At nearly every Asian wedding Claudia Li attended, shark fin soup was served. Li always enjoyed the traditional dish. However, the 25-year-old said she never once stopped to consider how the sharks were caught.
While at SFU, a friend told her to watch a documentary titled, Sharkwater.
"Right after I graduated from university in 2009, I finally watched the documentary at home alone and I basically couldn't sleep," she said.
"It was only two weeks earlier that I had shark fin soup at a cousin's banquet."
Sharkwater debunks the myths around shark attacks and links the species' rapid demise to the consumption of shark fin soup.
Initially, Li said she felt under attack for a cultural practice she'd grown up with.
"I was stunned by my own ignorance about sharks. I hadn't known about the integral role they play as a top predator in the oceans, or about their stabilizing effect on the Earth's largest ecosystem.
"I hadn't known about the cruelty and wastefulness of the shark fin industry. Furthermore, I only then learned that mercury contamination rendered shark fin a food that was more harmful than beneficial to our health - I had never even questioned how shark fin got in my bowl."
Disgusted by what she learned, Li decided to spread the word amongst her family and friends.
With some of her friends, she founded Shark Truth - a website which provides all kinds of information about shark fin soup and wants to stop people from eating it.
"Vancouver has a large Chinese population and is home to the second largest Chinese restaurant industry in North America," she said. "It is an ideal place to create change.
"The mission behind Shark Truth is to stop the soup by engaging Chinese communities in a collaborative discussion about shark fin soup. We are starting with Chinese wedding banquets."
An Asian delicacy - which doesn't come cheap at about upwards of $100 per bowl - it traditionally symbolizes a family's wealth at weddings and banquets.
However, of late its been getting a bad rap all over the Internet and the news.
The News Googled "Shark Fin Soup" and many sites, including www.sharktruth.com and www.stopsharkfinning.net/boycott-canada. html popped up.
Richmond actor, longtime philanthropist and artist Colin Foo said he hasn't seen much of the soup at many Asian banquets lately.
"I've attended a couple of weddings recently and I never saw shark fin soup on the buffet table," said Foo. "Nowadays, the younger Asian weddings have more Western style receptions."
However, Foo thinks that the reason the older generation isn't serving shark fin soup has more to do with the shark fin soup's prohibitive price.
"It has been a feature dish at weddings for decades although I'm seeing it much less today because it's so expensive," Foo said. "They have substitutes such as dogfish fins now that are much cheaper."
He does concede that the environmental impact has played a major role for the younger generation's decision not to eat shark fin soup.
"The younger Asian won't have it because of the environmental issues behind it, they are more proactive and would rather have abalone - a substitute that is more environmentally friendly."
HISTORY OF SHARK FIN SOUP
Shark fin soup began in the Sung dynasty and is a symbol of wealth and health. It is commonly served in two forms. The majority of shark fin soup is served "big bowl" style during banquets or large dinners for birthdays, anniversaries, baby showers or business celebrations.
However, the soup is most notably served during wedding banquets as a sign of wealth and a demonstration of "mian zi", or face.
Traditionally, at weddings where shark fin soup is served, the groom's side of the family pays for the wedding.
There is a long-established expression that says, "If there is no shark fin soup at the wedding banquet, the bride is marrying into a poor family."
This folklore has been so deeply engrained in consumers that it is seen as distasteful, cheap and sometimes disrespectful to not serve one's guests shark fin soup.
Shark fin also expresses a Chinese tradition to share one's fortune with your friends and family.
For a list of Richmond restaurants that still serve the soup, go to www.stopsharkfinning.net/boycott-canada.htm.
(Courtesy of www.sharktruth.com)
