In China, consumers ensure that the food they buy is fresh by buying live animals—chickens,
ducks, fish, frogs, and turtles, among others—and having the
animals butchered either in front of them in the market or at home. In the
United States, many Chinese immigrants continue this practice, sometimes to
the consternation of a segment of the American population that considers the
housing of these animals and their subsequent slaughter to be inhumane. In San
Francisco’s Chinatown, the Chinese desire for fresh meat led to a lawsuit in
1998 by animal rights activists against Chinatown’s market owners.