When Claudia Li was a little girl, she used to beg her grandmother to take her out for dim sum so she could have her favourite food. Growing up in Canada, Li would get startled looks from non-Chinese friends when she confessed to how much she enjoyed eating chicken feet.
'I asked my grandmother why do Chinese people eat chicken feet and she told me, 'Chinese people don't like to waste, so we eat every part of the animal's body,'' says Li, 24, who was born in Vancouver.
A few years ago, inspired by a documentary, Li decided something should be done about a less laudable Chinese culinary practice. She started Shark Truth, an organisation aimed at discouraging Chinese-Canadians from serving shark's fin soup at wedding banquets.
'I remember being told that this was a very expensive dish and that I was lucky to get it on this special occasion,' says Li, of the first time she tried the delicacy, at an upmarket Vancouver restaurant. 'It's only now I have learned the atrocious consequences of shark's fin soup.'
Shark Truth has been able to convince dozens of couples to leave the soup off their banquet menus.
Li's mother, an entrepreneur, and her father, a computer programmer, moved from Hong Kong to Vancouver in 1984 to seek better career opportunities. Li grew up in a traditional household with a tight-knit family that included her grandmother and aunt. While her parents worked long hours, Li's grandmother and aunt took care of the children. Daily trips to Chinatown, to buy fresh produce for family dinners, were a regular occurrence.
After finishing high school, Li studied at the Chinese University of Hong Kong before relocating to Glasgow, Scotland, to work as a business consultant. Having returned to Vancouver, she is now employed by another conservation group and dedicates her spare time to spreading the message about shark's fin soup.