This post may be a slightly deviated from
“slow farming,” but I believe this is still a very important food-related topic
to discuss in this class. During my sophomore year, I took environmental
science class here. One of the assignments was to write a paper about an
environmental problem. I could choose any topic I wanted, so I chose “Japanese
whaling” as my topic. When I selected the topic, I was ready to criticize the
Japanese whalers. Some of the whale species they hunt are endangered, and
obviously, people can still live without eating whale meat. But as I searched
more and more about the historical background behind Japanese whaling, I got
lost. While I understand whaling is a very unsustainable practice when you
consider whales’ current status, I could also emphasize with the people who put
so much cultural, dietary, and nutritional values on whale meat. Here, I give a
few examples of people eating rare/endangered animals for various reasons.
Example 1: Japanese Whaling
The history of Japanese whaling dates back
to the 7th century. Whales have been an important part of Japanese
diet for more than 1000 years. Whales were very important resources for living,
as the following comment of a historian suggests: “We don’t waste any part of
whale. We eat meat and blubber and use bone for fertilizer. Every part is used”
(Iwasaki-Goodman, 1994; please follow the link below and take a look at the
picture!).
The cruelty of whale hunting, however, is
not deniable. Today, whales are killed by using grenade-armed harpoons, and
they suffer 10~35 minutes before dying. Additionally, environmentalists are
concerned that Japanese whale hunting may deplete the whale populations, as the
hunting rate is much faster than the whales’ reproduction rate. In addition,
some of the whale species they hunt are endangered.
Sources
used (you do not need to read them. I just wanted to give credits to the
sources):
Peace,
Adrian. “The Whaling War: Conflicting Cultural Perspectives (Respond to This
Article at Http://www.thrai.org.uk/at/debate).”
Anthropology today 26.3 (2010); 5-9. Print.
Iwasaki-Goodman,
Masami, and Milton M.R. “Social and Cultural Significance of Whaling in Contemporary Japan: A Case Study of Small-Type
Coastal Whaling.” Key Issues in Hunter-gatherer Research
(1994): n.pag. Web.
Example 2: Shark fin soup eaten as a delicacy in China
The popularity of shark fin soup rose in
the late 18th and 19th centuries in China. People enjoyed
shark fin soup as a symbol of high status and luxury, and shark fin soup is
still considered “one of the eight treasured food from the sea” in China. Shark
fins are also used for medicinal purposes.
People believe that eating shark fins would make their bodies energetic,
nourish their blood, and strengthen their organs. However, there is no
scientific evidence behind these claims.
Although eating shark fins is not illegal
yet, people are seriously concerning about the declining shark population.
Additionally, the shark finning practice is highly controversial. Often, shark
fishermen only want shark fins, but they do not want the whole body. So what
they usually do is to catch sharks, cut their fins, and return them to the
ocean. Sharks often can’t swim properly after their fins are cut off, and die
eventually.
Sources used (you do not need to read them.
):
These are just few examples.
In your comment, I would like you to:
Find one animal or plant (or any other food
item) that is rare/has a slow reproductive rate but eaten by people for
cultural and religious purposes. Please briefly discuss about the practice. I
focused on Asian countries, as I feel more familiar to their cuisines. However,
please feel free to bring examples from any other parts of the world.
In the following paragraph, please briefly
discuss your thoughts on my post. There are many directions you can go, and the
comments do not need to be super long.
I had no idea that people ate so many parts of a whale, thanks for sharing Aya!
ReplyDeleteOne animal or animal part that I know of that is eaten, as a delicacy but is controversial is the sea turtle egg, especially in Costa Rica. We had some exposure to this during study abroad and were able to hear the stories of conservationists who work and live on the coast of Costa Rica patrolling the beach from poachers and hunters. The sea turtle egg is considered a delicacy in some areas of Costa Rica and can be consumed pickled or salted. There are some sustainable and just ways to eat this egg however in recent years it has become somewhat violent and destructive. Especially because certain sea turtle species are endangered. Two years ago poachers who were hunting for sea turtle eggs murdered a conservationist on a beach in Costa Rica. While I do not know a whole lot about this topic I do know that it has been a topic of controversy in Central America. I think this might be an example of something that we humans like to do a lot. Find something that is tasty and then eat it until extinction. Some research has led me to understand that the turtle egg business in Costa Rica is attached to the drug trade and is the reason that many people link it to violence.
Thankfully, more and more volunteers are taking turns patrolling the beaches in Tortuguero, CR hoping to reach the nests of sea turtles before the poachers.
