REEEEEEAAAAAAAAAOORR: Cats! the Madness

 

Broadway Across America

 

Cats! the Musical is a pop culture staple that we have grown to love, to love to hate and to love to download snippets of on YouTube. Broadway Across America performs Cats! the Musical at the Colonial Theater until April 18, where the Tony Award-winning production by Andrew Lloyd Webber continues its 30-somethingth life. Especially after a couple of the special cocktails offered at intermission (the Cat’s Meow, a radioactively-red combination of champagne, peach schnapps and cranberry juice), Cats! is realized to be more than eye candy when looked at through an avant-garde perspective.

Cats! denies the Aristotelian model of the narrative: that there should be a beginning, a middle and an end, equipped with conflict, climax and resolution. The musical instead associates itself more with an avant-garde format by utilizing random character development, non-linear action and a quick resolution for an invisible problem only during the second act.

One of the biggest proponents of avant-garde theater was Antonin Artaud, a French playwright who founded the idea of the “Theater of Cruelty,” a complicated, sometimes contradictory philosophy that acts as a sort of a manifesto for playwrights dabbling in the surreal. Some qualities of Artaudian thought are that the audience must be actively part of what’s happening on-stage, using lights and sound and that characters focus more on physical action than on spoken words.Cats! depends on flashing lights, loud, explosive rumbles of noise and crescendos from the orchestra to awaken and enliven the audience.

Artaud, much like avant-garde playwright Bertolt Brecht, believed that the experience of the audience should not be passive – that the production needs to completely arrest the audience in their emotions, their actions and their self-awareness.

The play takes place under the gleam of the full moon of the Jellicle Ball, when one Jellicle Cat is chosen by Old Deuteronomy, the wise sage, to venture to the Heaviside Layer, a euphemism for death and reincarnation. The Jellicle Ball is a dystopian atmosphere, with the animals, some wearing neon-green illuminated goggles as eyes, slinking around the orchestra-level aisles pawing and glaring at the theater-goers. There is constant tension as Macavity, the villainous ginger cat, makes spontaneous appearances throughout the two acts but is never caught.

Broadway Across America

Max Reinhardt, an Austrian avant-garde playwright most active during wartime, applauded the idea of the “total art-work,” using different means of dancing and singing, as well as prop and scenic possibilities to create the stage into something more than a set. Cats!The Musical was intended to be a spectacle, using carefully detailed costuming and make-up, grandiose set design and complex dance choreography. The characters Mungojerrie and Rumpelteazer, the renegade felines of the cast, perform a highly stylized dance number, equipped with acrobatics and gymnastics. Mr. Mistoffelees, the “Magic Cat,” hypnotizes the audience with his countless forte turns and hardly mysterious sleight-of-hand tricks.

There are elements of the production, which debuted on Broadway in 1982, that completely defy Artaudian philosophy. Cats! relies on the dialogue (all of which is sung to the audience, not between characters) more than Artaud would prefer. The turn-of-the-century playwright believed that dialogue was too heavily relied on in Western theater and that the gestures, of the characters should speak volumes more than what was leaving their mouths. Although the songs, which act as dialogue throughout the play, are based on poems from T.S. Eliot’s 1939 Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats, the movements of those on stage reveal more about the characters and conflicts among the Jellicles than the lyrics. Rum Tum Tugger, the sex-driven rock star, is better understood when he gyrates his hips and props his leather-fringed collar than when he sings about preferring grouse to pheasant.

Broadway Across America

 

The performance by Broadway Across America is a downsized version of the gargantuan award-winning production that put cat ladies on the map. Those dressed up as life-sized tabby cats and Siamese kittens do not try to capture the audience under the illusion of reality, that what is being viewed is anything but a pure theatrical creation. Cats! the Musical can be seen as not just a novel orgy of eye shadow, faux fur and hitch-kicks, but an overlooked element of avant-garde theater.

From 4/15: http://www.dailyfreepress.com/the-muse/when-cats-are-maddened-by-the-midnight-dance-1.2224324

Off-Limits at Amory Park

The warm weather ushers in springtime for all, but for Boston University students that frequent Amory Park, it also brings warnings from Brookline officials.

The Parks and Open Space Division of Brookline placed new signs at the entrance of Amory Park, stating that anyone looking to play an organized sport needs to obtain a permit through the Recreation Department for the use of any athletic facilities.

Brookline Parks and Open Spaces Director Erin Gallentine said this policy has been in effect for over 10 years, but BU students have not been cooperating with the town-wide rule.

“I hate to say this, but the problems have been primarily BU students, and I’m sure it’s because of [the school’s] location,” she said.

Photo Credit: John Schwartz, DFP

 

Rangers take down names and information of groups and found that nearly all of the sports user groups have been BU students, Gallentine said.

“I understand BU doesn’t have much open space, but organized sports could damage the park and the field,” she said.

There have also been instances where BU students were using Amory Park, even when the fields were closed, she said.

“We keep our fields closed when they’re wet and can cause long-term damage,” she said.

“On April 2, 21 people were playing on the closed field, which was still wet from the two storms. Nineteen out of the 21 students were from BU. The park was closed to everybody and they disregarded it.”

