Articles on culinary use of Andrias davidianus

Chinese Restaurateurs Serve Endangered Salamanders to fight SARS effect on profits

South China Morning Post
May 7, 2003

Times are bad for restaurateurs in Guangzhou. So bad that one restaurant in Baiyun district is trying to lure back customers amid the Sars outbreak by serving up endangered salamanders - raw. Managers of the Longxi Restaurant, owned by a village co-operative, advertised its new dish last Tuesday, hoping to capitalise on the Labour Day holidays and reverse the 40 to 50 per cent drop in business.

One manager said: 'We have just received our licence to serve salamanders, so we thought an exotic dish would bring back diners. But no one has shown any interest.' No one has tasted the new delicacy, but chefs at the 1,000-seat restaurant think of it as a fish and are going to serve it raw, steeped in a rice wine, or steamed. 'It is especially good for women because it will give you a clear complexion,' one waitress told two female diners.

Managers later admitted the claim about its nutritional value was just promotional spiel, but according to the Chinese traditional medicine bible Compendium of Materia Medica, eating salamanders keeps hair jet black, and boosts longevity and immunity. The meat, which is also said to have cancer -fighting properties, is allegedly so tender and fragrant that it has been likened to aquatic ginseng. The creatures are so valuable that in the 1970s, China earned rare foreign currency from salamander exports.

It is not known what type of salamander the restaurant plans to serve, since none of the creatures was at hand. Judging from the description of its size, it is likely to be a Chinese giant salamander, which can grow to a metre in length. It is called a wawa fish in Putonghua because of the sound it makes and it looks like a fat slug with vestigial legs. Diners must order salamander in advance. Each weighs more than 1kg and costs 600 yuan (HK$ 570) per 500 grams. Restaurant managers said they were sourcing only 'maimed, second -generation salamanders' which had been born on farms. They said the price for illegal wild salamander was 1,000 yuan per 500 grams. A Guangzhou fisheries official said wildlife protection laws allowed trading in certain endangered species which have been bred in captivity, but only second-generation offspring. As salamander numbers are still quite low, trading is not encouraged and only disabled salamanders are going to make it to Longxi's tables legally.

An official at the provincial fisheries law enforcement bureau confirmed that the restaurant had been issued a permit to serve salamanders, crocodile meat, two rare kinds of lobster and a rare species of perch.

A sign in the restaurant boasts that it serves all the wild animals from China's five best-known mountains, but managers denied they were currently serving anything more exotic than crocodile meat and snakes. Near the Donghu park, another desperate restaurant has recently put up posters advertising crocodile dishes.

Salamanders, despite being endangered, did not figure in a recent nationwide crackdown on the trade in and consumption of wild animals. The crackdown was launched after the discovery of the coronavirus in Sars patients suggested animals were linked to the disease's spread. Yesterday the Information Times reported that consumption of exotic food was as popular as ever despite the crackdown. Its reporter visited several wholesale wild animal markets in Guangzhou's Zengcha Road and found trading was brisk in the many birds, boars and other animals which traders claimed were captive-bred.

Source: http://www.seafood.com/news/current/96495.html

I cannot own just one as a pet, but they can cook and eat them? That stinks!

they're not even going to cook them, just hack them to bits and serve them with booze.

Here's an earlier article from last July that mentions how the SARS crisis had led to a (temporary) ban on eating giant sals.

Creature comforts: SARS crisis may be boon for
China's wild animals

Los Angeles Times

BEIJING - Endangered sea turtles, the Chinese alligator, the Asiatic black bear and a host of other wild animals may be unexpected beneficiaries of the deadly outbreak of several acute respiratory syndrome.
Preliminary evidence that the SARS virus may have jumped from animals to humans has focused a harsh spotlight on China's role as one of the world's biggest consumers of wild and endangered animals for food and medicinal uses. The first known case of the highly infectious disease surfaced in November in the southern province of Guangdong, where snakes, cats and more exotic animals are part of the traditional cuisine. Since then, SARS has infected at least 8,439 people and killed more than 800.

Faced with a potential public-safety issue and a threat to its global image, China has begun cracking down. The government recently banned the sale and trade of endangered aquatic species such as the Chinese sturgeon, giant salamander and sea turtles. It also said it would consider amending a 1988 wildlife-conservation law criticized as toothless. While the measure bans the sale and trade of wild animals, it does not cover consumption. Moreover, the penalties are weak.

The National People's Congress, the country's top legislative body, is sending lawmakers to Beijing, Guangdong province and the Guangxi autonomous region this month to investigate the poaching and illegal sale of wild animals. Officials in Guangdong have already banned the sale and consumption of wild animals and are imposing a fine of $1,205 on anyone who knowingly eats a protected animal.

Raids on markets and restaurants in southern China in April netted thousands of animals, many of which were protected by Chinese law, according to the official government press.

