Was invited to my friend’s family gathering and treated to a buffet dinner at Riverview Hotel’s River Palace Chinese Restaurant. The buffet included a bowl of Shark’s fin per person and I’m proud to say that I did not consume that slice of shark’s fin in it!!! 🙂 Nevertheless, I did have a few mouthfuls of the chicken soup- it was clear and without any trace of fin. I stand by my no food wastage rule if I can help it.

However, while my take towards shark’s fin was clear, and clearer that my friend openly announced that I am an anti-sharksfin advocate, I did not have enough courage to voice my opinion to the rest. It was frustrating and scary at the same time… how do you go about broaching the subject when there’s a grandma and 2 elders at the table PAYING FOR YOUR MEAL? It might be easier if I was the host, then I could say ‘Hey guys I’m not ordering that free bowl of sharksfin because _____”. It might also help if someone at the table voiced out about eating sharksfin and we could back each other up.

Anyway, my friend’s verdict about that slice of fin is that it’s rather lousy and tasted ‘floury’. All the more no reason for Riverview to serve it because 1.If it’s as bad as my friend proclaims, then having complimentary shark’s fin will not the deciding factor for people to revisit the restaurant, 2. It’s FREE- major incentive for some people who die die must get freebies whether they like it or not, 3. Taking shark’s fin out of the menu would help cut costs and if that translates to a lower price for customers, there is added incentive for people to revisit the restaurant.

Anyway, I’m really glad that this call to save sharks has been gaining momentum in Singapore. I hear it on the radio and a colleague at the office even passed me his copy of Asian Divers knowing that I’m an advocate of this cause. Yes, he might be nonchalant about it at the moment, but I think that knowing that there’re people around you who stands for this would help ease him into accepting it in the future. You know, like if you hear enough of people saying ‘I don’t drink gassy drinks’, someday you’ll buy that message too and you wouldn’t feel like an outlier when you decide to get Heaven and Earth’s Green Tea instead of Coke.

😀