It is said that the Chinese people will eat anything with four legs, besides the table. Although we (hope) this isn't entirely truthful, what we do know, first hand, that our first trip to the Chinese supermarket was quite the eye-opening experience. For 
example, I thought it odd, at first, that the supermarket had a pet section. There were massive turtles, frogs, multiple tanks with a variety of colourful fish... what a selection. Of course, when the older man sporting a fisherman's hat grabbed a net from beside the tank and proceeded to scoop out a thrashing, fighting fish - with no small amount of splashed water- from the tank, and then continue to stuff the live fish into a plastic bag, without water, tie the bag tight and throw it into his shopping cart- I thought maybe this poor flopping fellow was not meant to be his new lifelong fishy friend. I'm not going to lie and say I wasn't completely traumatized as I watched the old man and his wife wheel the cart away, chatting mindlessly, while the fish flopped violently in the plastic bag. Wow. Life and Death. Right in aisle 9 of the supermarket. It was about time to head to the bakery, I thought, picking my jaw off the ground. The only thing that could possibly be alive there was the yeast, I prayed.
example, I thought it odd, at first, that the supermarket had a pet section. There were massive turtles, frogs, multiple tanks with a variety of colourful fish... what a selection. Of course, when the older man sporting a fisherman's hat grabbed a net from beside the tank and proceeded to scoop out a thrashing, fighting fish - with no small amount of splashed water- from the tank, and then continue to stuff the live fish into a plastic bag, without water, tie the bag tight and throw it into his shopping cart- I thought maybe this poor flopping fellow was not meant to be his new lifelong fishy friend. I'm not going to lie and say I wasn't completely traumatized as I watched the old man and his wife wheel the cart away, chatting mindlessly, while the fish flopped violently in the plastic bag. Wow. Life and Death. Right in aisle 9 of the supermarket. It was about time to head to the bakery, I thought, picking my jaw off the ground. The only thing that could possibly be alive there was the yeast, I prayed.
3 comments:
my friend, Abby, had to raise $100 to rescue 2 goldfish from being swallowed at a Stag & Doe. She would go crazy at that market trying to save all the animals. Yes she's a vegetarian!
I spent a few weeks in China in the 1980s, and agree that anything living that moves, and is not a domesticated pet, is fair game for the dining table.
Well.....Does it mean J&K are going veggie ??
ha ha :D
-Shivam Tiwari
(http://thoughtdetonation.blogspot.com)
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