Sharks will breathe freely

The Chinese government decided to save on shark fin soup and meetings

The State Council, that is, the Cabinet of Ministers of China, adopted the document "Rules for the management of government affairs" (sorry for the bad translation). Now the country will no longer serve shark fin soup at official banquets. The document was not adopted in order to protect marine life. First of all, it is about the mandatory disclosure of information about the costs of state organizations for banquets ...

In the previous column, I wrote about how California banned foie gras, goose liver, for humane purposes. By the way, a message has just come in: France, the only superpower in terms of foie gras, is offended, a nationwide movement has begun there to stop importing California wines.

Actually, this time I was going to write something not about food, but about politics, and here again a gastronomic theme from the series “I can not be silent” arose.

The State Council, that is, the Cabinet of Ministers of China, adopted the document "Rules for the management of government affairs" (sorry for the bad translation). Now the country will no longer serve shark fin soup at official banquets. And not only him.

This soup, even in moderately priced restaurants, costs more than a hundred dollars a bowl - a translucent jelly-like thing with a slight fishy smell, something like crayfish necks. The shark, you see, is not a very edible animal, but at the base of its fins there is such a bunch of delicate glassy threads, here they are ... On this soup, the love for the great Chinese culture of entire generations of sinologists was nourished, for the most part, of course, at official banquets. Those who seriously love this culture sometimes allow themselves - and will continue to legally allow themselves - the same soup for money. Moreover, he, like any famous food, has a lot of medical properties. But the point is not in them and not in the fact that the sharks were brought to complete exhaustion. And in that…

Well, in general, this is their black caviar. Status symbol. And (sorry, deceived) before us is an event, of course, a political one. Because, we repeat, no one forbids this symbol to a private person.

The capital here just follows the initiative from the field. In the city of Wenzhou, for example, since last year, local authorities have banned officials from serving at banquets not only this soup, but also the almost equally famous giant shellfish - abalone, and yellow-finned tuna, and Maotai vodka, and some other "luxury cigarettes "...

China is fighting against budget stealing in all forms, because, along with other corruption, this is the main subject of public indignation. Shootings at stadiums are a long time ago, the death penalty in the country is now carried out by injection, and the authorities are trying to abolish it in general (and the people are against it). On the other hand, corrupt officials are given considerable terms, the number of sentences inspires respect, even adjusted for the country's population. And the openness of the authorities regarding status food or cars is part of the picture.

The process has been dragging on since the spring of last year, but it has been lopsided, with departments and provinces competing in modesty. And now there is a general normative document.

The most remarkable lines of the document, in my opinion, are those that talk about meetings. It turns out they can be a good savings item. After all, some meetings are tickets (for participants from the province), and cars, and hotels, and - yes, shark fins. The State Council invites officials - you will not believe it - to use video calls, selectors, e-mail more often. Meetings now, I think, in general will become less.

When it comes to banquets, big businessmen in Hong Kong have a tradition of serving fried rice as the last course. This is the food of the poor: I fried some leftover vegetables and whatever, threw in rice from yesterday's pan, twisted it with a slotted spoon, that's all. The meaning of the tradition is not to forget where we all came from. By the way, this rice is usually very tasty.