Go see the animals at the zoo.....THEN GET OUT YOUR FORKS AND KNIVES !!!!

[marmar]

from treehugger:



Meet Interesting Animals, Learn About Them, Eat Them...

You might think that a zoo's mission is to care for animals and to educate the general public about the fascinating creatures that we share our planet with. For most zoos, that's the case, but the Beijing Zoo operates a bit differently. You can't feed the animals, but you can eat them (or at least, their relatives); the zoo's restaurant serves things like the webbed toes of hippopotamus, dishes made with crocodiles, scorpions, kangaroo tail, deer penis, ant soup, shark fin soup, peacock, etc. Until recently, signs on the animals' cages even contained information about which parts were tastiest and which parts could be used to make traditional medicine (aka placebos, for the most part). ..........(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.treehugger.com/files/2010/05/beijing-zoo-puts-animals-on-the-menu-china.php

[Freddie Stubbs]

1. There is a turtle farm in Grand Cayman that has turtle stew on the menu

http://www.boatswainsbeach.ky

[Blue-Jay]

2. Before I clicked I thought, "It's gotta be China".

[slackmaster]

3. When I was in 4th grade I gave a report about the American Bison

At the conclusion of my oral presentation, I handed out bite-size pieces of cooked bison steak with toothpicks stuck in them.

Most of the kids thought it was great. Only a couple of them ran out of the room crying.

[Robb]

4. One of the better seafood spots in Denver is also the aquarium.

Life is a choose-your-own lobster tank sometimes.

[hlthe2b]

5. I brought a set of pig lungs to science class in elementary school

after which, I produced a tray of tooth-pick skewered o'dourves.... They were very light and airy.




:evilgrin:



Seriously, though I can't imagine doing this at a zoo... What part of a zoo's mission do they seem not to understand?

[Jennicut]

6. Deer penis? Hippo toes?

Okay, now I am ready to puke. I can't even at a steak. Eww. And the poor animals.

[Arkansas Granny]

7. The article doesn't state, and it might be interesting to know, if these are

"surplus" animals that they have no room for or can't place with other zoos. The practice might generate revenue that keeps the zoo operational and benefits the remaining animals.

[NeedleCast]

8. That's becasue most of the world understands where it's food comes from

Not in the US or most of the western world. I'm all for humane practices in raising animals for food but in the west, and in the US in particular, it's always stuck me as odd to consider only a handful of animals as "food." Its only in the last decade or so that "foodie" resturants have started to carry meats beyond the holy trinity (beef, pork, chicken). I'm glad to see that things like wild boar, elk and bison are starting to carve out (no pun intended) niche markets.

There's no reason I wouldn't try any of the animals listed excpet shark fin as I know it's usually collected in an inhumane way.

[nickinSTL]

9. that's not a zoo.

it's a "choose your own dinner" restaurant, by the sounds of it.

At best, it's a farm for exotic animals.

Disgusting.

Guess that zoo wouldn't qualify for AZA accreditation :evilgrin:
(and yes, I know AZA is an American organization and wouldn't apply to a zoo in China)