禁吃魚翅 紐約中餐廳尋找替代品

In the narrow aisles of Golden Profit Trading, a store on Mott Street in Chinatown selling dried seafood and medicinal herbs, shelves are stocked with crates and glass jars full of ingredients not usually found outside this Manhattan neighborhood. It has dried squid, bird’s nest, abalone and, for the enhancement of energy and virility, sea cucumber.

金利商貿(Golden Profit Trading)坐落在曼哈頓唐人街的莫特街上，是一家專營海鮮乾貨和草藥的店鋪。在它狹窄的過道里，貨架上的板條箱與玻璃罐裏放滿各種貨物，出了曼哈頓這一帶就很難找到，比如墨魚乾、燕窩、鮑魚，還有能夠健體壯陽的海蔘。

Yet one ingredient that regularly sold for at least $100 a pound is missing from the shelves, and has been missing for more than a year: shark fin.

然而這一年來，貨架上少了一種以前的常備貨物，一種至少要賣100美元一磅（一磅約合0.45公斤——譯註）的東西——魚翅。

In July 2014, New York State banned the possession, sale and distribution of shark fins, the key ingredient of shark fin soup, which is often served at traditional Chinese wedding banquets as a status symbol.

2014年7月，紐約州禁止擁有、零售和批發魚翅，它是魚翅湯的主料。這道菜往往作爲地位的象徵，出現在中國傳統婚宴上。

Under the law, only fins from non-endangered shark species (spiny dogfish and smooth dogfish), lawfully caught by a licensed commercial fisherman, are exempt from the ban.

根據這項法律，只有持證商業漁夫捕捉的非瀕危品種鯊魚的魚鰭（白斑角鯊和大星鯊）才合法。

An estimated 73 million sharks are caught each year for their fins, according to the state’s Department of Environmental Conservation, with most of them thrown back into open waters to die. This month the conservation agency announced the first successful prosecution under the law, when Long Quan Seafood International Trading Corporation in Brooklyn pleaded guilty to felony commercialization of wildlife and paid a $10,000 fine for trafficking in shark fins. Officials seized more than 700 pounds of shark fins.

該州環保廳稱，每年大約有7300萬頭鯊魚因其魚鰭遭到捕捉，它們當中大多數被割下魚鰭後就會被拋入大海等死。本月，該環保廳聲稱，根據這項法律，已經有了第一起勝訴案例，布魯克林的龍泉海鮮國際貿易公司承認犯有交易野生動物的重罪，因魚翅的非法交易而付了一萬美元罰款。官方從該公司繳獲700多磅魚翅。

Iris Ho, wildlife program manager for Humane Society International, spoke of the significance of the case.

國際人道對待動物協會(Humane Society International)的野生動物項目經理何燕青(Iris Ho)說，此案具有重要意義。

“This prosecution should serve as an effective deterrent for other seafood trading companies in New York and other states, as well as restaurants who could be sourcing illegal shark fins,” Ms. Ho said.

“這項控告對於紐約州及其他州的那些海鮮貿易公司，以及各種通過非法渠道採購魚翅的餐館來說，是一個有效的震懾，”何燕青說。

Despite this one case, a year into the ban, very few consumers or restaurants seem to have been much affected. Indeed, many Chinese customers, restaurateurs and dried-seafood vendors have adapted and even happily embraced alternatives to shark fin soup.

儘管該案獲得勝訴，但該禁令實施一年來，似乎沒有多少消費者或餐廳受到很大影響。大多數中國消費者、餐廳老闆和海鮮乾貨商家適應了這項法律，甚至高興地接受了魚翅湯的替代品。

“I think that sea cucumber has a good future,” said Simon Wan, manager of the Jade Asian Restaurant in Flushing, Queens.