The Town of Brookline has invested over half a million dollars in Amory field, renovating the park over the last year and a half, Gallentine said.

Gallentine’s records show that this year rangers reported students from BU-associated club teams, including the Ultimate Frisbee, lacrosse, baseball and soccer teams, have been found playing sports without permits.

Eight to 10 BU students were playing football at Amory without a permit after being kicked off of BU’s Nickerson Field, Gallentine said.

“We have had repeated problems with organized activities happening at Amory Park, getting complaints at town meetings, complaints from dog walkers in the morning,” she said. “We have had our park ranger patrolling the area trying to inform that there is a process that [people] need to adhere to.”

A permit, obtained by calling the Recreation Dept. directly, costs $40 for a two-hour block, but fees are being reevaluated, said Gallentine.

Jordan Lavy, a College of General Studies sophomore and member of the Women’s Rugby Team, said she feels there are too few options for BU team sports players.

“Varsity teams get authority over campus fields, which makes complete sense, but it’s hard playing a full-contact, outdoor sport and having to practice in the gym,” she said. “We have a lot of rookies who didn’t know how to tackle and luckily we got Nickerson for the time being, but it’s a park, you should be able to go there.”

Lavy says there is a lapse in communication among the varsity and club sports divisions, which contributes to the lack of field space on-campus.

However, Lavy said she understands Gallentine’s sentiment toward protecting the park.

“You can’t have sports teams tear up the field, especially when it’s wet, and you need people to enjoy it for their own pleasure,” she said.

CAS senior Cameron Weil said that the money Brookline requires for people to play sports on the field is nothing compared to what some college students spend on their other weekend activities.

“I think a team of six kids can afford a $40 permit – that’s like paying for a beer per person from Sunset Cantina,” he said. “If that’s all it takes for the park to be kept in good enough shape for all to enjoy it, it’s worth it to me.”

Weil also said that students should think about the damage that their activities can have on something that doesn’t belong to them.

“I think you should have a permit to play a lot of games,” he said. “Kids are idiots and have little respect for things that aren’t theirs to pay for, especially if someone else has to clean it up and fix what mess was made.”

From 4/6/10: http://www.dailyfreepress.com/amory-park-off-limits-to-unofficial-sports-1.2213458

Paradise Lost Finds Modern Meaning

 In a time when the ailing American Dream is paralyzed, with optimism as its life support, artists capitalize on our anxieties by featuring theater, film and visual art pieces that reflect the current standard of living, sometimes as a comedy with a cloyingly hopeful outcome. This approach, although demanded, desensitizes people, especially young adults who are flying their college coops to independently nest elsewhere. The showcase of “Paradise Lost” by Clifford Odets is a timely performance by the American Repertory Theater, exposing the impotency and weakness of Uncle Sam in a time when American citizens are scrambling for an outreached hand. The play acts as a mirror for the audience to place themselves in the characters of this Depression-era drama, but does so without the saccharine-laced optimism.

      The director, Daniel Fish, takes a daringly expressionistic approach to the Odets masterpiece, his style complementing the controversial new A.R.T. Artistic Director Diane Paulus’s philosophy of turning the traditional theatre on its head.

      Fish’s symbolism in expressing his descent of man is most obviously depicted with the death of Ben Gordon (Hale Appleman), the former Olympian-turned-social-recalcitrant to maintain his marriage and status. Gordon, who epitomized success, achievement and happiness, was not easy to tag antagonist or protagonist, as the desperation caused by the social and economic climate blurs lines of favoritism by the audience toward one character or the other.

      The set design is centered on a projector screen that is used throughout the production, to cast the internal, hidden problems of American life onto all of us. Instead of trying to achieve a voyeuristic angle, the enlarged images facing the audience act more like an enormous mirror of contemporary life than a window into the past, also a nod to Odets’ idea of the “living newspaper.”

      Fish’s expressionist vision is best portrayed with the casting of T. Ryder Smith as both Mr. May, the arsonist that offers his get-rich-quick services to Leo Gordon, and as Julie Gordon, the ailing son of the destitute family. With two pivotal characters being played by the same actor, Fish subtlety reminds the audience of the forces looming behind desperate decisions. Mr. May is projected on the giant backdrop in a haunting film negative, playing with our ideas of identifying what is positive and what isn’t, and the black-and-white direness of a family man’s desperation.

      “Paradise Lost” is not meant to be a feel-good play that one skips away from clicking their heels singing the praises of the Sweet Land of Liberty. Instead, the artful and thoughtful combination of set deign, characterization and dialogue created by Odets but tweaked by Fish leaves the audience in a somber state of self-consciousness.  

“Paradise Lost” is ongoing until March 20th. Ticket information may be found at Americanrepertorytheater.org

From 3/15: http://www.dailyfreepress.com/paradise-lost-finds-modern-meaning-1.2191284

sleep.shy Soothes with New Album

Based in New York City and Monterrey, Mexico is sleep.shy, a group composed of Gabriel Lit, Brian Ferrell, Joseph Isho Levinson, Saeryenne and Ariel Weissberger, produced by Oscar Zambrano (the latter two Berklee grads) and also featuring the Girly Girl Choir. Galapagos Inn, the band’s first album, boasts 11 eclectic tracks, each defined by sleep.shy’s reluctance to pigeonhole itself into one stifling genre.