"Chinese people have a very bad reputation in the world for eating everything with four legs or two legs except planes in the sky, boats in the sea or chairs in the office," said Chen Runsheng, who heads the China Wildlife Conservation Association, China's leading government-sanctioned wildlife-protection group.

Although China is a signatory to an international treaty protecting endangered species, critics say the government has largely ignored poaching and other illegal activities. They fear that the wild-animal trade has simply gone underground and will resurface once SARS recedes.

But Chen and other activists hope SARS-related fears will boost their cause. During the recent outbreak, the local media reported on the dangers of eating wild animals, showing graphic photos of animals infested with worms and other parasites.

Activists in Hong Kong have banded together to call on the Chinese government to ban the sale and consumption of all wild and endangered species, along with that of cats and dogs. China is home to dozens of endangered species, as well as mammals, fish and birds whose populations are threatened.

Conservation groups are also working with the Chinese medical community to develop herbal alternatives to animal-based remedies.

Because of China's sheer size, the nation's culinary habits could tip the balance between survival and extinction for a number of species, according to activists. Wealthy Chinese, particularly businesspeople from Hong Kong who travel, are the top customers for exotic animals consumed in other parts of the world, and China is a large importer of smuggled animals and animal parts.

"Because of the growing economic power in China, it has been importing wild animals from other countries," said David Chu Yu-lin, a legislative councilor in Hong Kong. "China is unknowingly affecting the ecobalance of other countries."

Numbers are not easy to come by, but according to the China Wildlife Conservation Association, Chinese consume 10,000 tons of snakes a year. Last winter, a provincial newspaper, the Yangcheng Evening News, reported that an estimated 10,000 cats a day were eaten during the season in Guangdong.

Ending deeply ingrained culinary habits and medicinal traditions won't be easy. Chu said China's tradition of eating nearly every type of animal began as a means of survival among impoverished peasants. Traditional Chinese medicine relies heavily on animal parts, which have driven species such as tigers and leopards almost to extinction. Tiger and leopard bones are believed to soothe arthritis pain.

As prices for the animals have risen, their consumption has become a prestige sport, with the wealthy vying to eat the most-exotic species.

"As people get more wealthy, they show their respect by inviting wealthy people to eat wild animals," said Chu, whose pets include dogs, cats and a pig.

Vigorous debate remains in China over where to draw the line between wild and domesticated animals. Many of the exotic animals consumed in China are now raised on farms, including the civet cat, a mongoose-like animal identified as a possible source of SARS.

And though dogs and cats are gaining popularity as pets, they are still regarded as a culinary treat by many who believe the meat increases virility and boosts the immune system.

But even before the outbreak of SARS, animal activists had scored small victories. In 2000, the Chinese government agreed to close the worst of the nation's bear farms, where Asiatic black bears are kept in cages and milked for their bile.

Jill Robinson, founder of the Animals Asia Foundation, a leading critic of the farms, is hopeful the SARS outbreak will encourage the government to do more to protect animals. Last week, she traveled to Vietnam, where she hoped to persuade officials to follow China's lead. "I think China has an enormous impact on its Asian counterparts," she said.

Still, Cao Shaotian isn't convinced that his favorite wild-animal dishes are going to kill him. Quite the contrary. He believes eating snake wards off the cold.

"I don't agree that we get SARS from eating animals," said the general manager of a popular Beijing restaurant, which includes spicy snake and wild turtle on its menu. "China has a 5,000-year history. Why should SARS break out at this time?"

Cao knows that consuming wild animals is no longer politically correct. He insists that his restaurant does not sell wild or endangered species, even though the glass tanks contain wild sea turtles and several xun long yu, a protected member of the sturgeon family.

"I myself don't eat wild animal," he said. "But I don't care if other people do."

In April, when the SARS panic was in full bloom, Cao's monthly receipts dropped more than 80 percent. But business has recovered in recent weeks, he said, and he is confident his customers will come back for their favorite foods, exotic or otherwise.

"I like eating snakes," he said. "People who like eating it, they will not be scared."

Article source: http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/135224791_chinaanimals10.html

(Message edited by TJ on February 10, 2006)

Here's an article from Time Magazine's Asia edition that mentions how it's considered fashionable to eat giant salamander skin because "the reddish tinge of which exactly matches the shade of China's new 100-yuan note" !

June 9, 2003 / Vol. 161 No. 22

In China, people are hungry for a taste of the wild

BY HANNAH BEECH/SHANGHAI

It turns out that few people actually enjoy the taste of pangolin, a scaly anteater whose flesh is a blend of gristle and rubber. The same goes for the nocturnal civet, which has a gamy aftertaste that even the thickest brown sauce can't mask. And who really enjoys camel hump, which tastes just as you'd expect a blubbery lump to taste? But flavor isn't what really matters to many of the diners tucking into China's wildlife menagerie. "Businessmen come here to prove their wealth," says George Ng, a Shanghai-based restaurateur who specialized in cobra and other wild animals until last month, when local authorities declared all such fare illegal. "By spending lots of money on game, they can close the deal with business partners who are impressed with their expensive tastes."

