A culinary warning to protect the wildlife

Chinese people, known for their love for food and exquisite cuisines, were naturally drawn to reports on two seafood products in foreign countries. In late April, a post in the official account of Denmark's embassy in Beijing on Weibo, a Twitter-like Chinese website, said the coastline of the Scandinavian country has been plagued by a large number of "wild" oysters from the Pacific. The post also said local residents don't know how to deal with the oyster "invasion" and asked Chinese tourists to visit the country on a special "oyster-eating tour".

And earlier this month, a report by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation also drew the attention of many Chinese. The report said tens of thousands of "wild" salmons swim close to the Parry Beach in Southwest Australia to spawn every autumn. And since fishermen catch tons of salmon and local residents, who find it hard to bear the fishy smell, use them as baits for lobsters, most of the huge salmon catch goes to "waste".

Many Chinese lamented the huge waste of oysters and salmons. Chinese people's diet consists of perhaps the widest variety of food, from vegetables and fruits to meats and seafood. And that might be the reason why reports saying that Danes and Australians don't know what to do with the huge "cache" of oysters and salmons seem so ludicrous to the Chinese people. Some people even jokingly posted comments on the Denmark embassy's account saying that once Chinese arrived in groups in Denmark, the bivalve mollusks would soon make it to the list of endangered species.