Is abalone a fish?

Of course, it is not fish [abalone], a kind of shellfish that is very common in biology and has long been the best in Chinese food. Even in today's materialistic world, only one percent of people in China can enjoy it. We find that the deep meaning of abalone goes beyond food and is associated with power and wealth, both in history and today. ] The most expensive food One late autumn evening, I followed a bus convoy of nearly 300 people to Nonghai Garden, a rich area in Qingdao, where the house price was as high as 28,000 yuan/square meter. On the open-air lawn near the sea, in this place called Lincoln Club, we China people and westerners who participated in the 5th World Abalone Conference during the day are going to celebrate this rare gathering. The topics discussed by oceanographers from all over the world at this Qingdao meeting are abalone culture and disease prevention. "Why is abalone so expensive?" I asked Mr. Mai. Obviously, this internationally renowned abalone expert has considered this problem. He looked relaxed but said with some regret: "If only because things are rare, there are many rare things!" Why is abalone so expensive? I am not picky. Sea cucumber is not delicious either. Why is it so expensive? I don't know China people, and there are many strange things. " Mai believes that the popularity of eating abalone in the world today has pushed the price of abalone so high because of China's food culture. "You know," he continued, "an abalone is one pound in England and ten francs in France. Americans don't eat abalone at all. Japanese and China immigrants pushed up the price of abalone. With the increase of Chinese immigrants around the world, abalone is now eaten all over the world. Cao Cao loves abalone. As early as the Qing court in China, all the abalone banquets were recorded. It is said that at that time, when the big officials from all over the coastal areas appeared in the court, they used abalone as a gift. One official presented an abalone, seven officials presented seven abalones, and so on. One abalone is only one catty, and seven abalones are only seven abalones. The price of the former may be ten times higher than the latter. Obviously, at that time, these abalones were made into dried abalones before tribute, because they could not be alive when they entered the emperor's kitchen. A gentleman needs a kitchen, especially an emperor who is the king of a country. Dalian fresh abalone is considered to be the best abalone in China. " Mencius once said: Seeing his life, I can't bear to see his death; I can't bear to eat its meat when I hear its voice. The monarch at that time should set a good example for all people and follow the path of Confucius and Mencius. Therefore, Cantonese cuisine, which is now popular all over China and contains a lot of raw seafood, could not be the court food of the royal family in China at that time. Mr Wang Xifu, 70, is very loyal to the traditional food culture in China, he said. His family is a famous traditional dining family in Beijing, and now he is making a master plan in a high-end restaurant, trying to restore traditional Beijing cuisine. As early as the 6th century, China's culture of eating abalone spread to Japan and South Korea, and then East Asians spread the custom of eating abalone to the whole world. The ancients in China listed abalone as one of the eight treasures of seafood a long time ago, and abalone ranked first in modern times. According to the biography of Han Wang Mang, the new emperor Wang Mang in the late Western Han Dynasty was greedy for abalone, especially when he was "worried but didn't eat", he would drink and eat abalone. When Cao Zhi mourned his father in the Eastern Han Dynasty, he also mentioned that Cao Cao liked to eat abalone before his death. Abalone Nourishing Yin: In an ancient temple-style building in China, we met Ma Yongqiang, editor-in-chief of the hospitable China Cooking magazine, who divided four famous Chinese dishes into two categories from an interesting angle: bird's nest, abalone, shark's fin and sea cucumber. "China people have long been different in appearance. Sea cucumber and shark's fin symbolize men and are aphrodisiac; Abalone and bird's nest symbolize women and nourish yin. "In fact, the ancients in China always thought that abalone was a nourishing food that was very beneficial to the body. Some Chinese medicine theories believe that abalone can tonify deficiency, nourish yin, moisten lung, clear heat, nourish liver and improve eyesight, so it is called "eyesight fish". However, today's nutritionists believe that many extreme foods in China, including abalone, have not exceeded the conventional nutritional value. Professor Ma Guansheng, the highest authority on nutrition in China and the Institute of Nutrition and Food Safety of China Center for Disease Control and Prevention, believes that there is little difference in protein between abalone and eggs, and other nutrients such as calcium, iron, zinc, selenium and vitamins have no unique advantages. In fact, there is not much difference between abalone and other ordinary seafood in providing nutrition. So these precious things are not "precious" in nutrition. Professor Yang Yuexin personally