With the recent discovery that SARS may have leapfrogged to humans from exotic delicacies like the civet cat and raccoon dog, Beijing has launched a massive crackdown on the wildlife trade. In the past week, police have combed wet markets in metropolises like Guangzhou and Shanghai, confiscating writhing bags filled with all manner of beast. But eating yewei, or wild-flavor cuisine, is a key element of new China's conspicuous consumption, and it won't be easy to curb the appetites of the nation's voracious businessmen and discerning government officials.

It used to be that savoring strange creatures was really common only among the Cantonese or poor rural folk. But these days, even Shanghai residents are hungry for a taste of the wild. With the city's fortunes on the rise, eating endangered animals such as the Yangtze crocodile or Chinese sturgeon has become yet another way to flaunt one's wealth. Restaurateur Ng says his biggest spenders forked over an average of $120 per diner, in a city where the average monthly income is $130. "They order a lot of expensive things, like steamed cobra," he says, "but then they don't actually eat very much."

Snake is especially coveted, in part for its purported health benefits. In May, the director of the Center for Disease Control in the eastern province of Jiangsu was quoted in the local paper as advising citizens to eat plenty of snake to boost their immune systems against SARS. Despite the wildlife ban, mesh bags crawling with snakes are heaped on plywood counters in Shanghai's outlying Fengxian district, alongside hopping nets of wild frogs.

Endangered-animal protection is largely a foreign concept in China. Some 40% of the rhinoceros horn poached in Africa winds up in China, where pharmacists tout its restorative powers. The same disregard goes for many of China's native endangered species. "If I could find a good way to cook tiger, I'd prepare it," says a chef surnamed Chen at Shanghai's Guhua Garden restaurant as he hacks up a freshly skinned king snake.

Today, even neophyte diners know not to chow on pangolin in the summer, as its flesh reputedly warms the blood. Toad, however, is regarded as a perfect June-August nosh, because each bite is believed to cool the body, like a gastronomic air-conditioner. Deer tendons braised with turnip are supposed to enhance a woman's beauty; barking deer is said to cure hangovers, and a sizeable wild deer's <font color="ff0000">&#149;</font><font color="ff0000">&#149;</font><font color="ff0000">&#149;</font><font color="ff0000">&#149;</font><font color="ff0000">&#149;</font> reputedly does wonders for the underwhelming man. But the most fashionable -- and expensive -- morsel today is a strip of giant-salamander skin, the reddish tinge of which exactly matches the shade of China's new 100-yuan note. In the modern People's Republic, money trumps manhood any day.

Article source: http://www.time.com/time/asia/magazine/article/0,13673,501030609-455838,00.html

China Daily had this to report on Nov. 25, 2005:

======start

Serving salamander

A restaurant in Beijing's Zhaolong Hotel now sells giant salamander meat, a class two national protected species in China. Its meat sells at 2,180 yuan (US$269) per 500 grams, which equates to around 888 yuan (US$110) per serving. However, the eatery is not breaking the law because the giant salamanders are not wild but imported from an aquaculture company in South China. It has got license from the city government.

======end

It seems a number of such giant salamander breeding farms have cropped up in China, and I'd earlier heard that one could earn around $150 per kilo for its meat (though I didn't know if that was retail or wholesale).

(Message edited by TJ on February 10, 2006)

Here's another find from the Guangzhou Daily (Feb. 10, 2006):

====start

Giant salamander allowed for dinner

Restaurants in Guangdong Province are now allowed to include giant salamander on menus, although the creature is still under State protection.

The province, which is raising more than 100,000 giant salamanders in its fish-ponds, is the first area on the mainland to OK giant salamander as edible cuisine.

Currently Guangdong's giant salamander output represents more than 50 per cent of the country's total.

A giant salamander, which usually weighs 100 kilograms, has an average life span of 130 years.

====end

There have been articles here and there about the huge success in breeding Giant Salamanders in the last few years. I still don't understand why no body is sharing their hormonal secrets with Hellbender researchers here in the U.S.

But then again, maybe they are, and for what ever reason its not deemed fit to breed Hellbenders until we actually have safe sites for release. How much of China's waterways are safe for release though? My thought on why they were producing so many was always that they are turning them more into livestock. Looks like that assumption has been proven with that article. Sounds to me like people are creating Giant Salamander farms. Hopefully there is just as much push to conserve them in the wild as there is to farm them.

With any luck, the success of captive breeding for food will relieve pressure on any wild Giant Salamanders, and they can establish themselves. The whole thing kind of reminds me of the American Alligators. Or the Chinese Alligator conservation push we had here in the U.S. that produced too many Chinese Alligators with no where to put them. I wonder what ever happened to that?

End Rant/
Hey Tim, just a friendly reminder, any chance on sending the pictures for the CIG website? UberKyle@gmail.com
Thanks!