The taste of a unique island, in four bites

White goat

White goat [Photo provided to China Daily]

Just as many Parisians travel to Normandy every oyster season for oysters, Shanghainese used to ferry for hours to Chongming during winter, before the Yangtze River tunnel and bridge opened in 2009, for a taste of the meat that the Chongming white goat yields. The goat, a protected species listed by the national agricultural department as the most important goat breed in the Yangtze River Delta region, is celebrated for its smaller size, tender meat, and free of the gamey odor common to many goats.

It is usually served after being boiled in water, with a dish of soy sauce. While the goat is available all year around, the tradition to savor it mostly in winter is believed to result from the saying that "One more dish of white goat on the table, one less cotton-padded jacket in the wardrobe", as in traditional Chinese medicines, goat is considered to generate and preserve human body heat.

However, the white goat's smallness, mainly because of its slower growth, is endangering the species as farmers are desperate to accelerate its growth by crossbreeding it with other goat types. Since 2007 the Shanghai Academy of Agriculture Science has had a special project to preserve the purity of the Chongming white goat. It has saved 300 embryos and 500 frozen sperm, which a researcher with the academy, Lin Yuexia, said are believed to be able to stay active for about 100 years.