led the determination of nutritional components of abalone in the same institute. She told me: "From the simple chemical composition analysis, we can't tell why abalone has high nutrition. Even some chefs in Zhongnanhai often ask us what nutrition shark fin abalone has. In fact, the ability of scientists is limited. "She admits that their analysis is purely from the perspective of Western science, that is, the determination of known trace elements such as minerals, protein and vitamins." We know a lot about the ingredients in plants, but little about animals. Fish should also have many unknown ingredients. Finally, she stressed: "I estimate that no one in China has studied the nutrition of abalone from the perspective of traditional Chinese medicine, which is immaterial and holistic." This will not be our future research direction, because you can't apply for such a fund. "In recent years, scientists have found that the life science represented by food nutrition is the most complicated of all sciences, and a characteristic is often expressed by multiple genes instead of one-to-one causal expression. In this case, if one of the ingredients is extracted, it may not have the original curative effect. Professor McConson from Ocean University is also puzzled about the nutrition of China cuisine, including abalone. Why do some people like abalone? Besides non-scientific factors, are there any scientific reasons? Ginseng is also an example, like a person's figure. Science is preconceived. The current impetuousness of China scientists and their rejection of what they think is not are the biggest obstacles to our scientific development. In this case, the prejudice against China culture and Chinese medicine is affirmative. "For example, he said that our body's immune system should be the most complete, and all lower organisms have immunoglobulin, but the shrimp is gone, and the caterpillar has nothing." But a caterpillar that has no immune system and lives in a dirty environment will live well. What happened? It is our methodology that is wrong. You use human immune method to study worms, and you can't find anything, but it doesn't mean that it doesn't have that system, just a different expression. "Abalone will contain something that can't be found in western nutrition? Western nutrition is nothing more than five basic substances: protein, fat, vitamins, minerals and sugar. Now people find that the sulfated lipopolysaccharide contained in sea cucumber can improve human immunity, which has nothing to do with nutrition, but has physiological and pharmacological effects. It is found that abalone is rich in refined ammonia, and some scientists speculate that human sperm swimming mainly depends on arginine. High-end symbolism of food Although abalone has been accepted by many China scholars and even gourmets without special nutrition, it has not stopped eating abalone from becoming a high-end symbol of China. A cooked dried Japanese abalone can be sold to 1680 yuan in a restaurant called Shunfeng near Beijing Agricultural Exhibition Hall. 10 years ago, SF Catering Group successfully created high-grade seafood in China. Last year, its turnover ranked second in the domestic Chinese food industry. Chen Junhai is a senior employee here and also calls himself a gourmet. He told us the ultimate feeling of eating abalone: "Fresh abalone has the taste of fresh abalone, and dried abalone has the taste of dried abalone. Fresh abalone, fresh and refined; Dried abalone is soft, moderate in hardness and somewhat elastic to bite. When the teeth touch, a little force will push them up and down. At the same time, there is a special fragrance in the throat, and the aftertaste is at the mouth. Some people pursue this realm, one or two is enough, 980 yuan! "China people are usually famous for their rich food culture. On almost any occasion, "eating" is a topic that you never tire of hearing. Therefore, when China people get rich, the first thing they may do is to eat. People in China can prepare a meal for several days, especially Cantonese food, which takes several days. When cooking, add cloud legs, old chicken and red meat to stew slowly to make it taste harmonious and give full play to the inherent umami of abalone. This is hard for westerners, represented by male and female cultures, to imagine and understand. Beijing is undoubtedly a paradise for wealthy gourmets. Beijing, located in the political, cultural, economic and military center of China, means that there are the richest people here, and even those rich foreigners will flock to Beijing to spend money. 