especially wedding dinners in fine hotels or even the lesser known hotels serve sharks fin.
7. More gruesome `tales' (true storys):-
(For those who the gore, please stop reading this)
7.1 In a Chinese documentary show, this poor live fish, has been (I am sorry if I said it wrongly or `expertly'), took a life fish, wrap the head (keeping the fish alive).
Then cooked its body in hot oil. He turned the fish around and cooked the other side.
So, the fish was presented to the dinning table, still gasping for air.
I could not stand it but, the dinners can without any conscience, eat the fish and see its mouth moving.
7.2 Monkey's brain.
What happened here is that the poor monkey was placed in a cage, imobilised. The skull of the monkey was removed and this special table is such that the monkey's brain pokes out of the table. The monkey's brain is served `live', to the dinners.
I have not participated in Para 7.1 or 7.2 but after writing, this, indeed, had not gone for lunch, today.
Warmest Regards,
Cecil

Quote

On 5/21/00 11:11:00 PM, Anonymous wrote:
Dear cecil,
I read somewhere that shark
fin soup is very popular among
chinese people. Why only fin
soup why not the whole fish.
And why it continues to be
popular knowing that shark are
the endangered species and can
become extinct any day.
Thanks.