That would be different

That tiger meat is thought by some to pass on to those who consume it the tiger’s strength, cunning and potency is hardly surprising. And, we suppose, as sparks of free enterprise flash faintly inside China, we ought not be surprised that some enterprising entrepreneur might seek to take advantage of that traditional superstition.

Enter the proprietors of the Hufulou restaurant (pictured above), who offered stir-fried tiger meat with hot peppers for 800 yuan (US$98), which could be accompanied by a nice wine flavored with tiger bone for 600 yuan (US$74). Raw tiger meat was reportedly available for 7,000 yuan per kilo, or about $430 per pound.

And the Hufulou had a local tie-in, a special hook to draw patrons: it’s right down the road from the Hengdaohezi Siberian Tiger Park, China's largest Siberian tiger breeding center. A waiter in the restaurant, asked the source of the meat, explained that “the owner of the restaurant had good connections within the tiger park and could get the meat of dead tigers.”

Of course even in China tigers are an endangered species, and provided with considerable protection, not the least of which is from becoming dinner for dissipated tourists.

Accordingly, Government Officials (of which the People’s Republic has a plethora), closed down the restaurant and confiscated the tiger meat.

But wait, protested Ma Shikun, the owner: it’s not really tiger meat that he was selling, but instead nothing more than common donkey meat that had been soaked in tiger urine so as to “give the dish a ‘special’ flavor.” Of which claim we have no doubt.

We know that our readers are wholly capable of providing their own punch line for this story, along the lines of it following in the great tradition of Chinese cooking, or of rewarding the owner for his ingenuity with an appearance on Iron Chef, or of demonstrating that the great Chinese people clearly are entirely ready for capitalism.

Chinese Government officials, however, were not amused, and confiscated Mr. Shikun’s profits.

From the English-language version of the China Daily.