I would think that price would depend on where you live. Here in the US I don’t think there is much of a demand for shark fin. It is a ridiculous assertion that you can’t get a decent bowl of chicken soup for $5.
but it’s all about the texture, you see :rolleyes:
remember, you have to have it cooked … rare.
The weird thing is the Chinese do not waste a single item of protein. The fish head goes to the guest of honor, the duck’s face is cut off and nibbled (looks like a lamb chop in low light shudders), they eat everything. I won’t go on as I’m starting to feel queasy. But they throw away a whole shark? I guess it goes back into the food chain so all is well, but shark steak would surely sell.
I understand hating (some) Chinese people for these horrible habits, but could you guys please not pick on American born ethnically Chinese people for it? Also tell your friends not to?
My SO always gets comments about it, and sometimes they’re downright nasty. 
This is likely the case for when sharks are caught locally, but the sharks under discussion are frequently caught on the other side of the world from China, on an industrial scale.
What about bird’s nest soup? The nests are found in limestone caves, very dangerous to reach. The flavor comes from the mucous that the birds use to stick the grass pieces (from which the nest is made) together. I have never had it, but Chinese friends tell me the soup is based upon chicken broth, with the nest contributing stickiness.
Seems like an awful lot of trouble for not much in return-wouldn’t gelatin give pretty much the same effect?
Yeah, some of the comments in this thread are kind of gross.
some people will believe anything -
oh, its tradition
oh, the cavemen ate it, therefore it must be good
oh, my mother and father told me to
Chinese believe it will give them a hard on… all it does is kill sharks by the 1000’s
then again, they also eat cats and dogs, usually boiling them or cooking them with a blowtorch while they are alive - again all based on “traditions” and “culture”
I can tell you from personal experience, I have not eaten anything from animals in over 20 years and it does not make any difference in terms of dietary requirements. I did not lose weight or gain weight. What I gained was knowledge that man does not require animals as food (or clothes, or entertainment or other enslavement) 2) eating meat causes huge collateral damage to the planet. Crops that are fed to animals could have been fed to millions of starving people around the world… instead, it takes 30-50 times as much land to feed animals, after which only 30% of the animal makes it back to the plates of humans… the water use and energy use in the process as well, is unfathomable.
The only reason people eat meat today in 2015, is “Habit” - its what they are used to - but people give up smoking. People have beat highly addictive drugs like heroin. This means we can also quit the meat habit.
right…and that propaganda is on topic how exactly? It is perfectly possible to enjoy meat and animal products and not adversely effect the planet at all. Other animals do it all the time.
Rather more relevant to the OP…yep, Shark Fin soup, bird nest soup etc is just edible poverty porn. As Terry Pratchett put it, you wouldn’t be eating shark’s fin unless some other rich bugger had eaten the rest of the shark. So the peasants make the most of what they can scrounge and before long it becomes an oh so quaint tradition that the rich can appropriate to show their good taste.
It is insipid and pointless as anything other than a signifier of wealth. For some people that is enough whereas for the shark it is a source of some regret I’m sure.
Wow… thank you for opening my eyes! I had never heard of nor thought of such things. Thank you again for joining today to share your wisdom! I’ve been a serious “meat and potatoes” kind of guy, but I promise I will change my ways based on your information and not eat any meat.
(for at least the next 30 minutes)
They were good for the shark.