“我覺得海蔘前景不錯，”皇后區法拉盛的明都大酒樓(Jade Asian Restaurant)經理溫志剛(Simon Wan)說。

As a substitute for shark fin soup at weddings and other formal gatherings, Jade Asian has turned to serving sea cucumber, which is not a vegetable but an ocean-dwelling animal with a long, gelatinous body shaped like a soft-bodied cucumber, which shrinks to a ridged form when dried.

在婚宴和其他正式場合，明都大酒樓使用海蔘來代替魚翅湯。海蔘不是蔬菜，而是一種長長的，身軀呈現膠質的海洋動物，形狀有點像軟軟的黃瓜，風乾後收縮成棱狀。

Mr. Wan touted the sea cucumber as a nutritious source of energy and virility — and it is less expensive than shark fin, he pointed out, in part because it is easier to fish for and takes less time to prepare. Sea cucumber is soaked for two to three days, while shark fin requires about four days of preparation.

溫志剛對海蔘大加吹捧，說它營養豐富，能增進活力，還能壯陽，而且比魚翅便宜不少，部分是因爲它容易捕撈，而且做菜前準備的時間也較短——海蔘只需泡發兩三天，魚翅則需要四天時間準備。

Across the street in Flushing at Mulan Modern Asian Cuisine, George Chu, the restaurant’s executive chef, said bird’s nest soup had replaced shark fin soup for their special-event dinners.

明都大酒樓街對面坐落着木蘭(Mulan Modern Asian Cuisine)餐廳，餐廳的行政主廚喬治·朱(George Chu)說，他們在特殊晚宴上用燕窩湯代替魚翅湯 。

In Hong Kong, bird’s nest soup has usually been seen as more of a dessert soup, Mr. Chu said. To elevate it to the status of shark fin soup, his kitchen combines bird’s nest — which is crystallized bird saliva from a swiftlet — with seafood soup stock.

喬治說，在香港，燕窩湯通常被視爲甜品。爲了把它提升到和魚翅湯同等的地位，他的廚師們把燕窩（是用金絲燕的唾液凝結成的）和海鮮湯一同煮燉。

Mr. Chu added that there was a more immediate benefit to using this alternative: not having to withstand the fishy stench of the shark fin in his kitchen.

喬治說，使用這種替代品一個更立竿見影的好處是：不用忍受廚房裏魚翅的腥臭了。

“I don’t think shark fins taste good, anyway,” he said.

“反正我也不覺得魚翅好吃，”他說。

That is not to say that full acceptance of shark fin soup alternatives happened overnight.

但人們也不是一夜之間就完全接受了魚翅湯的各種替代品。

For one chef at a Chinese seafood restaurant on Eighth Avenue in Sunset Park, Brooklyn, who did not want to be named because he did not wish to publicly challenge the ban, only shark fin soup will do.

布魯克林日落公園第八大道一家中國海鮮餐館的一位大廚認爲，魚翅湯是不可替代的，他不願公開挑戰這項禁令，所以沒有透露姓名。

“This is really and truly a very Chinese tradition,” he said. “Without it, the party is a low-grade experience.”

“它是貨真價實的中國傳統，”他說，“沒有它，宴會就不上檔次。”

Manfai Ngai, 78, a retired doctor who would routinely pick up a few ounces of dried shark fin cartilage from one of several shops along Main Street in Flushing, has rejected alternatives like imitation shark fin, which in some locations can be bought for $35 a pack.

78歲的退休醫生葛曼斐(Manfai Ngai)習慣在法拉盛緬因街的店鋪買幾盎司乾魚翅，他不喜歡仿魚翅之類的替代品。在有些地方，這種替代品可以賣到35美元一袋。

“Now they have this artificial kind made from mung bean,” Mr. Ngai said while walking along a stretch of stores not far from where he used to buy shark fin. “For myself, I don’t much like it.”

“現在他們用綠豆做假魚翅，我一點也不喜歡，”葛曼斐在以前買魚翅的店鋪附近購物時說。

According to Peter How, president of the Asian American Restaurant Association, predictions of outraged parents of newlyweds expected to treat wedding guests to shark fin soup were overblown.

