What phenomenon of "taking pride in shame" exists around us? (example)

The latest statistics and forecasts from relevant authoritative departments show that in 2005, my country's catering consumption reached more than 880 billion yuan, and per capita catering consumption was 677 yuan; in 2006, the catering industry will continue to maintain a rapid growth momentum and is expected to exceed one trillion yuan. .

But behind the good news, many people are worried that a few people are shamelessly extravagant and even waste their natural resources. Abnormal consumption is accelerating the proliferation of materialistic desires. Some people regard luxuries other than dietary needs as a symbol of wealth and status, which not only runs counter to building a frugal society, but also corrupts social atmosphere and breeds corruption.

Don’t seek the best, but seek the most expensive luxury consumption, regardless of honor or shame

At 12 noon on April 1, a seafood restaurant located on the edge of the North Fourth Ring Road in Beijing was already overcrowded. . The receptionist lady told reporters: "The lobby is already full of individual customers, and only private rooms are available!" Although Beijing clearly stipulates that there is no minimum consumption in the catering industry, the minimum consumption for private rooms here is 3,000 yuan. It seems to be a convention, and no one has ever raised it. objection. While talking, the waitress handed over the menu. The reporter rummaged through and found that he really couldn't order anything for 3,000 yuan, because the prices of vegetables here are much more expensive than those in ordinary restaurants, and a vegetable costs more than 30 yuan.

As for the so-called signature dishes, the prices are staggering. The best shark's fin: dried abalone and Tianjiu fin, 638 yuan per person; dried sea tiger fin with scallops, 480 yuan per person; signature braised abalone: ??four South African abalone, 688 yuan per person; six South African abalone, each A head of South African fresh abalone costs 618 yuan per person...

In a seafood restaurant on Fushi Road in Beijing, before 6 p.m., all the parking spaces at the entrance were full, and the private rooms in the store were full. The hall of more than 1,000 square meters is splendid, full of brilliance, rockery pool and luxurious decoration.

Of course, corresponding to the luxurious style is its expensive menu: six Japanese abalones cost 6,800 yuan each, eight Japanese abalones cost 4,800 yuan each, and ten Japanese abalones cost 2,800 each. The top quality Japanese abalone costs NT$1,380 each; seventeen-head Japanese premium abalone costs NT$1,380 each; fish maw: male fish maw that consumes xanthan, costs NT$1,880 each, at least 8-10 per plate.

Does anyone really eat such expensive abalone and shark fin? The young waitress spoke: "Everyone comes here for high-end food, otherwise who would come to a place like this?!" Of course, it is not enough to have delicious food, you must also have good wine to accompany the meal and create an atmosphere. The wine list here is enough. Whet your appetite and show your "noble" status: 50-year-old Moutai is 6,800 yuan, 30-year-old Moutai is 3,800 yuan, and 15-year-old Moutai is 1,980 yuan; foreign wines are even more dazzling, including Scotch whiskey and French brandy, among which, Louis The price of each bottle of Thirteen is as high as 11,888 yuan!

Across the road a short distance away, there is another well-known seafood restaurant. People call it one of the "three knives" in Beijing. As the name suggests, it is ruthless and special in "killing" people. The price of the dishes is naturally unambiguous: 8,800 yuan each for two-headed abalone and 1,068 yuan each for Taiji bird's nest. The hotel currently has 36 private rooms, which can accommodate 600 to 800 people for dining, and 120 parking spaces.

Since ancient times, people have always believed that abalone is a nourishing food that is very beneficial to the body. It is said that abalone can nourish yin, moisten the lungs, tonify deficiency, clear away heat, nourish the liver and improve eyesight, so there is the name "eyebright fish". " known as. But today's nutritionists believe that many expensive foods, including abalone, do not contain conventional nutritional value.