10 years ago, smart Cantonese and Hong Kong people came to Beijing and opened a high-end abalone wing restaurant. Liang, a Hong Kong native, became one of the most successful businessmen with his Viagra abalone. Now, he has opened at least 20 abalone restaurants in Chinese mainland and is the chairman of the newly established abalone wing banquet committee in China. One afternoon, he finally called and asked me to meet him. An hour later, in a suite living room of the Capital Hotel, I met this heavyweight in the abalone industry. As soon as I saw him, I immediately remembered the words of a photographer in Beijing: "The eyes of gourmets are very peaceful, unlike ordinary people who are nervous." "Why is abalone very popular in Chinese mainland?" I asked him. This gourmet, who is a gentleman in China and has a profound cultural accomplishment, thinks that there is a certain distance between food and nutrition. "At the dinner table, the most important thing is taste, not nutrition. Eggs are nutritious, but they can't replace the sense of food in our food world. There is also a cultural pursuit. "He then explained to me that this pursuit has led to a huge difference between American fast food culture and China people's food culture for thousands of years." A steak and a hamburger can live, but abalone is not just a matter of satiety for us. After eating abalone, you will feel it the next day. Even the same abalone, the taste difference between them is like the huge quality difference between red wine. "Background: The color of abalone shells varies with abalone species, food intake and growth environment. Abalone shells are rich in color, but mostly green-brown or reddish-brown, which is similar to the protective color of abalone living environment, such as rocks or seaweed. However, different kinds of abalone have their relatively stable colors. Black abalone that eats giant algae is blue-black, red abalone is deep red, and yellow abalone is light reddish brown or dark green. Wild Haliotis discus hannai is mostly brownish green or brownish red, but artificial culture will grow a bright green shell by feeding kelp, Undaria pinnatifida or brown algae, while feeding laver will grow a dark red shell. Because of the irreversibility of abalone shell color, we can judge the origin and breeding mode of abalone by it. The whole shell is brownish red, which is wild abalone; Green feed abalone cultured in kelp to seawater cages in Dalian; Green in the front and brown in the back are abalone cultured in Qingdao intertidal zone; Shells with green and crimson stripes are abalone cultured in cages in Fujian and fed with kelp and laver. In the seafood market, you can often see abalone marked with the words "extra large wild abalone", which is expensive, usually 30%-40% higher than the cultured abalone of the same specification. Many merchants use the characteristics that ordinary consumers can't correctly identify wild and farmed abalone, and use farmed abalone as wild abalone. If the spiral part of the shell top of the "back hip" of abalone is green, it is an abalone artificially propagated on the seabed or cultivated in intertidal zone; If it is brownish green or reddish brown, it is abalone grown from wild seedlings. Because the growth environment in natural sea area is similar to the food intake, there is no obvious difference in nutritional components between the two kinds of abalone, but the sales price should be different. Age and Growth of Abalone Abalone is a family of slow-growing shellfish. It usually takes 1-4 years or more from fertilized eggs to 6-8 cm commodity specifications. Take Haliotis discus hannai in China as an example, it takes about three years to grow to about 7 cm. The growth rate of abalone decreases with age, and the weight and shell length of young abalone increase faster than that of old abalone. The shell length of aged abalone grows slowly, but its shell tends to increase and thicken slightly. With the growth of abalone shell, it mainly extends forward. Because the thin right side of abalone shell always grows faster than the thick left side of the roll, it grows to the left. Abalone shells will leave growth lines similar to tree rings during their growth. Whether the growth line is obvious or not is related to the living environment, season and food type of abalone. In the fast-growing season, the growth line is obvious and the distance is large; In the slow-growing season, on the contrary, the growing lines are dense and close. Usually we can judge the age and growth of abalone shells according to their growth lines. Take Haliotis discus hannai in China as an example: 1 is about 25cm, 4-5cm and 7-8cm. Sometimes it is not easy to judge the exact age of abalone shell directly from its foregrowth line. We can clean up algae, oyster shells and lime worms attached to the shell surface and see their annual rings through the perspective of electric lights. Mr. Chen Xuezhi of China Food Culture Research Association is one of the scholars who are opposed to comparing abalone with eggs. He said that their research shows that the taste stimulation of different foods is very different, and its sensitivity is no less than that of acupuncture in traditional Chinese medicine. Some scientists believe that many people's tastes come from amino acids. A dish cooked for 12 hours is equivalent to a chemical reaction in a chemical reactor for 12 hours. The longer it takes, the more products there will be, but the more it may be destroyed if it takes too long. Su Dongpo, a famous poet in the Northern Song Dynasty in China, once wrote a "Journey to Abalone", praising the delicacy of abalone. Sue is also a great gourmet in the history of China. But in the contemporary era, it was Yang Guanyi who pushed abalone food culture to the extreme. He won the highest honor badge award from the International Chefs Association for inventing a