Animal rights campaigners have criticised the Chinese over their extreme eating habits after a video of diners eating a live fish became a hit on the internet.
By Ben Leach
Published: 9:39AM GMT 18 Nov 2009
Comments 154 | Comment on this article
The film, in which a part-fried fish is shown breathing and wriggling on a plate as it is being slowly eaten alive in a restaurant, has been posted on the video-sharing website YouTube.
In order to keep the carp alive chefs cook its body but wrap its head in a wet cloth to keep it breathing, before covering it in sauce and serving in on a plate.
The YouTube video shows diners, who are laughing and joking, prodding the fish while it is still moving, before picking it apart with chopsticks.
Peta, the animal rights group, called the video, which had more than 120,000 views on YouTube in a week, "disgusting".
A spokesperson said: "Every decent person should be shocked when anyone mocks or abuses a helpless dying animal."
It is not the first time that the Chinese have been criticised for their extreme eating habits.
Reports have claimed some restaurants offer monkey's brains. Other dishes include rats, dogs, snakes, lizards and baby mice.
Last month Stephen Fry was criticised by the Chinese embassy after he singled out the Chinese culture as being the biggest threat to some endangered species.
“It is not very pleasant for us to single out a culture, but, if you care about lions and tigers and whales and sharks, it is the Far East and the way they eat, or the way they attempt to cure themselves, that seems to be the biggest threat," he said.
A spokesman at the Chinese embassy responded: “I don’t think it is fair to accuse other cultures of having certain negative habits and traditions.
“We have our traditions, as the Spanish have bullfighting, and you, until recently, had foxhunting. We did not criticise you or the Spanish for this. Tiger bones for traditional medicine are now banned, to the suffering of the Chinese industry.”
The Chinese have to be some of the sickest fuckers on earth, where they cause more suffering to God's creatures than any other culture (well the Koreans are right up there too, perhaps 2nd place).
They believe the more the animal suffers, the "tastier" the meat, and that it enhances their "sexual power". They apply the same reasoning to dogs, cats, and anything else they eat that moves (whether or not it's still breathing when they eat it).
You know if they can get such excitement and joy from torturing their food, they wouldn't hesitate to do the most unimaginable horrific acts of cruelty against human beings, especially those who aren't so innocent.
"The real deal is this: the ‘royalty’ controlling the court, the ones with the power, the ones with the ability to make a difference, with the ability to change our course, the ones who will live in infamy if we pass the tipping points, are the captains of industry, CEOs in fossil fuel companies such as EXXON/Mobil, automobile manufacturers, utilities, all of the leaders who have placed short-term profit above the fate of the planet and the well-being of our children." - James Hansen