This post made me think about how hard it is to understand that our own traditional practices, or cultural practices may be “wrong”. While I do not identify with the people in Japan or China eating whale or shark fin I think we must be careful with who we are wagging our fingers at claiming they are doing something incorrectly. I do not have this thought out entirely but I found your research process for your sophomore year science paper to be revealing and important. To understand a certain practice, it’s essential to learn about the history and traditions.
Thank you for talking about this, Aya. Issues that affect animals are so near and dear to my heart that you would be hard-pressed to find a time when I'm not thinking about at least one of the many horrendous acts of violence human beings are actively exerting upon them. It truly makes me sick to my stomach how many endangered animals are still eaten throughout the world, but especially in first world nations (like the United States) where we have unlimited choices when it comes to food, and yet we pay (sometimes thousands of dollars) to kill and eat a being that is one of the last of its kind on earth. Disgusting.
ReplyDeleteOf course, I understand that, to many peoples, the practice of eating/otherwise utilizing the whole or parts of certain animals is an integral piece of a long-standing, deeply personal practice in their culture or religion. These people, truly, are not the problem. Frequently and unfortunately, they are listed as such when the real "bad guys" are so far removed from the original intent of the practice and are industrialized, mechanized, and motivated by money. So when I talk briefly about the practice in Afghanistan and Pakistan of hunting and eating markhor for its meat and magnificent horns (seriously, look at this bad boy: https://www.google.com/search?q=markhor&biw=1280&bih=774&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwitkLTOivPMAhWEbR4KHZLSDmQQ_AUIBigB), I want to emphasize that the problem is so much more than the native people doing the thing they have done for centuries.
Fewer than 2,500 mature individuals of this species of wild goat remain, with a 20 percent decline in the population as a whole over the last two and a half decades. And yet, the animal continues to be hunted for its meat. The source I was pulling from for this information said that it is likely the war in Afghanistan is intensifying the hunt, as fighters take refuge in the mountains where markhors live. But to me, when I do a quick Google search and find a bunch of white men cowardly posing with their bloody, twisted "trophies", I see the problem is not with the native people of the middle east, but with the entitled assholes who get their thrill from taking the life of another.
And those are my thoughts. Again, thank you for your post. I love the opportunity to air my thoughts like this.
I did not know about either of these controversial eating practices (maybe that is my own ignorance) so thank you Aya! The controversial culinary product I am going to discuss relates not so much to a risk of extinction or religious resonance but is something I am familiar with and have thought a lot about. As many of you may know, Foie Gras is a luxury food item in France. Foie Gras is duck or goose liver that has been specially fattened. The reason this food is controversial is the method of fattening the liver. Ducks are force-fed corn through a feeding tube until the liver is 10 times its usual size. The process is inhumane but still frequently done, moreso in France than any other country. To me, this speaks to the almost religious relationship the French have with food. It is what they are most well known for. Foie Gras is a tradition in their country and the life of the duck is not taken into consideration because it is a French delicacy. Foie Gras is not typically eaten, not (most likely) because it is inhumane but because it is so expensive. The French are all about food, all about tradition and all about politeness, so when you are offered a French delicacy such as Foie Gras that has been a pride of French culinary traditions for many years, you eat it.
ReplyDeleteI have had Foie Gras once in my life. When I came to France I wondered what I would do if that day ever came, and when it did I wasn't expecting it. I was having dinner with my host family and their extended family for my little host brother's birthday. He requested Foie Gras. If it had just been my immediate host family I might have felt secure in declining the delicacy (although I'm sure that would have gotten some backlash) but the extended family was there and I didn't want to embarass them. My host family also happened to be of a higher social and economic standing and eating luxury foods is a symbol of status in France. It would have embarassed them to have a host child that did not reflect that social rule. So I ate it. And I must admit, it was delicious. But I didn't feel good about it. Thinking about this in the context of this blog post makes me think about how while these other examples reflect more than a tradition but a belief system surrounding the food, does that make them more okay? Is eating Foie Gras understandable because it is a part of a food tradition that borders religious appreciation or does that not matter?
Very interesting topic to bring up, Aya. One of the practices that arose nearly instantly was the Inuit practice of Harp seals in Eastern Canada at the Gulf of St. Lawrence. While this organized hunt is not rooted in 1000 years of history (it's been around since rifles and motorboats), indigenous people have hunted seals for as many as 4,000 years. Inuits maintain that the cultural and socio-economic importance of the hunt is inextricably linked to their survival as southern cultures leach northward. At the same time, we see a huge influx of social media campaigns and celebrity support to the anti-seal hunting movement. The animals themselves are adorable and easy to get behind, yet I think that some of the people who jump aboard that movement overlook the long term ecological dependence between the Inuit people and the harp seals. Since the 1700s, though, the hunt has been organized and mechanized, first with schooners and then with steam ships, resulting in a huge taking from one of three main herds each year.
