Living in Los Angeles you get to experience world cuisines like no other place in the world. Sure, we aren’t on the forefront of modern cuisines like Hong Kong, Paris, or New York, but we do have one of the most diverse and the most abundant sources of great world food.
Order Supreme Seafood Soup
I love trying new and exotic food. I am a big proponent of “If it looks good, eat it”, but not everything we eat should be eaten. There are a lot of dishes that require exotic ingredients that really doesn’t add much to the dish, other than a few extra zeros to the price. What happens if you added a rare ingredient to a common everyday recipe?
Have you ever had a bowl of minestrone soup? Great broth, some nicely chopped vegetables, and herbs for flavor. If you put a few strands of vermicelli noodles into the soup, does it alter the taste? Does it add any extra nutrients? All it does is add some texture to the soup and maybe make it more starchy.
Well, that’s what shark’s fins does to the “shark fin soup” (I will call it Supreme Seafood Soup because I really don’t want to continue to advertise the one ingredient that does nothing to the taste of the soup). Most Asians love Supreme Seafood Soup because it has such a rich taste. My dad can make a really good version of the soup and he adds NO shark’s fin.
He starts by soaking some dried scallops, dried small shrimp, and dried mushrooms. He boils some beef and pork soup bones and adds some Asian Oyster sauce (sorta like a seafood bouillon) and thickens it with corn starch. (If you want the recipe comment below and I’ll send it to you). Shark’s fin is simply like glass noodles, and you can’t add too much of it because it costs so much, about $500 a pound.
So, why is eating it such a luxury? I have no idea, it’s the same as buying a $5,000 Chanel purse, you are buying the name and the brand, but unlike purchasing shark’s fin no animal had to die savagely to make the purse (okay don’t quote me on that one, I’m sure you can ding me on human rights or something like that.)
My point is that you can easily protest and stop eating the supreme seafood soup and educate people on why you shouldn’t eat it. But, how about we devalue the name of exotic ingredient? Who would farm shark’s fin if it was 1. too dangerous to capture, 2. is not worth the time needed too farm the fins, and 3. not used as an ingredient any more.
Devaluing shark’s fin is the key to slowing the demand for them.
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{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
It’s really sad how we kill animals just for small pieces of them and leave the rest to rot…I was watching an episode of AC360 and they were showing a clip on how ppl in Africa are killing the elephants just for the tusks and leaving the rest of the body their to disintegrate.
then what the F is that slimy jelly thing in it, if not shark’s fin? and why am i paying $50/bowl?
i really don’t think we’re using small pieces and then throwing the rest away. i mean, why would you see beach front stores selling shark teeth at $150+? or preserved shark in a jar?
hahaha.
okay, well, about the elephants. i don’t like them. they scare me. and i feel like they are only good for 4 things: 1. pulling heavy loads, 2. riding, 3. elephant hair bracelets, and 4. piano keys
@cherbert. Sadly, lots of farmers simply hunt sharks and throw the rest of the shark back into the sea because they are illegally hunted and the fin is the most expensive part of the shark.
The sharks you see at the store are hunted legally (I hope) and are sold for meat and other uses.
Sometimes the jelly stuff is noodles or imitation stuff from other foods.
I think the basic argument I am trying to make is that we senseless hunt and kill animals for their value rather than need. It’s very sad.