The
consumption of shark fin is a very unusual
phenomenon in the history of China.
Ancient Chinese appreciated the art of cooking other
parts of sharks, in particular the skin and lips of certain
species. It became famed throughout the culinary
world. Mei Yaochen, a renowned poet of the Song
dynasty(960–1279)oncewroteapoemonthepractice
of shredding shark skin and its unique taste. For a long
time, people mistook the dish’s appearance for shark fin.
In actual fact, shark fin soup originated from the
Ming dynasty (1368–1644). It was first written about
in theCompendium of Materia Medica(ûЮҫۛü),
by Li Shizhen in 1590 – described as voluminous and
succulent, and was hugely well-received by royalty.
History has it that the Tianqi Emperor, who ruled
from 1620 to 1627, made shark fin popular among the
distinguished. In order to please him at a banquet,
his royal chefs cooked it together with other special
ingredients, including bird’s nest, fresh prawns and
clams. The result was a premium stew that became his
treasured favourite.
A recipe was even compiled during that period,
detailing the method of cleaning and slicing the fins.
It stated clearly that to impart flavour, meat, stock and
wine have to be added to the combination. TheSong
Dynasty Manuscript Compendium(û්߽းۧࠧü),
written by Qing dynasty author Xu Song, mentions
that shark fin was imported from global seas into
Fujian province from the 1300s onwards. This work
was extracted in part from the Ming dynastyYo ng l e
Encyclopaedia, published in 1408.BytheadventoftheQingdynasty,sharkfinhad
become a signature dish, primarily because sharks were
not easily caught, and thus hard to come by. A symbol
of status, shark fin soup was upheld as a delicacy like no
otherowingtohowitalwaysamalgamatedanarrayof
distinct cuisines and entailed an intricate preparation
process. The original taste of shark fin was never
described–onlythetexturegotamention–asitwas
neverabletoholduponitsown.Today in 2015
Itwasanunbelievableexperiencetohear82-year-old
Tan Lin Yian so passionately and honestly speak of
havinggivenupeatingsharkfinsoup.“Wehaveto
make sure we don’t destroy the ocean,” Madam Tan
said in Hokkien, almost reprimanding all who were
listening. “Think before you just anyhow do (sic).”
Whatabreathoffreshair.
The founders ofASIAN Geographicstarted out with
the vision of eradicating the consumption of shark fin
in all its forms – from soup to dumplings – more than
14 years ago. The magazine’s founders had already seen
the damage the mindset of eating shark fin soup forBy the advent of the Qing dynasty,
shark fin had become a signature
dish, primarily because sharks were
not easily caught, and thus hard
to come by.DAVE FLEETHAM/DESIGN PICS/CORBIS