Shark Fins and Me

[talon]

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/06/us/06fin.html?_r=1&hpw

"People come to America to enjoy the freedom, including what's on the plate," - Mr. Kinson K. Wong of R&G Lounge I California.

This is not entirely true. We don't eat endangered species. Americans may eat a lot of food, and may eat a huge variety of food spanning the globe, but we don't eat endangered plants or animals. That's not just because it's illegal to do so - many endangered plants and animals that aren't in our larders are also not officially listed as endangered.

I like to think it's because we are enlightened enough to know we shouldn't eat plants and animals into extinction, but really, it's because Americans don't know they are edible, or have a large "ick" factor going on (bird's nest soups, shark fin soup, dog meat chili, goat meat, ostrich, witchety grubs, honey ants, chicken feet, pig's feet....), or they aren't available in a drive-through, or they don't know how to cook or eat them. Ignorance is a large factor in the American diet, and this can be a Good Thing - it means we don't mindlessly eat things into extinction.

Of course, it also means we eat a lot of stuff that looks like food but really isn't - soylent green-esque type lab-grown foods aren't that far off in our futures and I for one don't want lab-grown frankenchickentofu or frankenbacon or tofu peas.

I am especially against eating only one portion of an animal, particularly when it means removing that prized body part from a living animal and then leaving the animal to die a long agonizing death. I despise wasted deaths.

So I am pleased with the purpose of this California bill, but not so happy that it is a blanket ban. If the shark is legally caught and humanely killed and all its parts used, without being over-fished, then I have no issue with shark fin soup.

I love shrimp. I adore shrimp, but because I love it so much, I restrict how much of it I eat so it won't be eaten to extinction.

I believe, in my heart, that eating ethically and responsibly is the American Way. Whether it is or not. Don't shatter my illusions.