When writing a CD review, a simple technique that eases deadlines and quells readers’ uncertainties is to compare the band in question to other artists; especially useful if the featured band employs infinite subtle technical nuances and progressive electronic techniques, which can be hard to define. Only slightly reminiscent of the Sea and Cake, Tori Amos, Minus the Bear and Sufjan Stevens, sleep.shy formulates its own signature sound by injecting each track with a unique personality but without losing the collective cohesiveness of Galapagos Inn.

The first track, “I Nowhere I Am,” opens with textured electronic sequences and soon introduces the listener to Saeryenne’s lead birdsong vocals. Over a minute in, and choral chants transition to a different melody, begun by a harpsichord solo, then soon reunited with Saeryenne’s aria.

“Buzz” proves sleep.shy’s range of talent and the band’s ability to harness a serious level of skill by showcasing its experimental side. The track features a percussive counterpoint to the choral harmonies, reminiscent of those avant-garde improv performances at Piano Factory. The next track, “On Why No. 2 Pencils Have Erasers,” returns to a joie de vivre expressionism. On this electrified anthem, Saeryenne sings about “the lingering static dancing on our graves”, and the choral harmonies already defined as the band’s signature are present throughout. The song shifts –– a tendency noticeable throughout Galapagos Inn –– to a military cadence-turned-a cappella ending.

“Orange Day” is the centerpiece of Galapagos Inn, with an unfinished haiku as its only lyrics. However, the song’s two minutes and forty seconds (making it shortest track on the record) are the closest the album comes to epitomizing sleep.shy; they feature both obvious and subtle shifts in tempo and mood, the singer’s dreamy cooing and the climactic crescendo which tapers off at the last few seconds of the piece.

“Jungle on the Ceiling” features Weissberger’s rumbling vocals, heavily laced with the singer’s native Mexican accent. Jazz piano segments meet pulsating percussion in a vague reminder of a latin-tinged Serge Gainsbourg piece.

Although sleep.shy’s sound evokes comparison to some favorite, more familiar musicians, the band quickly shakes off any true similarities with its trademark transitions, paramount choral harmonies and instrumental aptitude.

From 2/17/10: http://www.dailyfreepress.com/personality-shines-in-latest-from-sleep-shy-1.2158516

BU’s Homage to Haiti is Cultural Success, Student Body Misses the Point

—

The fundraiser/fashion show brought to Boston University by the organization Boston Stands with Haiti Sunday at Metcalf Hall brought together students and community members active in the relief for Haiti after the devastating earthquake that shook the nation January 12. The event, initiated by a team of student volunteers headed by Sam Minkoff, featured Haitian cuisine, local and international fashion, a pop-up museum with Haitian art, dancing and over 25 musical performances.
 

Restaurants in the greater Boston area catered the event. Sunrise Caribbean Cuisine, a family-owned Haitian restaurant in Somerville, donated barbeque chicken, fried pork, baked macaroni and pasta salads, asking for a $5 donation for a heaping plate of authentic Haitian cuisine. The owner, Rubin Pierre, smiled fondly when asked what makes Haitian cuisine stand out from its Caribbean cousins.
 

“The spices and ingredients are unlike anything else,” Pierre explained. “For instance, the black mushroom comes straight from Haiti and we use it in our rice.”
 

The Dear Abbeys, BU’s all-male a cappella group, sang a medley at the event. Nate Martin, a College of Fine Arts junior, said that although they didn’t sing anything in French, the group was enthusiastic about participating in the fundraiser.
 

“This was a good thing to do, and I think more stuff like this should be happening on campus,” Martin said after the performance. However, the singer and bassist felt that the participation by the student community was lacking.
 

“As college students are supposed to be activists and the lack of people here shows how apathetic people are,” Martin added. “The university isn’t organized enough to push itself out there, people need to find a way to communicate this stuff without confronting people’s emotions. People don’t want to confront this kind of problem.”
 

Although the turnout of BU students was less than satisfactory, there was an abundance of cultural sharing, heightened awareness and a feeling of unity among those at the event with the myriad performances. The BU dance group Bulletproof Funk performed a freestyle dance routine, the dancers popping, locking and interpretive-dancing on a stage flooded with blood-red lights to electronic music laced with snippets of haunting news audio.
 

DJ’d by College of Communication senior Nooka Jones, Haute for Haiti was the event’s crowd favorite, a fashion show channeling the spirit of Carnival, a celebration that occurs twelve days before Mardi Gras. International design house Betsey Johnson contributed corseted dresses and eccentric floral prints, and BU students modeled Tom’s Shoes with a masquerade theme.  
 

One of the designers, Kat Schamens, flew from North Carolina to attend the event and showcase her Carnival couture, helping out close friend and event assistant director, Amanda James. Schamens’ models brought vibrant fluorescent pinks and greens to the catwalk, highlighted with bright rosettes and funky patterns lightened up the event’s somber undertones.
 

