Hi Martin, I fear this is a mind set very few westerners understand. I believe you need to visit an Asian country before you can grasp the difference in attitudes. Oddly, it is western culture that has changed, not the Asian.

I am old enough to remember the food shortages in the UK after WW2, then people were greatfull for whatever the got on a plate. Now times have changed, most would have no idea how to fillet a fish, kill and gut a rabbit or a chicken, we are just spoilt for choice.

Having a Chinese wife has taken me back to the days when there was no food to waste, you ate whatever you could get and were thankful for it.

The idea of having crayfish, crabs, prawns, or fresh fish for bait would have been inconceivable, yet now we waste that food source without giving it a second thought. I am as guilty of this waste as most, but my wife believes if it swims it can be eaten, and the prize part of any fish is the head and eyes. Perhaps this is why Maori are so keen to eat snapper heads, I have tried them, and groper heads, they are delicious.