Chinese cooking gets more and more surreal, when you start finding out what the different ingredients actually are.

The latest one i dug out: chinese new year fa1 cai4.. a perennial favourite is usually assumed to be seaweed (brown algae type, like Fucus). Ha. Wrong. It is actually a cyanobacteria, Nostoc commune.

Cyanobacteria are bacteria, so no nucleus. And these creatures grow in deserts of Mongolia, deep underground. They are filamentous bacteria, not unlike Anabena (of nitrogen fixation fame), or Spirulina (another health product?). Granted they are photosynthetic bacteria, they are still bacteria. Funny how people associate bacteria with diseases etc, but yet, we eat loads of them thinking they are something else.

Shocking information aside (similar to cordyceps... brrr...), the harvesting of these creatures is environmentally damaging. Because they grow so deep within the earth, harvesting them requires massive excavation of the soils. This obviously damages the surface ecosystem, killing tons of other individuals.

In a way, i don't think eating fa cai is any different from eating shark's fin. In the course of getting hold of them, you damage the ecosystem. Some may argue that you can't equate sharks with bacteria. Well, it's all to do with your baseline isn't it? To what degree do you draw the line between what's right and what's wrong. Vegetarians may oppose meat, because of the way animals are treated. That's their baseline. Meat-eaters see nothing wrong with this. That's their baseline.

Different people have different baselines. Baselines shift over time. What's unacceptable then, isn't unacceptable today. Think about it. Keep your baselines to yourself. No one is interested in knowing what your baselines are, nor should you go round influencing other people's baselines.