Chinese people eat bird's nests, eat shark's fins, and take ginseng, which originates from China's traditional Chinese medicine culture.

Let’s talk about shark fin first. Foreigners are always curious about why Chinese people like to eat shark fin. They think that shark fin is a kind of thing with very few nutrients and has no special taste. They are puzzled by this preference of Chinese people.

In fact, the history of Chinese people treating shark fin as a precious delicacy is not long, and it probably started in the Ming Dynasty.

It was first seen in "Compendium of Materia Medica", where Li Shizhen said that sharks "have fins under the belly, have a plump taste, and are treasured by southerners".

Shark's fin itself has no special taste. The deliciousness of the shark's fin soup we eat mainly comes from its ingredients, which are made from real delicacies such as ham and old chicken.

The reason why shark fin is highly regarded is also related to the so-called health culture of the Chinese people.

Traditional Chinese medicine believes that shark's fin can "replenish qi, replenish deficiency, and appetize." Modern gourmets say that "shark's fin is extremely rich in nutrients" and "rich in collagen, which can prevent bone aging and nourish the skin."

From a nutritional perspective, shark fins do not have special nutritional value.

Its main component is collagen, which is a protein.

Collagen eaten by people is digested into amino acids in the gastrointestinal tract and then absorbed by the body.

No matter what protein you eat, it is digested into the amino acids that make up the protein.

Therefore, the nutritional value of shark fin is not particularly obvious, and it is not as good as fish meat containing complete protein.

Another shark fin can kill a shark. From an animal protection point of view, it is indeed a bit cruel.

The above are the reasons why foreigners do not eat shark fin.

Let’s talk about bird’s nests. In addition to Chinese people, people from Southeast Asian countries also like to eat bird’s nests. The foreigners who don’t eat bird’s nests here probably refer to people from Western countries.

There are probably several reasons why they don't like eating bird's nests. First, they think bird's nests are made of swallow saliva, which is very unclean and disgusting just thinking about it, just like the reason why they don't eat chicken feet.

Then there’s the eating habits. In Westerners’ recipes, they don’t even know how to make bird’s nests.

Then it is related to animal protection. They believe that the swallows' nests are made by swallows with hard work to reproduce their offspring, and people cruelly tear down the swallows' nests as food for their own appetites.

Then there is scientific research. There is nothing special about the nutritional content of bird's nest.

The above is the general reason why foreigners don’t eat shark fin and bird’s nest.