A US and a Taiwan conservation group are demanding that a Taiwan banquet hall stop serving shark’s fin to prevent sharks’ extinction, a newspaper said last week.
According to the United Daily News, the US-based Humane Society International (HSI) and the Environment & Animal Society of Taiwan (EAST) have asked Taiwanese authorities to stop the Silk Palace banquet hall in Taipei from serving shark’s fin.
In their petition to the Cabinet, the Council of Agriculture and the National Palace Museum, under which the Silk Palace banquet hall is attached, HSI and EAST said the Silk Palace, which opened in June, is the venue for state banquets and draws many foreign tourists.
Out of the restaurant’s nine set courses, eight have shark’s fin dishes or soup.
“Taiwan catches and imports a total of 600 tons (544 tonnes) of shark’s fin each year. Shark’s fin is a luxury food. Serving shark’s fin at the Silk Palace damages Taiwan’s international image,” EAST executive director Chu Tseng-hung said.
“Taiwan residents should boycott eating shark’s fin and the government should launch a campaign to raise public awareness,” he said.
Chu said harvesting shark’s fin is very cruel because after cutting off shark’s fin, fishermen throw sharks back into the sea to let them bleed to death. Killing sharks for shark’s fin will deplete shark populations and harm marine ecology.
National Palace Museum officials said that although the Silk Palace banquet hall is owned by the museum, its operation has been “outsourced.”
They said shark’s fin is an important part of a Chinese banquet, but the museum will see if it can make changes after carefully studying the petitions from HSI and EAST.
(DPA)
上週有一家報媒報導,美國和台灣的保育團體,要求台灣一家宴會餐廳停止供應魚翅,以防鯊魚絕種。
《聯合報》的報導指出,美國國際人道協會(HSI)和台灣動物社會研究會(EAST)已要求台灣有關當局,停止在台北「故宮晶華」宴會餐廳供應魚翅料理。
美國國際人道協會和台灣動物社會研究所送交行政院、農委會和國立故宮博物院的請願書中提到,六月在故宮開幕的故宮晶華推出國寶宴,吸引許多外國遊客前來。
但該餐廳提供的九種套餐中,就有八種套餐內含魚翅料理或湯品。
台灣動物社會研究會執行長朱增宏說:「台灣每年捕捉加上進口的魚翅就有六百噸(五百四十四公噸)。魚翅是奢華的食材。故宮晶華販售魚翅有損台灣的國際形象。」
他說:「台灣人民應拒吃魚翅,政府也該加強活動宣導。」
朱增宏說,魚翅的取得方式非常殘忍,漁民割下魚鰭後,就把鯊魚丟回海裡,任由牠們失血致死。為了魚翅捕殺鯊魚,將使鯊魚數量銳減,並危害海洋生態。
國立故宮博物院方面表示,雖然故宮擁有故宮晶華的所有權,但營運的部分卻是「委外」負責。
故宮表示,魚翅是中華宴席中一道重要的料理,他們會詳閱美國國際人道協會和台灣動物社會研究會的請願書後,再看看能否配合調整菜單。
(德通社/翻譯:袁星塵)
A: Artificial intelligence technology has been causing controversy lately: a student was caught cheating with AI to win the grand prize in an art contest. B: That’s so absurd. Does this mean that AI paints better than humans? A: Maybe. Luckily, the student was later disqualified. B: And more absurdly, it’s becoming more and more popular to use AI technology to “resurrect” people. A: Yeah, some netizens even posted videos featuring the late singer CoCo Lee, who was “resurrected” by them with AI software. A: 人工智慧的爭議不斷,有學生違規使用AI參加美術展,甚至贏得首獎。 B: 真誇張,這是不是代表AI比人類還強大? A: 或許吧,幸好得獎資格被取消。 B: 還有更誇張的︰讓死者重現的「AI復活」技術越來越熱門。 A: 對啊,還有網友製作已故歌后李玟「復活」的影片呢! (By Eddy Chang, Taipei Times/台北時報張聖恩)
It’s no secret that Japanese people have a deep affection for noodles. Like in the rest of East Asia, noodles are an important staple food, second only to rice. Japanese people have enjoyed noodles for over 1,000 years. The first noodles came from China and were introduced around 800 CE. As time passed, noodles in Japan not only became widespread but also developed some unique Japanese characteristics. The three most popular types of noodles in Japan are ramen, soba, and udon. Ramen, typically made from wheat flour, is usually thin and firm. The dough is kneaded and left to
Rice is an essential ingredient in Taiwanese cuisine. Many foods are made of rice, adding more variety to our cooking, such as rice cake, or “gui.” Wagui is made by steaming rice flour batter in a bowl. The term “gui” refers to a type of food made from rice, while “wa” refers to a bowl. The pronunciation of “gui” in Taiwanese Hokkien is similar to the word for “nobility” in Chinese, so it is common for people to prepare various types of gui, including wagui, as offerings to the gods or ancestors,. 米是台灣重要的主食,用米製成的食品十分多元,豐富我們的飲食,如米做成的「粿」。粿的意思是米做成的糕點,碗粿是將在來米漿倒入碗中蒸熟,因而得名。粿因為音同「貴」,因此碗粿等粿食常用作供品祭拜神明和祖先。 nobility (n.) 高貴,高尚;貴族 offering (n.) 供品 While Taiwan may not be
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