Redefining Delicacy

Was gonna post this yesterday but never got around to it. It's more of an afterthought on a first-hand account of a BBC correspondent’s misadventure in China's penis emporium where the word 'delicacy' spelt a platter of sexual organs of animals... Well, what intrigued me about this was the whole absurdity of the Chinese. In the land where pagodas cleaving the sky originally symbolised the human male sex organ, where worshipping phallic symbols and sex was the norm, where birds and squirrels were common symbols for the penis, where other symbols include the turtle, snake and calabash, where even mountains and hills symbolised the male and female organs for their life-like shapes and have been worshipped for generations… feasting on a penis hotpot has become a status issue. The unusual selection of “delicacies” that have take the country by storm include the male organs of dog's (their argument: dog meat is low in cholesterol and boosts the male sex drive), donkey (supposedly good for the skin!??), snake (I never knew they had two penises), and worst of all – patrons are ready to cough up $5,700 for most rare of all dishes – the tiger penis! (The poor animal has been stripped of every possible part of its anatomy… and to think the illegal trade has been diminishing the species… but obviously one should take into consideration the urgency of a Chinese high hat's decision to order the uncommon dish and show off the money he makes to all and sundry.
While I've known that the Chinese can stomach just about anything, I simply found it ironic that they’d eat what their culture has worshipped from time immemorial. I realize that it’s not the animal's sex organs that they revered, it’s the symbol of the male sex organ nonetheless… and for the Chinese it’s all about the symbols. Guess they’d also be more than happy to feast on the Chinese dragon - the symbol that has come to represent China - had it not been a mythical creature!