The event was a cultural success; the exhaustive efforts of BU students and volunteers, community members and local businesses contributed to a well-done, tactful fundraiser and homage to Haiti. Haiti will be recovering from the earthquake that cost over 200,000 lives for an undetermined period, but the majority of the apathetic student community at BU seem to have not felt even a slight reverberation. Hopefully with continued efforts for Haiti aid on-campus, the BU bubble of desensitized indifference will be ruptured.

From the Daily Free Press, March 1

http://www.dailyfreepress.com/boston-students-come-together-for-cultural-affair-1.2173708

Freshening up Fenway

The Farmer’s Market is usually a great way to stay loyal to local purveyors, small businesses and better produce, but in Boston, the dilemma comes with schizophrenic weather patterns. Marshall’s Fenway Farm Stand, which opened in late November, is housed in an old Goodyear Tire Retread store, safe from both the elements and any (still) bitter Sox fans.
Bob Marshall, owner of the original Marshall’s farm stand in Gloucester, was thrilled when approached by the realtors who own the high-rises in the area to secure a three-year contract.

“This is a great, small community and I’m really ecstatic to be a part of it,” said Marshall, whose family owned a milk farm before transitioning to the farm stand business. “Eventually, we’re going to have fresh flowers for holidays, taste-testing on the every first of the month and even student and senior specials.”

Marshall’s Fenway is a one-stop shopping destination, with scallops, peeled shrimp and fillets from Gloucester (“The lobster meat was shucked this morning,” said John, the counter clerk). And for $24, split the cost with your roommate and you’ve got a $12 lobster night. Or, opt for the Cape Cod Clam Pie, ready to bake for only $6.50, or the enormous “Real Deal” stuffed clams from Danvers, about 30 minutes away from Boston.

The defining part of a farmer’s market – the produce – will be over 90 percent local in the spring and summer, according to Marshall. Native apples are available now, in the Cortland, Empire, Fuji, Honeycrisp and Red Delicious varieties. Fresh ginger, red peppers and heads of lettuce are also featured.

Mike’s Maine Pickles from Euston rival any Claussen spear you’ve ever had. Aside from traditional pickles, Marshall’s stocks pickled eggs, beets, mustard pickles and pickled sausage, all for $5.99.

For ready-made dinners, try the Shoe City Tavern Frozen Pizza in cheese or pepper and onion for $7.99. Thin and hand-made, these “New England-Style Pub Pizzas” are far better, tastier options than your typical Domino’s cheeseburger-bacon go-to. Serino’s Foods, located in Jamaica Plain, produces ravioli ($4), homemade sauce ($3.39), stuffed shells and lasagna, ready to tote home. If you’d like to go more family-style, try the colossal Turkey Pot Pie from Duxbury, a bit pricey at $22, but with the potential to feed at least four, with leftovers for that guy who nobody knows but sits in the common room with the lights off playing World of Warcraft.

Old-Fashioned apple cider from Carlson Orchards in Harvard is only $3.50 per half-gallon. Thatcher Farms Chocolate Milk comes in a glass bottle and Marshall’s will desposit the returned, empty vessel for $1.30.

The baked goods section is all from places within a short drive, like French baguettes from Piantesdosi’s in Malden and “Monkey Bread” from Karen’s Bakery in Lynnefield. Add a scoop of Richardson’s Ice Cream from Middleton, available in peppermint, chocolate yogurt or French vanilla, among others.

Only a short walk from BU’s campus, Marshall’s is open seven days a week, from 10 a.m. until 7 p.m., and offers local, affordable goods that you won’t find at Star Market or even Whole Foods. Slap on your balaclava and brave the cold –– you won’t be disappointed.

Marshall’s Fenway Farm Stand, 1345 Boylston St., Boston

The Daily Free Press, Feb. 5

http://www.dailyfreepress.com/marshall-s-brings-fresh-to-fenway-1.2139009

Fromage et vin et press passes

The New York Dental Convention was the only exposition I had ever been to. Featuring breakthrough alternatives to porcelain fillings, wireless braces and patterned scrubs, it was hardly the sexy, spectacular event I imagined other conventions to be with futuristic Lamborghinis, Japanese animatronics and flowing rivers of alcohol. So, when I had the opportunity to visit the Boston Wine Expo, a two-day long event, I was shaken with elation and immediately brushed off my copy of “Wine Bible.”

I entered the Seaport World Trade Center to hordes of over-dressed security, some in tuxedoes, doling out directions and handing out the free souvenir glass that would be used to sample the different wines. A little wary of having to sip red after white in the same vessel, I was told by a (clothed) exhibitionist that each table provides rinse water and a spit bucket to prep your glass. 

I have always been partial to Loire Valley French whites, especially Sauvignon Blanc because of its citrus-infused dryness and Sancerre, more likely a blend of the former and Pinot Noir, giving it more depth. These wines tend to be pricier, regardless of whether you look in a neon-light decorated half-price liquor warehouse or a classy boutique on Beacon Hill.

At the Expo, I made a beeline for the flag promising “Loire Valley Wines,” and found the crisp, slightly smoky Domaine Margalleau Sec Vouvray, a chenin blanc, for only $13.99. Available at Brookline Liquor Mart, the Domaine des Baumard Savennieres 2005 is a close Sancerre, and although pricier than the beloved jug of Carlo Rossi, is worth the splurge at $26.50.