ReplyDeleteAny way, I'm not totally sure where I stand on a lot of these ideas. Where animal products are a luxury and made very expensive, they are often poached and traded on black markets in unregulated ways. I think of sturgeon eggs, of Ortolan buntings, sea turtle eggs, and so forth. These are also accessible only to a few people and seem to reinforce the concept that we as humans are arranged on a hierarchy and that while our lives are worth more than the animals around us, some human lives too are higher valued than others.
In an indigenous culture with a track record of more sustainable and symbiotic relations with the natural world, I find this more forgivable than in the version of luxury and highly coveted hunts, especially ones in which much of the animal goes to waste.
This post raises some complicated questions about moralizing the eating practices of cultures we ourselves may or may not belong to. These conversations tend to get tricky so I am glad Aya has brought us here and we are delving into this topic together. When reading the post and comments, I started to consider what animals I myself eat that may be under threat due to widespread human consumption practices. I have always loved seafood and one of my favorite dishes is grilled salmon. When wild salmon is in season, I eat it probably once a week. Within the last decade or so, U.S. consumption of the fish has skyrocketed as salmon has been dubbed a "superfood" by many nutritionists and wellness gurus as it is a great source of omega-3 fatty acids. In the United States, the fishing practices of wild caught salmon in the North Pacific has caused many of these species to become endangered or extinct. In particular, chinook, coho, pink, sockeye, and chum salmon are several species that are under threat. In addition to overfishing wild caught salmon, the practice of farm raising fish (about 50% of the salmon consumed in the U.S. is farmed) has raised some questions about the treatment of the animal including overcrowding in pens, water pollution, and potentially unhealthy fish due to toxin build up. Salmon are economically and culturally important around the world, particularly for inuit and indigenous cultures in the Pacific Rim. In fact, salmon has served as an important subsistence and trade commodity for northern peoples since the end of the last Ice Age. Multi-faceted issues such as these make it difficult to figure out where one should stand and what course of action one should take (sounds like a familiar refrain at this point). As someone who eats animals, I want to be particularly engaged in interrogating and questioning the practices surrounding my food sources. I am interested to engage in this conversation with everyone on Thursday and hear how other folks weigh in on the issue.
ReplyDeleteThank you Aya for bringing this up! I think this topic is so important and is another interesting way to look at and question our food system! When I first read through this post I thought about the documentary The Cove. I saw this move in high school and was shocked by the violent way dolphins were being killed and the push to extinction this process was causing. I was also surprised how little I knew about this before watching the movie. On this note I looked in to more sea creatures that are being pushed to extinction and found the Bluefin Tuna. What I noticed with this fish was that its demand grew because of its popularity and delicacy status. In the 1970’s prices skyrocketed and because the demand grew people invented new ways to massive hunt and catch these fish. The amount of fish killed grew so much that that the international conservation effort enforced curbs on the commercial takes. And still, illegal fishing has continued and pushed the Bluefin Tuna to the brink of extinction. Of course this fish has a high nutritious value and is delicious, which is why it is in such high demand.
ReplyDeleteI was really interested when you asked us to consider rare plants, as well! I realize protecting plant diversity has been a theme of this class, but it’s good to put in in the perspective of wild plants as well as domesticated crops. We can consider a multitude of species of plants to be ‘endangered’; if they’re not planted, they’ll just die out. When researching, I also came across the American ginseng plant. Though it’s native to the Appalachian region, it’s only scarcely available there today. American ginseng is thought to have medicinal benefits, including treating the common cold. It’s sold as Cold-fX throughout the United States. Despite the fact that the ginseng is scarcely found in the wild, it is not considered endangered by the federal government. It is, however, protected in several states. Native Americans realized the therapeutic benefits of the plant, and they are similar to species of ginseng found throughout Asia. Even though the plant can be farmed as a crop, it’s a shame to think it can no longer participate in the ecosystems in which it evolved.
ReplyDeleteMy heart breaks even more to think of the countless numbers of sharks slaughtered every year. I do wonder if they were ever used for anything but their fins? I certainly hope so! And on the topic of whales: I wonder if their consumption will ever be acceptable again. I believe that there are ethical ways to consume animals, certainly more ethical ways than either overfishing or industrial farming!
