(MY) Culinary battle

[Guest guest]

Sunday November 20, 2005 - The Star

 

Culinary battle far from fin-ished

 

ON THE BEAT

BY WONG CHUN WAI

 

THE weather in Hong Kong is still steamy although winter is

approaching. The shops in Tsim Tsa Tsui have started selling thick

clothes and boots despite the late arrival of the cool season.

 

At an old restaurant along bustling Nathan Road, located next to an

apartment belonging to a palmist, I sat down for lunch with physician

Chan Chak Ming. On the menu were northern Chinese-style food and

shark's fin soup.

 

Chan is in his mid-70s but his physique and health can match people

who are 20 years younger. He is an extraordinary man, and was the

Chinese physician for our first Prime Minister Tunku Abdul Rahman.

 

That special relationship between the two men led to China-born Chan

and his family moving to Malaysia, where he eventually became a

citizen. It was Chan who helped several Malaysian footballers, such as

Chow Chee Keong and Lim Fung Kee, when they turned professional in

Hong Kong during the 1970s .

 

A well-connected man, with links to political and business circles in

southern China, his passions are football and food. He talked fondly

of the Merdeka soccer tournament, which he used to be involved in, but

is sad that the tournament has lost its shine.

 

" You must try the shark's fin soup in this restaurant, they don't use

monosodium glutamate, " said the health-conscious sifu, who reminded me

of the late actor Kuan Tak Heng, who played the legendary kungfu

master Wong Fei Hoong in the movie classics.

 

I am often told that shark's fin soup is tasteless without the MSG.

Well, leave it to the best chefs in Hong Kong and they can prove the

critics of this culinary delight wrong.

 

In Hong Kong, as in many Asian countries, food is a serious subject.

It can even become emotional if the subject turns to shark's fin soup,

particularly among traditionalist Chinese food lovers.

 

Last week, the subject was a major item in Hong Kong newspapers in yet

another spat between conservationists and shark's fin traders and food

lovers.

 

The former said Hong Kong's efforts to control the shipment of shark's

fins had fallen short, especially the white shark, great white shark

and basking shark, all of which are protected by the Convention on

International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Flora and Fauna.

 

The three species face extinction from what conservationists estimate

is a 100 million sharks a year cull to meet the demand for shark's fin

soup, with local conservationist Brian Darvell pushing for laws to

restrict the trade.

 

The debate has taken an interesting twist because Chiu Ching Cheung,

the chairman of the Shark's Fin Trade Merchants Association, has

dismissed the allegation. " Basking sharks, whale sharks and great

white sharks ... their fins are too big and, therefore, not very

popular in the market. Their fins are also not very tasty, " he said,

adding that the conservationists did not seem to know this.

 

He also dismissed the argument that fishermen only slash the fins of

the sharks before they were dumped overboard, saying every part of the

shark was used in typical Chinese fashion.

 

Chiu is upset that environmental groups were allegedly presenting

misleading information to make traders look bad, saying extinction was

not determined by environmentalists but experts with real figures.

 

But in a highly competitive city, where consumerism is king, the

campaign by the conservationists is an uphill battle. The older

Chinese in Hong Kong even see the campaign as interference from white

busybodies.

 

They snubbed the decision of Hong Kong Disneyland not to serve shark's

fin soup at its restaurants following pressure from the

conservationists even as its competitor Sea World reportedly allowed

the dish to be served at its place.

 

The theme parks have waged a price war for wedding packages, with Sea

World offering couples the opportunity to take pictures with dolphins.

The more adventurous can even take underwater photos with the sharks

but the punch line is they can swim with the sharks and eat the

shark's fins too, not necessarily the ones there.

 

In a symbolic move, Hong Kong University has banned shark's fin dishes

on its campus and said it would not reimburse staff for the delicacy

consumed at official banquets.

 

A green group, meanwhile, has asked telecommunications company PCCW to

withdraw shark's fin from its promotional gifts following a complaint

against the city's largest fixed-line telephone service provider.

 

PCCW is offering gift packs, including shark's fin and fried

mushrooms, to customers who sign up for its fixed-line services for 12

months. A company spokesman has declined to say whether it plans to

withdraw the package, nor would it say if it would ban it at company

business banquets.

 

Even the Hong Kong government has been dragged into the debate with

the World Wide Fund for Nature, Hong Kong, lambasting the government

for its failure to ban shark's fin as the city is the leading consumer

in the world of this product.

 

Aware of the sensitivity, a coral reef specialist Paul Hodgson said he

did not want the people of Hong Kong to stop eating shark's fin and

that his activism did not come from a distaste for Chinese culinary

tradition.

 

" I will fight for a person's right to eat shark's fin – as long as

it's sustainable, " he said.

 

As I prepared to leave Hong Kong for home, a friend telephoned to

invite me for a breakfast of dim sum, saying I should try the yee chee

siew mai, or shark's fin dumpling. Looks like it's going to be tough

for the conservationists.

 

Wong Chun Wai can be reached at onthebeat