Searching beyond my comfort zone I found Flamingo Tempranillo, from a Spanish vineyard. A relatively new line to the U.S., Flamingo offers Shiraz, Sauvignon Blanc, Tempranillo and Cabernet Sauvignon, all available for less than $9. The label is hard to miss – a glowing flamingo with the catchphrase “nice legs,” promising their wine to be just as good as the more expensive imported stuff.

The wine Natura, from Banfi Vintners in Chile, is a 100 percent organic product. Without sulfites, the butter-yellow Sauvignon Blanc loses the tinny flavor of some of its domestically produced counterparts. The organic legislation in the U.S. doesn’t require products to be 100 percent organic, while in Chile it does. For fewer than $10, this import is worth finding.

What would a wine party be without food? Yancey’s Fancy artisan cheese had a booth and plenty of samples. Produced in the Finger Lake region of upstate New York, Yancey’s offers an array of different types, including Gouda and “XXX-Sharp Cheddar,” as well as more creative offerings such as Wasabi Horseradish Cheddar, Champagne Cheddar and Jalapeno and Cayenne Cheddar. Although some of the flavors sound like Guy Fieri conjured them, the cheeses are creamy, full-bodied and are an easy nosh. Available online at yanceysfancy.com.

The Wine Expo is a place with a trampled cerulean carpet and Infiniti Lounge where drunken singles can dance to David Guetta. I found that the convention was a fantastical place, where the obsessed go to be completely immersed in their element. Cheers!

From The Muse, Feb. 1.

http://www.dailyfreepress.com/wine-around-town-the-best-the-wine-expo-has-to-offer-1.2157770

Fording the Han River

 

Zakim doppelgänger

 

                Behind an austere blue sign with simple white font sits Han River, a Korean barbeque restaurant in South Campus. Despite its Spartan appearance and mismatched interior décor (glass Art Deco-esque tables, a Shawshank Redemption poster), Han River boasts an authentic menu and delicious fare, with favorite go-tos like bi bim bop ($8.50) –– sautéed vegetables and beef on rice –– and beef fried rice ($8.50).

                 The Gal bi ($11.45), grilled beef short ribs marinated in the house barbeque sauce, are the best I’ve had in the city. The meat barely clings to the bones as it dangles by strands of glistening fat, soaked in sweet sauce reminiscent of soy sauce mixed with honey. The chicken gu yee ($8.75) is in the same marinade as Gal bi. Huge pieces of white meat sit atop fluffy white rice, making a satisfying take-out lunch – slightly more culturally aware than General Tso’s.
                 The pork kimchi ($8.95) features shreds of pork stir-fried with the sinus-clearing cabbage, a less spicy option than the pork bul go ki ($8.75), marinated with hot red pepper paste and jalapeno. If you’d prefer your lips unchapped but still want pork, try the ton gatsu ($8.75), a crispy, deep-fried cutlet served with house barbeque sauce.
                Rice cake dumpling soup ($8.95), made from chicken broth and garlic, is a comforting alternative to the tired chicken noodle Progresso in your cupboard, with hearty non-veggie dumplings and slices of porcelain-white rice cakes floating in the broth, looking like scallop sashimi. The ramen ($6.25) is a heaping bowl of noodles offering a choice among chicken, seafood or egg. Make it vegetarian-friendly by opting for the vegetable or kimchi dishes.
                For lighter fare, try the kim bop ($6.95), or Korean sushi. Slightly different than the Japanese take on the finger food, kim bop are larger slices and are filled with cooked beef, yellow radish, crab meat, egg and rice.
                Almost every dish on the menu is under $10, comes served with rice, a side of bean sprouts and kimchi and is available for quick take-out (usually ready in under 15 minutes) or dining in. With food that good coming out of Han River’s kitchen, it’s easy to overlook the patio furniture and outdated movie memorabilia in the dining room. 

Han River, 1009 Beacon St, Brookline, MA 02446

From The Daily Free Press, http://www.dailyfreepress.com/han-river-s-authentic-korean-fare-1.2138321

Chowhound Etiquette

This is just pushing my hot little buttons.

So, while I was conducting research for my feature about shark fin soup and how it is a current issue because of legislation proposed that, if passed, would close the loophole allowing shark fin soup to be served in restaurants across the US, I decided to search online for help.

Looking for someone who would be able to regale me with their experiences concerning shark fin soup and other taboo delicacies, I logged onto Yelp and then Chowhound, hoping to simply search a few keywords, find my target and set up an interview. Yelp was not an issue; although I have my qualms with its overly-amateur reviews, finding them to be either unfairly scathing or blindly accepting, I can respect that they are a forum that encourage free thought and discussion.

Now Chowhound on the other hand… 

I sent a few people replies who had mentioned that they had eaten the soup  – nothing that resembled spam, just a friendly post in response to some mention of shark fin soup. Here is what I wrote:

Original post:

Hello,

My name is Tiffany Ledner and I am writing a feature about shark fin soup and the changing legislation surrounding the food item for a journalism class and the student-run newspaper at BU, the Daily Free Press.

I am looking for commentary from anyone who has had any experience with shark fin soup (cooking, eating, purchasing, etc). If you are interested in answering some questions during a short interview, please don’t hesitate to call me at — or email at tledner@bu.edu.