美國餐飲協會(Asian American Restaurant Association)會長何德興(Peter How)說，人們本來覺得那些想在子女婚宴上用魚翅招待賓客的父母會對禁令感到憤怒，這種估計有些誇大了。

If anything, Mr. How said, families have been happy to consider alternatives that carry the same degree of elegance at a lower price.

他說，現在的家庭其實都很樂於接受那些同樣很上檔次，但價格會更便宜的替代品。

“Now they don’t bring it up,” Mr. How said, referring to customers’ previous desire for shark fin.

“現在他們都不提魚翅了，”談起消費者們此前對魚翅的需求時，何德興說。

La He, who works at Golden Profit in Chinatown, said shark fin was not missed as a sale item.

在唐人街金利商貿工作的何拉（La He，音譯）說，他們並不懷念魚翅。

“It never sold well anyway,” she said this month as she dealt with a customer trying to negotiate the price of a box of bird’s nest.

“它本來也賣得不怎麼好，”這個月，她一邊說着，一邊在和一位想買盒燕窩的顧客討價還價。

As Ms. He and other Chinatown seafood vendors noted, shark fin was a hard sell for ordinary customers, given its high price.

何拉和唐人街上的其他海鮮商家指出，因爲價格昂貴，普通消費者其實很少購買魚翅。

Though some stores did see a loss.

不過也有些商店悵然若失。

To get rid of stock before the ban took effect, Xie Luomin, manager of the Po Wing Hong Food Market in Chinatown, said it sold off its shark fins at discounted prices to restaurants in New Jersey, where the shark fin trade is still legal.

爲了在禁令生效之前清空庫存，唐人街寶榮行食品市場(Po Wing Hong Food Market)的經理謝羅民（Xie Loumin，音譯）說，市場按折扣價把庫存的魚翅賣給了新澤西的餐廳，那裏的魚翅貿易依舊是合法的。

At the Hong Kong Supermarket in East Brunswick, N.J., a large yellow sign hanging from the ceiling directed shoppers to a corner of the store where shark fin and other premium products were dispensed from jars behind a counter.

在新澤西州東布朗斯維克的香港超市，一塊從天花板上懸掛下來的巨大黃色指示牌告訴購物者，商店角落有魚翅等高價商品，商店把它們從櫃檯後面的罐子裏拿出來分開擺放。

On a recent Saturday afternoon, a thick bundle of shark fin cartilage sprouted over the rim of a large glass jar labeled $199.99 a pound.

前不久的一個星期六下午，一大堆裝在大玻璃罐裏，滿滿溢出來的魚翅被標價199.99美元一磅出售。

Shoppers walked by the counter, giving the fins little if any notice.

走到角落的購物者偶爾對它們瞥上一眼。

Aproned clerks from nearby checkout stations took turns going behind the counter for various errands and other sales, but no one wanted shark fin that day, they said.

戴着圍裙的店員從附近的收銀臺過來，輪流到櫃檯後面做各種差事，或者賣點別的東西，他們說，今天沒有人買魚翅。

Wu Jianrong, 52, originally from Guangdong Province in China, has been working in the store’s produce department for three years, yet he was only peripherally aware that shark fin was sold there.

52歲的吳建榮來自中國廣東省，他在這個商店的生產部門工作了三年，但他只是隱約聽說店裏有魚翅賣。

“I enjoy it, but I would not buy it myself,” he said in Mandarin.

“我愛吃魚翅，但我自己不會買，”他用普通話說。

The last time he said he had the soup was over a year ago at a wedding banquet in Brooklyn.

他說，自己上一次吃魚翅湯是一年前，在布魯克林參加婚宴的時候。

“It was good, but not something most people can afford,” he said. “Rent comes first.”

“味道是不錯，但不是大多數人買得起的，”他說，“還是先付房租要緊。”