unique abalone cooking method. At present, only three people in the world have won this award. " He made abalone famous all over the world today. "Said to the beam. Twenty years ago, a central leader ate a cooked abalone and praised it greatly. Yang became famous overnight. Since then, tasting Yang Guanyi's "A Yi Abalone" has become a luxury food, and he has also become a rich man in the catering industry. Now the best "auntie" abalone can sell for hundreds of thousands of yuan each. Last year, someone stole 15 abalone used as a town shop in Fulin Hotel, Hong Kong. These Japanese three-headed net abalone are worth 30 thousand yuan each. The status of chefs in China is not very high, but there is a big difference between famous chefs and royal chefs. Ma Yongqiang said: "In the history of China, the fate of kitchen knives, shaving knives and cutlery knives is different. The kitchen knife is always supreme! For thousands of years, almost all literati, including the emperor, are willing to eulogize the kitchen knife. "However, he believes that China's food culture also involves too much power, and some top dishes have clearly symbolized people's status and identity." Yan Baochi's spiritual satisfaction lies in wealth and high-grade, and these four dishes themselves have a bureaucratic atmosphere. In fact, China has been an official culture for thousands of years, because many cultures are related to power. "He said. One noon, Zhang Jiancheng led me to visit their customers in Maidao, Qingdao. These self-employed people go to Dalian Pacific Treasure Company where Zhang is located to buy abalone fry every spring. When they come back, they will put them in closed shallow rocks. After 18 months, these abalones, which are basically close to wild culture, can grow to 8-9 cm without feeding, and the yield is quite high. This is very similar to the process of farmers' farming and grain production, so some people call these farmers "Baonong" for short. After these people buy abalone fry from us, 18 months can quadruple, "Zhang said with some excitement. Liu Yuan, 43, was the first Baonong I met. He has only been a farmer for three years. Prior to this, he bought abalone from other abalone farmers and resold it to other places. Later, he saw the huge profits of raising abalone and began to rent sea areas from the local village government. Well, this industry makes money. "As soon as he saw us, he couldn't help saying. Liu has the boldness and loyalty of Shandong people and the shrewdness of businessmen. He told me that at 200 1, he bought 18000 abalone fry, and later sold 1200 Jin, earning 200,000 Jin. Now, in addition to selling his own abalone, he also sells other abalone farmers to Dalian and Guangzhou. Today, another abalone farmer in the same village wants to sell the abalone stocked last year, so we followed Liu to the seaside 100 meters away to watch the family pick abalone. In the midday sun, the sea is slowly ebbing, and the famous Laoshan Mountain in Qingdao is looming in the distance along the direction of the sun. On the backlit sea, several figures in black diving suits floated up and down in the water, and they gathered abalone caught in several cages. On the shore, a woman in a pink cotton coat is walking around nervously. Liu told me that she is the mistress of this land. Obviously, she is anxious about how many abalone can be harvested on this 1 mu dike slope. After all, this is their family's efforts and expectations in the past two years. According to Liu's experience, this dike slope can harvest abalone 1000 kg this time. Three hours later, Liu caught this 100 Jin abalone to his house first. His wife measured one by one and gave the money to the man. The purchase price of 8 cm abalone today 165 yuan/kg. In the evening, these abalones will be airlifted to Dalian, and the air freight is 1.35 yuan/kg. The owner there has been waiting for many days. These days, due to the death of large-scale cultured abalone in the south, the supply of abalone in the whole China market is somewhat tight. On this day, the price of this kind of 8 cm abalone in Changxing market in Dalian is 185 yuan/kg, and once these abalones arrive at some high-end restaurants in Dalian, they can generally sell for at least 750 yuan/kg. It is said that dried abalone is more profitable. I once saw Japanese dried abalone sold for 8800 yuan a catty in Hongqiao market, the largest aquatic product market in Beijing. The huge profits of abalone farming make it easy for Qingdao local government to lease a large number of sea areas to abalone farmers who are eager to get rich, and the village committee can get income per mu 1200 yuan from the leased sea areas every year. Since Qingdao now has 27 kilometers of coastline for abalone culture, this is not a small income for local people. The abalone pond built by Baonong at the seaside has long been a landscape along the coast of Qingdao. Professor Mai Kang Sen said: "In fact, the China government has given our people too much freedom. They want to raise it, and the village Committee has the final say, and the Oceanic Administration can't control it. " This fact has caused many coastal areas in China, and you can't enter them at will, because they are personal at all times.