Thank you for your consideration!

Tiffany Ledner

Harmless enough, right? Well, the KGB is back in town and I get THIS in response:

Hi newgawkcity, you’ve been sent the following by a Chowhound moderator:

Sorry, but we removed your posts (below).  Unfortunately, in this case, we had to remove them for two different reasons.

Ordinarily, we’re happy to be a resource for journalists, so long as it serves our community at large.  Thus, a public discussion would be ok, but requests to email you offline wouldn’t.

In this particular case, you also happened to touch on a “hot button issue”, shark fin soup.  The Chowhound community is an amazingly friendly and tolerant group–they disagree vehemently but politely about all sorts of food issues. There are, however, a few flash points where that friendliness goes out the window and we get angry responses and flames.  Shark fin soup is one of them, and as such, we’ve taken it “off the table” as a topic for discussion.

Again, sorry about the deletions, but we hope this makes sense.

—
The Chowhound Team
Chowhound.com
For Those Who Live to Eat

It’s too bad, these people (including myself) who go on these forums for a peer’s quick and unadulterated opinion,  are subjected to sieved commentary. I guess even the internet isn’t safe anymore.

And if you are interested in my response:

Hello,

Suck it.

Love, Tiffany

Hook, Line and Sinker

This is a feature I wrote for a class about shark-finning and where it stands in our society, especially with new legislation to close any loopholes allowing the fins to enter US markets. Below is the link to the DFP article with the edited version.

I sat alone, inhaling the earthy aromas of fresh ginseng spiked with boiled Dungeness crab, my nervous foot tapping the ground in sync with my rapid heart rate. She came over to me, and carelessly scribbled my order down after I pointed to it on the laminated pages of the menu, before I ordered a giant glass of Pinot Grigio to drink my nerves close to a coma. It tasted like battery acid. My waitress confirmed what I said, “One order of the small shark fin soup with chicken, yes?”  I nodded in agreement, my eyes darting around the restaurant in paranoia.

            She returned to give me a deep, short porcelain spoon and a pair of plastic chopsticks wrapped in a white paper napkin along with my wine, smiling at me to expose her crooked smile before she sat down a few tables closer to the kitchen to peel apart bok choy leaves.

I walked over to the three levels of glass tanks housing the restaurant’s fish whose fate was stir-fry, hoping that it would serve as a nostalgic reminder to trips to the aquarium as a child, calming my nerves. Instead, it resembled something halfway between Dante’s eight and ninth circle. The aquarium at New Jumbo Seafood Kitchen took up an entire wall, as transparent bodies of shrimp were suspended upside-down and lifeless in their tank, the glass caked with whiskey-colored residue. Nearby, a catfish with snapped off whiskers was buoyed in its own glass house, stuck in the bubbling water filter, staring at me with cloudy gray, empty eyes.

            Jilted, I slowly dragged my feet back to my table, back to my glass of the house Grig. Within minutes, a woman with tautly pulled-back black hair wearing the same white crinkled shirt and black polyester vest my waitress had on placed the soup in front of me. I ordered another house white before she had the chance to bend in a slight bow to tell me to enjoy my food.

            I tucked into the caramel-hued broth that had pieces of enamel-white chicken floating in it, but couldn’t see the shark fin I expected to see protruding out of the bowl: covered in dripping blood, with the mark from being impaled with a blunt spear still visible.

Tiny straws of dorsal find hung over the edge of my utensil like the legs of some Frankenstein-esque science experiment gone awry. I closed my eyes, brought the spoon to my face and swallowed.

For only twelve dollars, I was eating shark fin soup, one of the most controversial foodstuffs available in the world because of the method of procuring the namesake ingredient. In order to do so, fishermen capture the shark, slice of its dorsal fin and sometimes its tail (if the demand is high enough), and then throw the remainder of the carcass back into the ocean. The shark is unable to swim without these parts, and sinks to the bottom of the ocean to die a slow death, usually by starvation or from being eaten by other animals.

The United States has laws against shark finning in its waters: those who do not comply are sentenced jail time and heavy fines, as well as loss of license. However, there are loopholes in the law that allow fishermen to intercept fins from international waters as well as other fishermen from nations that allow shark finning.

“The practice is abhorrent – to remove fins and then throw a fish overboard is inhumane and absolutely unacceptable,” Gavin Gibbons passionately shouted about during a phone call.

Gibbons is the Director of Media Relations at the National Fisheries Institute, an organization that educates the pescavore public about sustainable fish-eating practices. Advocates of fish consumption, NFI’s website has information ranging from the health benefits of seafood to recipes for spicy bass tacos. The organization targets corporations as well as the individual about what one can do about changing their diet to hopefully change the planet, while condoning the support of fishermen.

“There’s something that needs to be differentiated – the fishing for sharks and their meat and shark finning,” Gibbons continued over shoddy cell phone service. “If you utilize the entire fish – it’s the core component to reasonable and responsible fishing. If you walk about just taking the fins and dumping them back, that’s not sustainable.”

Massachusetts Senator Kerry agrees, which is what prompted the presidential candidate to propose the passage of S.850, the Shark Conservation Act April 22 of this year.

