Dinner, Anyone?

Here are some excerpts from a story in The Guardian today. I told you at one time about the weird food available in China, and how much I appreciate Cracker Barrel. The province talked about in this article--Guangdong-- is the one all Americans adopting pass through and we are treated to some extraordinary meals during our time there. The people of this province are known for "eating anything with four legs, except the kitchen table." And I'm not so sure even that's off-limits. One restaurant our guide took us to had boxes in the lobby filled with the "fresh catch" of the day--just like Red Lobster here at home--but these boxes had everything you could think of, from 4 different kinds of beetles (including our own familiar cockroaches), worms (silk worms and several other types), on to the more familiar toads and snakes. (When we went to this restaurant, JT and I stuck with Pepsi Cola and rice.)

Above: Here we are in that fancy restaurant: Luci is eating Cheerios from my chopsticks; John is eating who-knows-what, and JT is looking rather green around the gills. Next to JT is Jophy, our delightful guide who took great delight in our reactions to the foods here.

Pictured below: a pangolin. It is a relative of the armadillo. The article told how it is killed and cooked, but mercifully (mercy shown to you, not the pangolin), I left that part out.

'Noah's Ark' of 5,000 rare animals found floating off the coast of China
· Cargo of abandoned vessel destined for restaurants

· Illegal trade drives species closer to extinction

Jonathan Watts in Beijing; Saturday May 26, 2007

The Guardian

Endangered, hunted, smuggled and now abandoned, 5,000 of the world's rarest animals have been found drifting in a deserted boat near the coast of China.

The pangolins, Asian giant turtles and lizards were crushed inside crates on a rickety wooden vessel that had lost engine power off Qingzhou island in the southern province of Guangdong. Most were alive, though the cargo also contained 21 bear paws wrapped in newspaper.

According to conservation groups, the haul was discovered on one of the world's most lucrative and destructive smuggling routes: from the threatened jungles of south-east Asia to the restaurant tables of southern China.

According to the local media, the cargo included 31 pangolins, 44 leatherback turtles, 2,720 monitor lizards, 1,130 Brazilian turtles as well as the bear paws. Photographs showed other animals, including an Asian giant turtle.

All of these south-east Asian species are critically endangered, banned from international trade and yet openly sold in restaurants and markets in China's southern province of Guangdong, which is famous for its exotic cuisine.

One recent raid on a restaurant in Guanghzou turned up 118 pangolins, 60kg of snakes and 400kg of toads.