#Bat_Soup

January 24, 2020

Just because we respect our neighbor China and its people doesn't mean we aren't allowed to criticize the things they do that we find distasteful.

I’m talking about the brand-new Coronavirus spreading like wildfire out of Wuhan. Suspected to have jumped from bats to humans for the first time, it has already claimed dozens of lives and infected hundreds.

In my time, I’ve never met a Chinese friend who wouldn't eat anything that flies (except airplanes) or anything with four legs (except cars).

I once tried to talk sense into a Chinese friend. I asked, "Isn’t it enough that you drink snail juice, cockroach cocktails, and eat dried guinea pig tails? Do you really have to go for snake intestines, monkey brains, crocodile tongues, and monitor lizard spleens too?" He just snapped back at me in Cantonese: "Kao Sa Wa Lei? Lei Um Chi Ya Fong Yau! Hou Sek Ma!" (What are you talking about? You don't know what's good! It tastes delicious!)

The truth is, science and medicine confirm that major pandemics often jump from animals to humans—whether it was the Plague in 17th-century Europe or Ebola in 21st-century Africa. Even if we don't lose our own lives, these epidemics impact us all, directly or indirectly.

Now, as we enter 2020, I hope this new coronavirus from bats is brought under control quickly so we don't have to walk around in masks. But I also hope it leaves behind a stern lesson for those who eat "unnatural" things like bats, crocodiles, snakes, monkeys, and cockroaches.

By the same token, let this virus be a minor wake-up call for the "soltis" who smuggle dried eel from the Budhi Gandaki or Buduna fish from Betana, and the sisters who dodge the "kuire" customs officers at Heathrow and Gatwick to bring in dried gundruk, sinki, stinging nettle powder, and flour for dhido or pappanda.

In the end, I felt like poking a little bit of fun at Chinese cuisine. But then again, if a Chinese person ever asked me: "Don't you Limbus take a white fermented larva that’s been aging in an earthen pot for two years, stick a pipe into its belly, and get drunk for fun?"... well, I’d probably be left speechless, too.

Happy Weekend.