Professor Ma Guansheng from the Institute of Nutrition and Food Safety of the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention said that the protein content of abalone and eggs is not much different, and other nutritional contents such as calcium, iron, zinc, selenium and vitamins are not unique. advantages. In terms of providing nutrients, abalone is not much different from other common seafood. Therefore, there is nothing "precious" about these precious things in terms of nutrition.

Despite this, bird's nest, the most expensive "saliva", and abalone, the most delicious delicacy, are still the delicacies that many diners dream of, and they are also an important bargaining chip and "strength" for some people in socializing. reflect.

It’s no wonder that abalone is worth hundreds of times. Some dried abalones can even become a symbol of gold in Hong Kong. It is known as “one mouthful of abalone, one mouthful of gold”. As for whether shark's fin, bird's nest and abalone are really worth the money and whether they are rich in nutritional value, it can be completely ignored.

Of course, in addition to socializing and entertaining, restaurants are also more wealthy places. A waiter at a certain seafood restaurant still feels aggrieved. Once, she kindly advised a customer that the food was almost done. Unexpectedly, she was scolded loudly: "I spend money to be happy, do you care?" Tears burst into the eyes of this girl who came to Beijing to work from the northwest. In front of her eyes, in addition to the ultra-thick gold chain around the customer's thick neck and the constant waving of Nothing could be seen on the fat wrist with an emerald on it.

A boss surnamed Huang was straightforward. All he wanted to treat was face, so why not find a high-end place. Not only should you be careful when entertaining guests, but you should also enjoy eating by yourself. Not to mention the dishes, even the whiteness of the tablecloth will trigger a violent reaction from him. What you want is luxury food, luxury and style. As people often joke about these people's luxury: "Don't ask for the best, but ask for the most expensive."

There is no such thing as the most expensive, only more luxurious banquets, extravagant and shameless pride

Someone once exclaimed that the trend of luxury is prevalent, and information coming from all sides shows that there is a trend of sky-high luxury. Coming with a vengeance: “sky-priced apples” priced at 150 yuan each, and “sky-priced tea” priced at 100,000 yuan per tael.

During the Spring Festival, a high-end restaurant in the south launched a high-priced New Year's Eve dinner, with a "special price" of 88,000 yuan; in the southwest, the price of the New Year's Eve dinner has also been rising, and the price of a restaurant's sky-high banquet has been pushed to 188,000 yuan. . One of the sky-high-priced banquet dishes, "Changbai Mountain Stewed Native Chicken with Century-old Ginseng", is worth 160,000 yuan.

The most explosive news is in Hangzhou. A restaurant actually launched a super luxurious New Year’s Eve dinner for 198,000 yuan! It is said that this meal includes delicious treasures such as Japanese top-quality abalone worth 20,000 yuan each, Luzon yellow gum shark fin king, etc. Even the tea is Pu'er that has been stored for more than 50 years...

In order to satisfy the taste, spending 198,000 yuan on a sky-high New Year's Eve dinner is equivalent to eating a mid-range car, an employee 20 annual salary income and one-year tuition fees for 1,000 students in poor areas.

In an era of extreme material scarcity, people could only improve their lives during the holidays, so they always saved the best food for the New Year's Eve when the whole family reunited to enjoy it. What people value more is the atmosphere and family affection, and they want to have a happy reunion. The New Year’s Eve dinner mentioned above seems to have changed. Family affection has been alienated, and invisible feelings are being surrounded by visible luxury.

Relevant media conducted investigations in Beijing, Jilin, Shandong, and Hebei, and concluded that the sky-high New Year’s Eve dinner is related to corruption. According to industry insiders, high-priced New Year’s Eve dinners are mostly for corporate consumption, group consumption, and disguised gifts. Among them, a large state-owned enterprise in a northeastern city ordered 10 sets of New Year's Eve dinner sets at a price of 16,800 yuan at one time.

