Live Deep Fried Fish

A video appeared on YouTube recently (embedded below) of diners in a restaurant discussing the dish in front of them. The diners are speaking Cantonese so I assume they are in Guangdong or somewhere down south. I don’t speak Cantonese but I can imagine what they’re saying. Now, there’s nothing unusual about diners discussing what they’re eating except that in this case what they’re eating is alive. Or at least appears to be alive. There has been the predictable wave of outrage on the net about this video. I am not going to judge. I’ve been in China too long to judge or indeed be outraged. It all depends on point of view. You may find it disgusting. You may not. But that is your opinion. In the context this was happening in it may have been the most normal thing in the World. Or as my old and wise boss used to say “normal is different”. Meaning, just because this is not your definition of normal does not mean it is not someone else’s, equally valid, version of normal.

No fish were harmed in the writing of this post.