Turtle soup is a delicacy in many countries, but serving real turtle soup is illegal due to the endangered status of most turtles. Turtle meat is considered a luxury dish with a unique taste and high nutritional value. Mock turtle soup is a substitute made with organ meats, calf’s head, and calf’s foot. The demand for turtles for food is similar to the story of the shark, where the use of shark fins in soup made the dish a popular delicacy and led to aggressive hunting.
Turtle soup is any soup or stew that uses the soft meat of a turtle. It is a delicacy in many countries. Different countries, however, use their own local turtle species, so turtle soup is still generally different from country to country. Northern hemisphere countries like the United States and the United Kingdom use green turtles in their soups, while southern hemisphere countries like China use soft shell turtles. Other varieties use even more common turtle species, such as the snapping turtle.
Turtle meat is considered a luxury dish because it has a very unique taste. Some have even gone so far as to claim that turtle meat has seven different tastes, depending on which part of the turtle you cook and consume. Furthermore, turtle meat is said to be very high in calcium, B vitamins, phosphorus and zinc, while being low in calories.
Serving real turtle soup, however, has been illegal in most countries. This is largely due to the fragility of turtle populations when subjected to human interference. Because a turtle is capable of laying thousands of eggs during its lifetime, the loss of numerous breeding adults can have a large impact on the stability of turtle populations in an area. Turtle farms have been established in some countries, although they have not been able to keep up with the demand. These factors have made turtle meat quite expensive in most markets; this, unfortunately, causes the turtles to catch the eyes of illegal poachers who continue to capture and kill wild turtles for sale at high prices.
Due to the endangered status of most turtles, the trapping of most wild turtle species is strictly monitored, if not outright prohibited. People have learned to use other meats as substitutes for turtle meat. This has led people to come up with dishes like “mock turtle soup,” which use organ meats, calf’s head, and calf’s foot as substitutes for the unique texture and taste of turtle meat. People use different combinations of meat in mock turtle soup to mimic the so-called seven flavors of turtle meat.
The demand for turtles for food is similar to the story of another endangered animal: the shark. The use of shark fins in the soup for their texture made the dish such a popular Chinese delicacy that sharks were more aggressively hunted for their fins. These days, shark fin soup is a very expensive and valuable dish.
Protect your devices with Threat Protection by NordVPN
