Saturday 21 November 2009

this disturbs me on so many levels

I came across this YouTube video of a fish kept alive after being deep fried, then eaten while its gills are still moving.

First of all, I'm not some insane animal activist. I love my steak and red meat, and I'm normally quite good with strange and exotic foods. I'm asian so I was brought up on chickens feet and tripe. But this video is just sickening. The camera pans on the fish, gills still moving, as chopsticks prod at it, tease and 'playfully' poke it, then finally start to rip pieces of flesh from the body, while the background is laughter and some woman saying 'I'm so scared' in an annoying cloying voice.

Although I felt nauseous after seeing this video (which is thankfully quite short), what disturbed me even more was reading some of the comments left behind.

I think growing up in Canada, in a place where multiculturalism is embraced, I tend to forget how much ignorance and stupidity is out there.

Yes, the Chinese cook who prepared that dish and the table of Chinese diners who feasted on this incredibly wrong dish aren't exactly a shining example of humanity. And yes, watching the video does make me angry and a little ashamed at my own culture for finding pleasure in this.

But reading comments on how Chinese people are all dirty c*nts and need to be exterminated... not just one, but many hateful comments...something's just not quite right in this world when people think like that

1 comment:

  1. Hey Irene!!

    I don't think you should be either angry or ashamed. Half-alive fish are not representative of our culture or cuisine, nor are arrogant whiny restaurant-goers.

    Don't let the bigots get you down!!

    -Irme

    p.s. AWESOME BLOG!!

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