Obama Shark Fin Soup Controversy: POTUS Criticized For Visit To San Francisco Restaurant

There are a few boxes a serious food lover is obliged to check off when visiting San Francisco: a burrito joint, a temple of California cuisine, a house of dim sum. So President Obama was just trying to be thorough by popping into a Chinatown establishment to pick up some dumplings and buns in the course of his Bay Area voyage. But of all the dozens of restaurants he could have visited, he (or, more likely, his advance team) chose what may have been the worst possible one: Great Eastern restaurant.

The big problem with Great Eastern is that it serves shark fin soup, which is the product of what is widely considered one of the cruelest animal treatment practices on earth, shark finning. Shark finning is also doubly illegal in San Francisco; it's banned by both California and federal law. Critics have been quick to note that Obama himself signed the Shark Conservation Act into law last January.

Great Eastern's sale of three kinds of shark fin soup, ranging in price from $28 to $48, is not in itself illegal. California restaurants have until July 1, 2013 to sell off their remaining stock of shark's fins. And Obama didn't order anything remotely resembling the delicacy. According to the San Francisco Chronicle, he stuck to the safer waters of "shrimp dumplings, pork dumplings, steamed pork buns, Shanghai dumplings and stuffed mushrooms."

That hasn't stopped animal rights advocates from pouncing on his choice of restaurant. Nor, for that matter, has the shark fin connection been the only line of attack. SF Weekly food critic Jonathan Kauffman said that Obama should have known better than to go to such a middling dim sum establishment. And HuffPost UK took a comedic -- and non-culinary -- tack by noting that many of the pictures taken at Obama's Great Eastern trip show one of the proprietor's hands in an unseemly location.

Here's a slideshow of pictures from the visit:

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Comments

[wttrppr]

01:26 PM on 02/20/2012

I was trying to figure if this would affect my decison on who to vote for next November? Then, I remembered that I wounldn't vote for this guy if he was running against Daffy Duck.

So, nope.... the shark fin controversy makes no difference at all.

[1hotgolfer]

02:06 PM on 02/20/2012

Daffy Duck, who was elected in 2000 and again in 2004, isn't eligible to run in 2012.

[PBOHIO]

07:24 PM on 02/20/2012

OMG,,,I'm still laughing at your reply 1hot,,,,,,You go guy, or gal....

[SeaOtterBaby]

10:49 PM on 02/20/2012

Why, that's desthpthicable!!!

[pab08]

12:56 PM on 02/20/2012

"The worst possible choice?"
Really? I think that there are a few worse choices that could have been made:
1) A restaurant that openly employs illegals
2) A restaurant next to a medical marijuana clinic
3) A restaurant owned by the mob
4) A restaurant staffed by illegal child labor
5) A restaurant frequented by a radical Muslim Cleric

The author of this article needs to get out of the Bay Area once in a while and get a real understanding of what constitutes a real political mistake in a restaurant choice.

[1hotgolfer]

02:16 PM on 02/20/2012

The author, whom I'm not defending or criticizing, is reporting on reactions from those "vulchers" who would complain of this man using toilet paper because it's a product of tree origins.

[dispagi]

09:56 PM on 02/22/2012

What's wrong with medical marijuana clinics? Have you ever known someone struggling through chemotherapy that was able to tolerate the devastating nausea with a bit of weed? I'm guessing no.

[pab08]

10:38 PM on 02/22/2012

Stop inserting your political agenda. My point was that Obama could have eaten someplace that would have allowed effective political attacks from the GOP

[Shewolf68]

12:55 PM on 02/20/2012

His appearance looks like he upset thoise customers...you can see by the smiling faces!

That said, it makes sense to be there to again highlight the issue of Shark fin soup illegality.

Besides, get a grip, he didn't order SFS so stop inventing situations that don't exist!

[AndrewM24]

12:42 PM on 02/20/2012

Political genius. Look at the people in the pictures. Every immigrant who feels that they are not a part of this country will eat this up.

[relentless63]

12:41 PM on 02/20/2012

The restaurant is allowed to serve whatever shark fin stock they have. The controversy is a media invention. Hope the Prez had some good eats!

[BobSacomano]

12:40 PM on 02/20/2012

This is an oversight on the part of his team, the fact that he signed the shark protection Bill says it all.

[XzibitX]

12:28 PM on 02/20/2012

Pork dumplings? I thought he was supposed to be Muslim? I guess he's just trying to throw us off by ordering pork dumplings. Yeah, that must be it.

[HeliosOne]

12:35 PM on 02/20/2012

I don't believe him that he ordered pork. I want him to produce his long form check!

[XzibitX]

12:38 PM on 02/20/2012

How about a stoo| sample?

[BlogFans]

12:26 PM on 02/20/2012

Hah! wow, talk about an over-reaching silly story.

All the Sharks in the Ocean say they'll vote for Obama anyway.

[Giz]

12:22 PM on 02/20/2012

And in further breaking news: "Obama motorcade drives along the SAME street as strip club. Critics are saying he and his advance team should have planned a better route...."

[ConservativeCory]

12:18 PM on 02/20/2012

Yeah I'm going to go ahead and put this in the "not a problem drawer".

[Deli]

12:18 PM on 02/20/2012

Eff off, dooshbaggers.

[LONDON3]

12:14 PM on 02/20/2012

Really, umm I doubt this will lose him any votes .......

Should we re-visit where other Presidents or candidates have dined .....Wow, talk about reaching

[priscianusjr]

12:29 PM on 02/20/2012

I think he's lost the shark vote, though.

[LONDON3]

12:34 PM on 02/20/2012

LOL

[jerich4]

12:13 PM on 02/20/2012

First Abortion, then contraception, then premarital sex, now its shark fin soup?????????????? I don't get it.

[Dead Che]

12:11 PM on 02/20/2012

It's really tough being politically correct these days.

[Transcendentobserver]

12:09 PM on 02/20/2012

Come on...Surely you jest! An item on a menu is a guage of a President's visitation permissibles? Huffpo, you pealed the fringe to post this one.

[PBOHIO]

07:28 PM on 02/20/2012

Actually,,I'm glad they posted it. It shows the complete absurdity of the GOP..

[SusanElizabeth1949]

10:34 AM on 02/21/2012

My guess is that it is the animal rights types whining here.