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Edible Bird Nest: an industry based on Chinese culture

Edible Bird Nest: an industry based on Chinese culture. Snow Ning Jiang May 8 th , 2009. What is edible bird nest?. The nests built by a few species of swiftlets The swiftlets mainly are living in deep caves or under the roofs of coves along the seashores in southeastern Asian countries.

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Edible Bird Nest: an industry based on Chinese culture

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  1. Edible Bird Nest: an industry based on Chinese culture Snow Ning Jiang May 8th, 2009

  2. What is edible bird nest? • The nests built by a few species of swiftlets • The swiftlets mainly are living in deep caves or under the roofs of coves along the seashores in southeastern Asian countries. • The nests are entirely out of gelatinous strands of its saliva • It’s known by its high nutrition and health benefits as a remarkable delicacy

  3. Two kinds of bird nest • White-nest Swiftlet (Aerodramus fuciphogus) “red-blood” nest: best and purest ones with high nutrition $2000 per kilogram $10,000 per kilogram • Black-nest Swiftlet (Aerodramus maximus)

  4. The legendary gourmet and tonic • Delicacy in Chinese cuisine only for the royalty and upper class • Rich in nutrients and health benefits: aiding digestion; improving voice; overall benefits to the immune system; boosting energy; raise libido; rejuvenate skin; nourishing Ying; useful in the treatment of AIDS(Chiang 2000: 397- 398); aphrodisiac.

  5. Scientific findings • The actual compositional properties of both white and red “blood” nests: proteinous material (62-63%), carbohydrate (25.62-27.26%), ash(2.1%), and lipid(2.1%, in descending order) • Limited nutrition: • Ovotranserrin-like protein(same as that in the eggs) to inhibit influenza infection (Marcone 2005: 1131). • Birds’ nest in itself is not a complete food protein. • “The water-soluble protein is destroyed during the cleaning process, and the therapeutic properties are lost” (Summers 1998)

  6. A cultural constructed delicacy and tonic? • Survey to 11 college students Nine Chinese; one from Malaysia; one from Singapore • Findings: • Flat, mild tasting with jelly like things in it • Most believe it’s good to their health but not exactly know • Bird nests are usually used to make soup with chicken or sugar • A decent gift and a symbol for wealth and prestige

  7. History of the bird nests trade Used medicinally in tradtional Chinese medicine dates back to Tang (618-907 AD) and Sung(960-1270 AD) dynasties.(Koon and Cranbrook 2002) Recorded literally first in Ming dynasty(1364-1683 AD) in travelling notes and used widely among royalties in Qing Dynasty(1636-1972) An exotic food for the Chinese; cultural meaning started being constructed at the origin

  8. An intra-Asia trade system • The international trade dates back to the Dutch East India Company (VOC). • VOC was pushed out of the trade by local rulers and competition from Asian traders • Why?? • the trading links with the China market were dominated by Chinese oversea commercial networks • The consumption market is mainly in the mainland China • The intra-Asia trade system based on Asian culture

  9. Production Process: calling for social just and safety • Dangerous nest-harvesting work --- men climbing hundreds of feet up on cave walls and need the use of temporary scaffolding made of bamboo • The labor intensive tedious cleaning process of the bird nests --- women carefully remove the adulteration young local women workers low wage only can be done by hands http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KILaD5SYDE4&feature=related

  10. Where does the profit go? • The shift of the management • The unequal share of the profits • cave owners – 10~30% • workers – 40% • traders -- 30- 50% • Big number of workers who risk the danger get the least profit

  11. Destroy to the ecosystem: Bird nest decline and other affects • The significant decline of the population of swiflets since 1980s with the increasing of the bird nest price. • Why? -- Physical and socio-economic causes • The increasing price result to over harvesting • The collection of guano • The invasion of green algae • The use of pesticides in the huge oil palm plantations close to the cave • The change of the ownership, involvement of different actors, leasing and subleasing arrangements • The lost of old taboo and harvesting tradition • People’s staying for 24 hours to prevent theft

  12. Alternatives • Protect the species of swiftlets • Encouraging swiftlests to breed on artificial structure • Making purpose-build buildings to harvest nests and increase the population of the swiftlets • More safety in collecting the bird nests • Small scale bird nest harvesting farm and increasing of small and medium industry

  13. Conclusions • A cultural and social constructed value of bird nests • Bird nest as a symbol of prestige and a wealth • The gender division and social just issue in the bird nests production • Bird nest industry is relatively less influenced by the global agriculture system as it’s based on the Chinese culture and Asian community • The destroy to ecosystem caused by the change of the management and other changes in agriculture which resulted from the globalization

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