Ban Shark Fin Already and Win 2 Tickets to Sans Shark Fin Soup Contest

I would use vermicelli.

vermicelli is a fine alternative

something made of agar-agar maybe? or starch? i also heard about bird nest.

I’m glad to see awareness is finally spreading. What better city to spearhead this change than Vancouver?

The Richmond Night Market served an imitation shark fin soup. I believe they used vermicelli. It was tasty AND affordable!

I’m not a cook so I’m not in the best position to suggest an alternative.  But using vermicelli would seem like a good fit.

I too, had a Shark Fin-free wedding! We were pretty adamant about it despite traditions … instead we had nice mushroom and abalone soup :)

I really like the soup where they use crab meat and clear crystal noodles to replace the shark fin soup :)

crab meat is a good alternative

Ramsay’s argument to ban shark fin soup makes no sense because:

1.  Ramsay’s menu at his restaurants are far from sustainable.  He serves many type of meats which are inhumanely killed – 1 example off the top of my head would be foie gras.  

2.  Ramsay is hated within the vegetarian community (a quick Google search will bring up the controversies).  He’s fooled vegetarians into eating meat on his shows, and has shown a clear disdain for vegetarian cuisine.  This can be seen clearly in Ramsay Kitchen Nightmare UK’s episode, “Piccolo Teatro.”   He is the LAST person that should be preaching about producing sustainable cuisine, and attacking others, especially poor fishermen in impoverished areas about their practices when anyone could walk into any of his restaurants and find 100 bigger ecological footprint problems.  

3.  You are not just a “fan of the broth”, you are a fan of the shark fin.  Shark fin is not “tasteless”, it tastes like shark fin.  It adds texture to a soup.  As a food critique, you should know that texture is extremely important.  Saying “shark fin is tasteless” is about as erroneous as saying the patty in a Big Mac is tasteless.  But people still eat it, put lettuce, tomatoes and pour condiments all over it.  

4.  On that same topic, beef consumption is a much bigger issue than shark fin.  Americans over consume on it so much it’s ecological footprint is much more larger than the few affluent Asians in Hong Kong or Japan who might have a bowl of shark fin once a year.  Red meat is also a cause of heart disease, the #1 killer in North America.  So why is red meat okay, but not shark fin?  Because western society (ie: white Americans) feel it’s politically okay to attack something a random dude in Southeast Asia does once a year, but not something they consume every week.  That would be far too inconvenient.  And no, I am not from Southeast Asia, nor am I American.  

On this note, Ramsay is a huge promoter of streak – he has absolutely 0 credibility when he attacks restaurants that have welcomed him into their restaurants for research, and attacks its patrons.  An anti-meat consumption documentary maker could do the exact same thing to him, and Ramsay would no doubt spazz out.  Luckily, the Chinese restauranateurs showed a lot more class than he would. 

5.  Before you make the common argument that “we should ban shark fins for it’s cruelty, and not beef because it’s not as cruel”, that’s wrong too.  Cattle meat is processed in large kill factories.  Basically, for anyone that’s seen the documentary on meat processing in the United States (the country passing the most laws against shark fin soups), it is disgusting.  A cow basically goes through an automated cleaver on a large belt, and gets chopped to pieces.  

6.  Before you make the argument, “Oh, well it was raised to be food.  Unlike a shark that was free in the ocean, then got cut, and thrown back in.”  Realize that many environmentalists make the argument that fishing/hunting for animals is more ethical and natural, than injecting cattle, a pig, or chicken with steroids while it’s in a cage in a kill factory with no room to move for years, before sending it to the cleaver.   

7. You could make the argument that shark fin is incredibly wasteful, and from a political standpoint it would be the “right thing” to ban it, because it’s important to our oceans.  Yeah, that’s true, but coral reefs are much more important to the balance of marine life.  And coral reefs off the coast of California are wrecked because of boating, over fishing, and CO2 pollution.  So, why are laws being passed in California against shark fins because it’s “bad for the environment”, but acts which destroy coral reefs, which is  even more critical to marine life still legally okay?   

I’m not one that enjoys seeing the race argument used in the US, but you don’t think this little bias  has something to do with the fact that Uncle Sam likes taking his CO2 spitting boat out, having a porterhouse steak?  But if some random Chinese guy and his Japanese girlfriend in SoCal want 2 bowls of shark fin soup on their anniversary, god forbid, we cannot have that!   Compare the ecological footprints and see who harms the ecosystem more, the guy in SoCal with his hummer and boat, or the guy off the coast of china in his row boat trying to catch a random shark so he can put food on the table for his family. 

There is a logic behind the banning of shark fin soups.  The problem is the people who push the bans are typically hypocrites. They do not understand sustainability issues, and get their information from extremist documentaries from other people who do not understand sustainability issues.  From a political standpoint, the bans are bias and plain wrong.  There are much bigger issues in the United States that are ignored in terms of animal cruelty in food processing, and ecological issues dealing with marine balance.  

It’s unfair to point to a very specific culture, and say that their small tradition is unethical and harmful to the environment, when the person pointing the finger is doing things twice as bad ten times more often.  If Americans want shark fin banned in California, then red meat which is the cause of the #1 killer in the United States and is tragic to animal welfare, should be banned to.  It would be the politically just thing to do.  Sorry for the long post, but I’ve had to get this off my mind with all the misinformation going around, the press this issue is getting, and the political fallacies that are being committed.  

Instead of promoting sensationalist documentaries produced by media whores, what we should do as bloggers and alternative media is get the reasonable, accurate, and level-headed information out.  Unfortunately, no one is doing that for shark fins. 
It’s even more unfortunate to hear that you grew up around this culture, and never thought about the bans from a political standpoint, and why it’s a slippery slope.  Interesting to see how mass media can even negatively effect independent media.