This bill would amend the current law to improve shark conservation and would make it illegal to have control or possession of any shark fin aboard a fishing vessel unless it is attached to the shark’s body it came from, according to the law. If passed, the Act would also make it illegal to transfer any fins from one vessel to another and if fins are aboard a ship that cleans and sections its fish on-site, the fins found are not to exceed five percent of the amount of shark carcass found on the same ship.

Basically, this closes a loophole in the current law. It would make shark fin soup almost impossible to attain in the United States, as prices would soar even higher for restaurants to attain the fin and for consumers to purchase it retail.

            Would people in this country really miss the delicacy that is so highly regarded in China and south Asian countries?

            MC Slim JB, the food critic for the Boston Phoenix who refuses to expose his name, age or face to anyone, has his own qualms with the dish. Refusing to be heard on the phone in a paranoid precaution that someone might hear his voice and out his identity, JB responds to online questions, first explaining his experiences with the food in China.

            “I think shark fin soup is like a lot of luxury goods: the Veblem effect is in full force. It’s expensive mainly because its rare, and it is valued primarily because it’s expensive, enabling the diner/host to consumer/entertain extravagantly in a conspicuous manner. If it were as cheap as Pollock, people wouldn’t get excited about it.”

            JB writes for his own blog and was found by the Phoenix editors after posting amateur reviews on the food forum, Chowhound.com. He is in favor of banning finned shark because he doesn’t really care for it himself and finds it an abominable practice.

            “Finning seems an egregious example of unsustainable harvesting and animal cruelty. And banning it would set up a black market, which would actually heighten its appeal,” JB explains.

            After my second glass of the tart Pinot Grigio that recalled memories of punching a bag of franzia, I felt instantly invincible and able to take on the challenge. I was finished rationalizing my actions the same way one might hear a hitman arguing to him over whether he is justified in his work for the mafia.

            The shreds of dorsal fin were glutinous and slippery, tasting more like the chicken stock used as a broth than anything from a fish. It shared the same lack of flavor and excitement as broiled jellyfish; I wouldn’t exactly go hunting a 1000-pound carnivorous monster for it.

            What are the fascination with the expensive and the rare even if it comes piled high with intense guilt and a cruelty on the side?

            The immediate parallel is foie gras – fatty goose livers that are acquired by force-feeding live poultry such immense portions of grain their legs are snapped under their heavy body weight after they grow to be morbidly obese during their short lifetimes of a few months at most. This practice is far from humane, yet the United States produces almost 340 tons of the liver every year, contributing to almost 2 percent of the worldwide amount.

            JB is caught blood-red-handed. “The fact that I eat foie gras would mean that I don’t really have a leg to stand on in accusing other cultures of odious animal cruelty simply for the pursuit of pleasure, but I feel bad about it and ponder a day when I give it up for ethical reasons. I think that consumers of shark fin should, too,” he continues in his email.

            “It’s hard to see how you could justify its production as humane. I guess I could defend it somewhat on sustainability grounds, but that argument seems feeble. The real issue is animal cruelty and in that context it’s equally reprehensible,” the critic laments. “It’s a fundamental hypocrisy I have about such foods, a stain on my conscience that I brook because I find the products so delectable.”

            So that foie gras is more delicious than the bland, creepy strips of dorsal fin removes the taboo and cruelty aspects of it?

            The main difference is that goose livers are farmed; the animals are bred by people, fed by people, slaughtered by people, regardless of whether the entire carcass is used or not. (They’re not). But sharks hunted for their fins are wild creatures in a fragile ecosystem, and the possibility of farming them for their fins sounds like a viable option, but has it’s problems.

            Sharks are like people in the way they develop, “slow-growing and maturing, having small amounts of offspring and typically have internal fertilization with their offspring developed borne directly from the mother,” says Jelle Atema, a Netherlands-born professor of Biology at Boston University.

            These qualities of shark would make farming impossible, as it would be costly just to raise the animals and their offspring before even being able to slice off their dorsal fin.

            The merits of shark finning are hard to argue: the practice is unsustainable and unable to be continued for an extended period of time without depleting the world’s shark populations. The end product also just simply doesn’t taste good enough to throw all morals and guilt aside and bury one’s face in a stew of it.

            Although there are people that don’t think that meat should be eaten at all, regardless of whether it’s been massaged to death or simply hacked into cubes of raw meat by a robot to resemble something Chaim Soutine would use as inspiration, the anger over shark-fin soup is not about consuming shark meat or any fish, but about the ability for people to remove themselves from an action so environmentally detrimental and cruel in order to assert themselves as the top of the food chain and social stratosphere.

            Hank Chang, a financial analyst from Philadelphia is a Taiwanese-American who has had the dish at a wedding banquet, a common venue for serving shark fin.

            “It doesn’t really have any significance to me. It’s good, but not amazing. I certainly wouldn’t pay for it,” Chang said in an email interview, also stating that although he

            He explains that what is different in one culture isn’t necessarily bad, simply not the norm. “Fried Oreos and turkeys are a rarity in Asia, but common street food here,” although the qualms of eating a fried sandwich cookie are more calorie-based than ecologically destructive.

