This is really making me angry

[amaze]

Well most of us these days have incomes at a level that allow us to choose what we eat and countries are no longer in isolation so the economics of trade combined with incomes sufficient to satiate each day on food opens up choice to most. This is not to say that there are areas of the world where poverty and hunger reign. What you consume for food is a personal choice and those preferences are shaped by your cultural context and other factors. My personal choice is that i prefer not to consume mammals. There are some boundary issues with that rule (i have excluded the platypus for example, actually i think it is classified as a mammal as well and also hard to find in the grocery store). That said there are still issues related to fisheries regarding overfishing/extinction and as long as there are regulatory constraints and the growth of aquaculture (domesticating seafood) those issues can be managed. There are cultural aspects, tradition, and ethnocentrism at play here, i was surprised on a recent visit to europe to find horse on the menus and in the grocery meat section. If a species is endangered it should certainly be taboo, beyond that??? Hey, soylant green for all. Bill

 

[BigJetDriver]

Like Charlie99 said - be careful criticizing cross-culture - there is always something in another culture that seems odd/strange/disgusting etc. The thing is though - it goes both ways and no one culture has any right to declare that they and only they, have it right. That's cultural arrogance.

Kim, and Charlie,

So, okay, by that logic, I'll have to write to Dr. Alex Antoniou of the Shark Research Institute of Rutgers University and tell him he needs to stop fighting against the practice of shark-finning, because as you say:

"...no one culture has any right to declare that they and only they, have it right. That's cultural arrogance."

 

[jonnythan]

There's a difference between wasteful cruelty and efficient consumption.

 

[Kim]

Kim, and Charlie,

So, okay, by that logic, I'll have to write to Dr. Alex Antoniou of the Shark Research Institute of Rutgers University and tell him he needs to stop fighting against the practice of shark-finning, because as you say:

"...no one culture has any right to declare that they and only they, have it right. That's cultural arrogance."

My wife would say so - and probably many millions of Asian people would agree with her. As I said earlier - personally I see a huge difference between shark-finning and whaling. I also don't agree with certain practices forced on women in certain cultures. I believe where cruelty enters the picture as a main element it becomes indefensible. However I do simultaneously realize that that is my own cultural priority coming into play as well. Being married to a Japanese lady I often have to walk a very fine line - and often end up in big arguments.
When it comes to food and survival though - I can't see the moral difference between eating a cow (big no-no for Hindus), a pig (big no-no for Jews and Moslems), or a whale or anything else for that matter. While critizing the Japanese and Norwegians about whales Europe and N.America have devastated quite a few fish stocks themselves - either to extinction or very close.
I find making distinctions between the species in these areas a very weak moral argument - mainly designed to allow ourselves to still justify what we personally want to eat.

 

[sprange]

Like Charlie99 said - be careful criticizing cross-culture - there is always something in another culture that seems odd/strange/disgusting etc. The thing is though - it goes both ways and no one culture has any right to declare that they and only they, have it right. That's cultural arrogance.

What you are defending is far worse than arrogance--it is ignorance. For example, North America seems to have some unhealthy addiction to fast food. If there is indeed some culture remaining that doesn't integrate McDonald's into their diet on a frequent basis, can they not claim that theirs is 'superior/more healthy/etc'? Same could be said for the various forms of judicial systems worldwide. Sadly, 'culture' has become a way of defending practices that have no place in the modern ("civilized") world.

Sean

 

[BigJetDriver]

There's a difference between wasteful cruelty and efficient consumption.

Jon,

Now you are being culturally arrogant. Taking only the fin, which is the part that soups up an Asian male's sex drive, is efficient. The rest of the fish doesn't matter.

Rob

 

[Charlie99]

At $3.50 for a whale burger in Japan basically shows how cheap whale meat really are so the main profit of whaling is not for food consumption and whale burger is really more of a by product.

The article didn't say, but reading between the lines it sound likes "whaleburger" is using the red meat. I suspect that's why it's so cheap.

IIRC, Japan has a large stockpile of lean whalemeat because it's the blubber that is highly prized for sashimi. OTOH, the Norwegians like the lean/red meat and have warehoused large quantities of the blubber. UN restrictions on import/export of such items keeps the Norwegians and Japanese from swapping.

The Norwegians don't pretend it's "research', but instead just register an objection to the International Whale Commission quota and straightforwardly issue a national quota of 500 Minke whales to their fishermen.

Charlie

 

[BigJetDriver]

The Norwegians don't pretend it's "research', but instead just register an objection to the International Whale Commission quota and straightforwardly issue a national quota of 500 Minke whales to their fishermen.
Charlie

How sweet!!! Death made better by being "honest"!!! :07:

 

[ssra30]

Jon,

Now you are being culturally arrogant. Taking only the fin, which is tha part that soups up an Asian male's sex drive, is efficient. The rest of the fish doesn't matter.

Rob

all joking aside, male asian eating sharkfin for sex drive is pretty much a myth.
I don't eat sharkfin myself but sharkfins are served to women, children and people of all ages. Basically it is supposedly high in protein and some people think that it is good for their heath but for majority of people, they eat sharkfin because in part, it is a display of wealth, not unlike caviar. Whether they like the taste or not, that's a different matter but since we are all trying to be culturally sensitive, lets get all the fact straight Do people eat the rest of sturgeon fish?
The rest of the sharks can be quite valuable as well but just not enough to make those fishermen harvest the whole sharks, unfortunately.

 

[stoddu]

...
OK. Now it is not so necessary, but it's heavily ingrained in the culture. More importantly the Japanese love the taste of it - I guarantee they'd prefer to give up beef if they really had the choice. ...

Kim,
Read the David Suzuki article that is linked at the bottom of the article. The demand for whale in Japan is declining. In 2002, the Japanese gov't was giving away whale blubber ice cream to try to get the citizens to develop a taste for it. Why increase the number of whales taken when the demand is declining? Why try to increase demand for such a controversial food source?