Bird's nest soup

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The key ingredient of bird-nest soup

An island in southern Thailand where bird nests are collected

A bowl of bird's nest soup

Bird's nest soup (Traditional Chinese: 燕窩; pinyin: yàn wō, literally "swallow's nest") is a delicacy^[1] in Chinese cuisine.

A few species of swift, namely cave swifts, are renowned for building the nests used to produce the soup's unique texture. Such edible bird's nests are among the most expensive animal products consumed by humans. The nests have been traditionally consumed in China for over four-hundred years, most often as Bird's Nest Soup.^[2] When dissolved in water, the birds' nests have a gelatinous texture. Bird's nest soup can either be served as a savory soup or sweet, as tong sui.

The most heavily harvested nests are from the White-nest swiftlet (Aerodramus fuciphagus) and the Black-nest swiftlet (Aerodramus maximus) (Gausset, 2004). The white nests and the “red blood” nests are supposedly rich in nutrients which are traditionally believed to provide health benefits, such as aiding digestion, raising libido, improving the voice, alleviating asthma, increasing concentration, and an overall benefit to the immune system.^[2]

The nests are built during the breeding season by the male swiftlet over a period of 35 days. They take the shape of a shallow cup stuck to the cave wall. The nests are composed of interwoven strands of salivary laminae cement. Both nests have high levels of calcium, iron, potassium, and magnesium. The nests also contain argan oil^{[verification needed]} made from argan nut.^[1]

Hong Kong and the United States are the largest importers of these nests.^[1] In Hong Kong a bowl of Bird Nest Soup would cost $30 to $100 US dollars.^[2]^[3] A kilogram of white nest can cost up to $2,000, and a kilogram of “red blood” nest can cost up to $10,000. The white nests are commonly treated with a red pigment, but methods have been developed to determine an adulterated nest.

The nests are traditionally harvested from high up on cave walls. There is some risk to the collectors who stand on bamboo scaffolding that is sometimes hundreds of feet tall and centuries old - with obvious repairs. Over the past twenty years, the demand, the price, and the overexploitation of these nests have increased. The string of people involved in the trade of swiftlet nests has led to the mismanagement of a once sustainable system. Laws governing how the nests are harvested are implemented in each cave^[4]. One common system allows the licensed harvesters to take the first nest, allow the bird to build a second nest which she can remain in until her chicks have fledged, and only then is the harvester allowed to take the second nest. Unfortunately, harvesters will take a nest once it is large enough, whether or not eggs or chicks are present. Most caves have one season for harvest but thieves steal nests throughout the year. Because these rules are often broken the swiftlet population has dropped, putting swiftlets on the protected species list.

The penalty for stealing nests is not large enough to deter thieves. Some believe that taking all the nests provides some degree of benefit to the swiftlets because the female will not lay her eggs in an old nest. Old nests line the cave walls where new nests could be built. Whether or not this idea of ‘cave cleaning’ benefits the swiftlet population, indiscriminate nest-collection endangers the swiftlet population.

Some bird-nest merchants in southeast Asia (Vietnam, Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia etc.) have started to raise and breed the swiftlets in house-like structures. They build the shelters to attract wild swiftlets to build nests in them. The wrong kind of nests are then destroyed along with the eggs inside. Over time, the selection process leaves behind a colony of swiftlets that produce the right kind of nest for the trade. "House nests" are priced much lower than "cave nests" due to the risks involved in harvesting the latter.

[edit] References & Notes

^ ^a ^b ^c Marcone, Massimo F. (2005) "Characterization of the edible bird's nest the Caviar of the East". Food Research International 38:1125-1134.
^ ^a ^b ^c Hobbs, Joseph J. (2004) "Problems in the harvest of edible birds’ nests in Sarawak and Sabah, Malaysian Borneo." Biodiversity and Conservation 13: 2209-2226.
^ "Bird-nest Soup, Anyone?" by Therese Park, Koreabridge Writings, 8 February 2005.
^ Gausset, Quentin.(2004) "Chronicle of a Foreseeable Tragedy: Birds' Nests Management in the Niah Caves (Sarawak)." Human Ecology 32: 487-506.

Lau, Amy S.M. and Melville, David S. (April 1994) International Trade in Swiftlet Nests with Special Reference to Hong Kong Traffic Network 35pp. ISBN 1-85850-030-3