The almost laughable nature of Japan’s ‘scientific’ whaling programme is so infamous that it needs no further explanation here, but possibly (albeit at a very large push), it would be a little more understandable if there was more honesty in regards the vast amount of post-science produce on the market, as, for Japan’s ever-growing older generation at least, whale is something of a special treat — the smell and taste of it taking them back to their younger days, when whale was not only standard fare, but also a staple of school lunches.
And yet that said, when presented with a plate full of the stuff,
such knowledge doesn’t necessarily make it any more palatable.
JaskaP says
Does it taste like chicken?
Lee says
Against my better judgement, and being more than a little hypocritical after the things I’ve written on this site regarding whaling, I ended up trying a bit, but it didn’t really taste of anything. It was, however, unbelievably chewy.
almostotaku says
I was at an izakaya one day that had whale, but didn’t try it. Should have when I had the chance.
PeterD says
Saw the movie “The Cove” a short while back, and one thing they said is that much of the “whale” meat being sold at stores in Japan was tested in a lab and is actually mislabeled dolphin meat from the area where The Cove was filmed. The movie makers were saying that it was purposely mislabeled as whale is worth more than dolphin. Of course, the movie makers are pushing a point of view, so always possible they aren’t giving the full info…
Trailer for the movie is available here: http://www.thecovemovie.com/
Lee says
That’s very interesting Peter. I’ve no idea how similar whale and dolphin meat is, but mislabeling is rampant here, so it wouldn’t exactly surprise me if there was some truth in it.
RM says
Japan, go fishing in your own back yard.
Stay out of our seas. How would you like it if came and fished in your seas? Get with the times, you don’t need to eat whales. At a time when we must look after our planet, you are way out of step with the rest of the world.
Pixel Hazard says
urgh, no thanks. I have norwegian friends and it’s not so odd for them either. Christmas apparently isn’t christmas without it.
Drew says
@RM
“At a time when we must look after our planet, you are way out of step with the rest of the world.”
Do a little research before you start spouting off non-sense. Japan is actually one of the most environmentally friendly nations in the world. Sure, they have a strange taste for whale meat but to say that they are out of step with the world just because they eat whale meat is utter non-sense.
Kafkaesque! says
I must say, it does look delicious and if I hadn’t known it’s whale, I’d probably eat it.
Bruce Hancock says
I recently started to actively seek out restaurants serving whale. It is expensive and actually quite hard to find in Tokyo.
I am so fed up with the western countries forcing their culture (which I personally think is forever tainted by hypocrisy) on Asian countries like Japan that I started to eat as much whale as I can find. It is a pleasant feeling to be able to get back at all those aggressive people who hide their hatred for foreigners behind allegedly good causes.
I am a German citizen, so I know what I am talking about. There are people in Germany actively discussing attacking Japanese tourists to get back at Japan for destroying the Sea Shepherd boat. Down with them!