Not Serving Shark Fin Soup At Wedding Banquet – Part I
Ever since I’ve read/seen how shark fins are obtained to be sold in Asia for shark fin soup, I’ve been more conscious about consuming them. Now that it’s our turn to host a banquet where shark fin soups are traditionally part of the menu, I’d like to help raise awareness about this issue by not serving it at our wedding.If you’ve never seen shark finning before, here’s a video:
For the first part of gaining support for this cause, I spoke to Al about my idea of not serving shark fin soup. I’m hoping he would support me and with the two of us on the same page, it would be easier to convince the parents.
J: What do you think of the idea of not serving shark fin soup at our wedding?
A: Why? I like shark fin soup. It taste good (actually shark fin itself doesn’t have any taste) and it’s already on the set banquet menu. Plus people who attend our banquet will expect the soup to be present.
J: Well by not serving shark fin soup, we will be taking a stand and educating our guests at about sharks, finning, and the impact it has on our environment.
A: It’s not like not serving the soup at our wedding will make any difference. Why should we be the one trying to change it?
J: If everyone thinks that way then nothing will be changed. I see a few advantaged for not serving shark fin soup: a) When we explain why there’s no shark fin soup, the guests will be exposed to the many reasons behind our action such as the declining number of sharks in the ocean due to finning, the cruelty of taking just the fins off the sharks and throwing them back in the water to die, as well as the importance of sharks in our environment. b) If we replace it with a clear broth (such as abalone chicken soup) it will be lighter than a thick soup like shark fin and I believe many guests would appreciate it just as much. Plus it’ll make our banquet different than the usual Chinese banquets!
A: Well then why don’t you figure out what we can use to substitute for shark fin soup and we’ll see.
It doesn’t sound like Al completely agrees with me on this but I’m determined to push this idea forward so I went ahead and talk to my parents about it. I was a bit scared to bring up the idea because I know that shark fin soup is seen as a status symbol and it’s also a part of the Chinese tradition. Serving the four luxury seafood (abalone 鮑, sea cucumber 參, shark fin 翅 and fish maw 肚) to your guests is considered to be a sign of wealth and respect. I wonder how my dad, who cares more about traditions, will react to my request.
In Part II, I’ll write about my experience of talking to my parents and their response to my idea of not serving shark fin soup at the wedding.
Links of interest:
Saying no to shark fin soup, and tradition – Vancouver Sun.
Shark Finning Facts – Sharkwater (I highly recommend watching the documentary)
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[...] idea to not serve shark fin soup at our wedding. I’ve talked to Al and our parents about it (read it here at my wedding notebook). Most of them are supportive but they still don’t understand why I’ve decided to not [...]