Hello Aya! Thank you for bringing this topic to our attention. I look forward to discussing it in class. One animal/ groupings of animals that are being eaten for cultural reasons are monkeys and apes and their meat is often labeled “bush meat” and sold and traded in domestic and international markets. This is a practice that is present in countries in Africa, particularly in the Congo region. The hunting of these animals, and desire for their meat has apparently risen recently because of malnutrition driving people to eat cheap bush meat for nutrients. However, the killing of these animals is causing them to go extinct.
ReplyDeleteOne thing that I wanted to write about (and look forward to bringing up in class) that relates to your post is that there is a show called “Whale Wars” which is a reality TV show that is in its seventh season and airs on Animal Plant. I used to watch it often and it follows the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society which harrasses and sabatoges (via boats) Japanese Whalers off the coast of Antarctica in the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary. In the Sanctuary commercial whaling is banned and the Japanese Whalers apparently are claiming to be doing whale research while the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society claims they are using that reasoning as a cover up for killing whales. The show provides an interesting example of the debate between animal rights/conservation and cultural practices. The show definitely depicts the Japanese as evil, cruel, and cold blooded and gives little context behind why the Japanese would hunt whale.
Interesting post, Aya. Thanks for sharing. After doing a bit of research I found that a traditional soup in Indonesia utilizes the fetus of pangolin, a scaly tropical mammal. The dish is believed to bolster men’s virility, but mother pangolins produce only one pup in each litter. The danger of this slow reproductive rate to pangolin survival is compounded by a growing demand for the soup, its use in traditional Chinese medicines (which are also becoming increasingly popular), and pangolin habitat loss. Curbing the demand for a traditional dish that may have less-than-optimal environmental implications is sticky and fraught with tensions—as your reflections on Japanese whaling and shark finning suggest. Some might suggest that it is the tradition consuming the “unsustainable” food to alter its consumption. And, maybe, that’s part of the answer. But I also wonder if that reaction (which seems to be the first for many) is a way to displace blame for declining animal/plant populations more generally; it’s easier to blame “the other” for the loss of a specie than examine how climate change, wasteful food systems, excessive/unsustainable resource consumption, etc. is contributing to many of these food sources’ depletions/extinctions. I think that what this means for solution-building (at the very least) is considering how these phenomena (in which we are all implicated) contribute to this issue and (in a more extreme (perhaps more effective?) way) is finding ways to interrupt these (often systemic) global trends.
ReplyDeleteThis is a really interesting issue to consider and a complex one! I had to do a lot of thinking about what direction to go in choosing a species to investigate. I found that I wanted to examine my own diet to see what species I might be consuming for cultural and religious purposes that might have threatened populations. My first revelation was that even though I do find eating to be a spiritual act, there aren't a lot of specific foods that have cultural or religious significance to me. I wonder if that's an experience common to Americans?
ReplyDeleteI finally decided to choose chaga as my species, since I happened to make a cup of chaga tea earlier today. Chaga is a fungal parasite that lives on birch trees and it is purported to have all kinds of health benefits, even medicinal benefits such as boosting your immune system and killing cancer cells. It's a traditional remedy in Russia and Eastern Europe and has gotten increasingly popular in the US as a "nutriceutical," available in supplement form. Of course, this popularity means that over-harvesting has become an issue, as well as sloppy harvesting in which the conks are cut from trees in ways that wound the tree and make it vulnerable to pests and diseases.
My particular cup of chaga tea came from a chaga conk that was given to me by a friend who does her own wild-crafting and who I trust to do it in a good way. But, given the possibility that chaga is being over-harvested and also the fact that as far as I know I don't need a cancer-cure at the moment, should I be drinking chaga at all?
Thanks for bringing up this issue, Aya! I'd heard a tiny bit about whaling but haven't considered in-depth the different perspectives on it that you brought up. I ended up deviating from the question a bit and finding out in my research about a number of chicken breeds in North America that are identified as being on the path to extinction- listed as critical, threatened, watch, etc. According to backyardchickens.com, "for a poultry breed to be listed as critical, there must be fewer than 500 breeding birds in the U.S." While there seem to be plenty of chickens overall in the country (but likely largely due to industrial farming), this makes me think back to our conversations about diversifying crops and seeds, and resilient farming being a practice that necessitates/encourages biodiversity. Diversity of animal populations is just as important as that of plants. Here are two links to resources I looked at... the first has pictures of some very cool-looking critically endangered heritage breeds of chicken: http://www.backyardchickens.com/a/meet-the-chooks-critically-endangered-chicken-breeds and the second is the leading nonprofit in the U.S. dedicated to protecting endangered breeds of livestock: https://livestockconservancy.org
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