New York State’s ban on shark fins took effect on July 1.

New York State’s ban on shark fins took effect on July 1. While owners of Chinese restaurants along Eighth Avenue in Brooklyn said they hadn’t gotten formal notice of the new law, they have taken the prohibited ingredient off their menus. They also said the new law won’t affect their business much because today’s young people no longer consider shark fins a must for their wedding banquets. Indeed, they prefer to not have the traditional dish so prices could be lower.

The Pacificana Restaurant at the intersection of Eighth Avenue and 55th Street was taking the reservation for a wedding banquet from a young couple on the afternoon of July 1. On the menu, the spot that belonged to the traditional shark fin soup was replaced by “braised silkie with coconuts.” Lingjin Yang, a staffer at the restaurant, said the menu had been changed the previous day and shark fin dishes were all removed. But she thinks that it won’t affect the business. “All the customers want is to have fun at their banquets. As long as you serve them tasty food, they’ll be happy,” she said. She added that some customers even ordered all vegetarian dishes for their banquets. “So shark fin is not indispensable.”

Mr. Huang, a customer who was at the restaurant booking a banquet said shark fins “don’t matter” to him. If there were no shark fin dishes, he could order other dishes. “I only want it to be tasty,” he said. “And the prices are lower without shark fins.” Asked about the traditional belief that “it won’t make a banquet without shark fins,” Mr. Huang simply shrugged. Yang, a staff member of the restaurant, also said the diasporas don’t take the traditional belief too seriously.

Zhigang Cheng, manager of the restaurant said he was aware the ban would take effect on July 1 a long time ago. So the restaurant had not been buying sharp fins for several months. “Many providers here had shipped their shark fins back to China to sell there. He said most customers were understanding of the new law. But some very traditional customers would bring their own shark fins and request the chef to add them in dishes. “If customers ask us to do so, we will follow the order. After all, the law only prohibits selling it,” he said.

Until yesterday, most Chinese restaurant owners in Brooklyn said they had not gotten any formal notice. Cheng of Pacificana said usually businesses will get a letter of notice from the authorities before a new law takes effect. But not this time. “We only learned about it from the news.”

Both owners of Park Asian restaurant at the intersection of Eight Avenue and 66th Street and J. King Seafood Palace at the intersection of Sixth Avenue and 62nd Street said they didn’t get any notice. Ping Gu, manager of Park Asian said: “We are not very clear whether there is a grace period so that businesses can sell out their inventory.”

People working at YueFung, a shop at the intersection of Eighth Avenue and 55th Street that sells dried Chinese food and herbs, said they still have a small amount of shark fins in stock. But they won’t sell them, at least for now. “Indeed there aren’t many customers interested in shark fins,” they said. As for the new law, Ms. Chen, a salesperson, said: “it doesn’t affect the business.”

By Jane Zhang, Via Sing Tao Daily
Translated by Rong Xiaoqing from Chinese