            “I do believe it’s a waste if you fin the shark and throw the rest away; in the very least, use the rest of the shark for other purposes. It speaks volumes as to our shortsightedness and inability to recognize the effects on global, living resources,” Chang finishes. “However, it’s something that I would eat again if it was presented before me without cost.”

            Chang doesn’t eat foie gras, nor does he eat veal. The latter is also under fire as food that is cruelly produced because calves are also force-fed and live in small crates to restrict muscle movement and growth. This makes the meat tender, a staple in almost any Italian, French and American Continental restaurant in Boston.

            Chang and JB agree that if shark finning were successfully banned but instead was able to be sustainably caught or farmed, it wouldn’t be such a problem to consume. “I am fairly sure humans will have or already have figured out ways to over-harvest almost everything and growth in the populations suggests that we will far outstrip our natural resources some time in the near future,” explains Chang. “While people need to keep an open mind regarding consuming unusual or different food, that doesn’t justify endangering a species, ecosystem or simply squandering our national resources. If we could farm the ingredient by cloning the tissue for consumption, that’s fine with me.”

            “I’m not aware of any attempts of going in the direction of farming sharks,” shrugged Atema, who continued to explain that they are large animals and farming would not be easy. “But finning is a huge waste of resources and it is cruel, like trapping a deer, cutting of its legs and letting them die in a field while wasting the rest of their body which is perfectly good food, let alone that removing the top predator from the ecosystem has unpredictably and serious consequences for the food web.”

            Apparently, finning is an unsustainable resource, yet it seems that when the idea of farming sharks for their fins is brought up as an option, people aren’t sure what to do: Support the inhumanity of slicing off an integral part of the shark’s anatomy, turning a top-level predator into defenseless krill but allowing a demand to be met, or not compromise with the bad actors and simply allow a black market to develop?

            The Shark Conservation Act of 2009 was proposed by Kerry, a self-proclaimed environmentalist whose promises are reflected in his actions, and has been promised to not only solve enforcement issues of the current law but to help scientific data collection and cease the transfer of shark fins at sea and to allow the United States to take actions against shark-finning nations, according to the NFI website.

            Shark finning has led to the decline of many major species, as over 38 million sharks are killed each year by the practice, according to a National Geographic article from 2007. The act has passed in the House of Representatives and is awaiting final action in the Senate, close to being passed.

            How will restaurants that serve the soup react to the ban? At Victoria’s Seafood Kitchen, where shark fin soup retails for over $65 a quart, their manager is not convinced that it will cease retail sales in the United States permanently.

            Steve Yu from the Canton region of China wears a red, worn Patagonia fleece with his sleeves pushed up above his elbows as he stares out to Commonwealth Ave. on a slow Monday night.

            Shark fin soup is not one of the best-selling items on his menu, Yu says in broken English with a smile. He seems more concerned about the cholesterol levels in shark fin rather than how it is hunted.

            “It is too expensive for my shop, we are more for college students because of our price point, things being under fifteen dollars for a party of two. However, if you go to Chinatown you will see that many different restaurants offer it and they have customers that come in all the time to eat it,” Yu says as he adjusts a red and gold paper wall calendar that was hanging askew on the bone-white painted walls.

            “Rich people use this to keep up looking younger and more healthy and it stays good for a long time because of how it is dried out and frozen. Although I do not have a demand for it, I keep it around in case I need to provide it for someone who asks for it. It is an honorable thing to do as a manager and owner.”

            Yu, with spurts of shouting instructions to the chef in Chinese, finishes explaining what he think will come of the potential cut-off of shark products to Chinese restaurants in the States.

            “Because there is a demand for it, especially in Chinatown, it is not easy to say that there will not be any more shark fin soup. When there is a banquet for a marriage or someone of high importance comes to visit, I will guarantee that there will soup there. It’s just how it is in some cultures.”

            A simple broth laced with some  caused me to experience what felt like heart palpitations and instant nausea, mostly because of YouTube-supplied images of finless shark bodies piled on top of ship decks like something out of a surrealist nightmare-scape painting. In an era where people are soliciting the environment on the street and hoping to change the globe by making paper obsolete, shark finning is a tricky taboo. It is a cultural cuisine necessity, like foie gras in French culture or veal in Italian culture, but has irreversible effects on the environment because it is dependent on wild animals.

            JB types, “I think eating traditional foods is one of the best ways to get inside the soul of a culture, and that greater experience of the world has many benefits to the individual. It certainly chips away at the tendency that we Americans have to see our culture as ascendant – an idea that many of us cherish who have never actually traveled anywhere to test the theory.”

            Yet there are limits that need to be set, which is what prompted the Kerry administration to propose the Shark Conservation Act in hopes that shark-farming or anything continuing to feed into the shark-fin industry is created with the ability for the government to oversee and monitor what is being killed and how. In an era of contradictory opinions regarding the environment, morals and our indulgences colliding, hopefully the sharks will have a fighting chance.

JB wraps up in an email that “making anything forbidden will heighten its appeal in some ways. Consider absinthe: much less exciting now that it is widely available. Forbidden fruit shouldn’t taste better just because it’s forbidden, but it does.”

 http://www.dailyfreepress.com/shark-tails-1.2118445