A senior technician at a well-known restaurant in Beijing said, "The real luxury banquets are mostly those held by large enterprises and large groups. A table of meals costs at least several thousand, tens of thousands, or hundreds of thousands." One table is also very common, and there are even hundreds of thousands of tables.” Mr. Ma, who once ran the catering industry, told reporters, “China’s food culture has a long history, no matter today. In history, the deeper meaning of abalone goes beyond food and culture and is associated with luxury..."

Some time ago, a friend from the south told reporters deeply that in the past, It is said that people in Guangdong have more money and people in the south have more money. I didn’t expect that there are more rich people in Beijing.

In Beijing, you can taste any delicacy from ancient and modern times, both at home and abroad. You can not only dine on the "Emperor's Dragon Chair", enjoy palace-style luxury and appreciate the graceful and luxurious royal style; you can also step into the "Ten Thousand Restaurants", a Roman-style building with 168 luxurious private rooms, and enjoy the "Ten Thousand People Restaurant", which is known as "Asia". "The largest" with a sunny patio area of ??up to 30,000 square meters; you can also hold banquets and gatherings without anyone's interference in the conference hall with a membership fee of up to 100,000 yuan, which absolutely guarantees personal privacy.

In fact, people have long complained about the increasingly extravagant and corrupt trend in recent years: "A cigarette is worth two ounces of oil; a meal is worth a cow." Today, a meal has risen to ten or one hundred cows. The trend of eating and drinking not only leads to wrong consumption, but also contributes to the extravagance of the entire society.

In 2003, there was news about the sky-high price of a Manchu-Han banquet in the northwest. The "Tianlong Royal Banquet" cost 366,000 yuan! According to the opening transaction price of the Shanghai gold market at that time, one table of food was equivalent to about four kilograms. of gold. Among this top-notch meals, there is a dish called Dragon Beard and Phoenix Roll, which is made from hundreds of carp whiskers!

In 2005, a restaurant in a certain place launched the Qianlong Imperial Banquet . This 250,000-yuan feast will take a full nine hours, divided into lunch and dinner. Lunch will be eaten from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., followed by a 4-hour break for dinner, which will last from 5 a.m. to 10 p.m. . Its extravagance is evident from this.

... Such a breathtaking feast can only be explained by the waste of natural resources. Not only is it far removed from the meaning of food itself, but it is also harmful to our efforts to build a conservation-oriented society today. As for the "human breast feast", "human body feast", etc. that have appeared in recent years, they are another new hobby for a very small number of people to indulge in extravagant life and pursue extravagance. Chen Wenjin, deputy dean of Putian University who has lived and worked abroad for a long time, was heartbroken about this. He said that our country is not yet rich, and there are still tens of millions of poor people. However, a few people spend money like water and live a luxurious and luxurious life.

“It is easy to go from frugality to luxury, but it is difficult to go from luxury to frugality” is an ancient saying that has been passed down to this day. However, the trend of abnormal consumption and extravagance has had a bad impact on the whole society. Zhang Liming, editor-in-chief of Peking University Press, believes that the evil habits of comparison and competition for wealth have also appeared on peaceful campuses. Elementary school students compare the quality of their school supplies, the quality of their toys, and how much pocket money they have in their pockets. In middle school, classmates compete more with each other than with food, clothing, mobile phones, computers, private cars, home real estate, and their parents’ official ranks and wallets. In college, the comparison becomes even more intense, and a very small number of college students prefer to speak in terms of “strength.”

Many knowledgeable people are deeply worried about the prevalence of abnormal consumption and extravagance, and about students who are not yet financially independent joining the ranks of "showing off their wealth and fighting for wealth" early on. The "comparison" trend on campus pales in comparison to the luxury and vice in today's society. The behavior of students is just a microcosm of adults showing off their wealth. In interviews, many people suggested that in order to completely reverse this bad social trend, the top priority is to trace the source, establish a correct socialist concept of honor and disgrace, advocate a scientific and healthy lifestyle, purify the social environment, and put an end to all kinds of luxury and extravagance .