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PROGRAMME 9: HONG KONG

BACKGROUND

Experts

Amy and Anna were mentored by Chung, a Hong Kong chef and restaurateur, and their cooking was judged by food critic Mio Hani.

Chop suey and chow mein

Chop suey, as Dave says in the programme, is not an original Chinese dish, but was probably first put together by Chinese immigrants in San Francisco, as a dish that would please both Chinese and American diners.

Chow mein – the words mean 'fried noodles' – is a traditional Chinese dish. For an authentic version, the noodles are stir-fried quickly, so that the outside becomes crispy while the inside remains soft and creamy. The other ingredients, which can include vegetables plus shreds of meat or pieces of seafood, should be cooked separately, then stirred briefly together with the noodles just before serving.

Madhur Jaffrey, in her book Far Eastern Cookery (BBC Books, 1989) talks about the richness of the culinary tradition in Hong Kong, a huge, bustling modern city that draws heavily on Chinese influences in its cuisine. She says: 'I have watched prawns being rejected because they were kicking their legs too lazily, lobsters dropped back into tanks because their tails did not curl smartly and crabs failing to find a buyer because their bellies were squishy.' Freshness is all.

Are fish capable of suffering?

Amy and Anna are distressed by the sight of live fish flapping around on the market stalls in Hong Kong, and they don't relish the experience of bludgeoning to death the farmed fish they catch. But how capable are fish of experiencing pain and distress?

There is an ongoing debate on this topic between animal rights organisations and anglers. In 2003, UK scientists led by Dr Lynne Sneddon conducted an experiment on rainbow trout. They applied various stimulants to the fish's heads, including bee venom and heat, and recorded the reactions in their brains. They also observed the way the fish responded physically to their treatment, and noted that they made rocking movements, similar to those made by mammals in pain.

Dr James Rose published a critique of this work, pointing out that before you can deduce that a fish feels pain, you must first prove that a fish is capable of conscious thought. There is evidence that mammals experience pain via specific areas of the brain, and fish brains are structured differently and don't have the necessary parts. The fact that the fish made movements like those of a mammal in pain is not scientific proof that they actually feel pain in the same way. Even so, this does not mean that fish are incapable of feeling some kind of unpleasant response to harm. We simply can't be sure.