Sitting on a bench, on the sun dappled South-East corner of Oak Street, and 10th Avenue, munching a wrap, and watching the cars go by, something made me think about the shark fin protesters which, for months, were a regular, weekly feature outside a Chinese restaurant across from the McDonalds at Granville, on Broadway. I hadn't seen them since March.
According to VARK, the restaurant, Fortune Garden, agreed in March to remove shark fin soup from their menu. After eight months of noisy, passionate, protests, every Friday evening outside the restaurant ("Honk if you love sharks!), by the Animal Defence League, Fortune Garden apparently came to see the merits of the protesters' reasoned arguments. Three cheers for the Civil Society!
Basically, why so stubborn? Last July, even the Chinese government announced shark fin soup was off the menu at future state banquets. ► I've never tasted shark fin soup, but I don't care how good it might be, given the bad outcome it's helping cause. Speaking as a person who is ethnically half-Chinese, I do not believe Chinese cuisine is so lacking in menu choices that a restaurant need cling to any dish, particularly one so clearly linked to the near extinction of several shark species. I hope people aren't treating this as a matter of national or ethnic pride.
Meanwhile, the Vancouver Animal Defence League moved their Friday evening protest to the Sun Sui Wah restaurant at 3888 Main St. where the management has not exactly welcomed them with open arms. ►
[caption id="attachment_3166" align="alignnone" width="497"]
VADL protesters outside Sun Sui Wah. Photo: Dan Toulgoet. Click the image to go to the original Vancouver Courier article.[/caption]
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