Whales: Big, Cute, Lovable, Edible
If you listen to pint-sized actre-vist Hayden Panettiere**, whaling is all about cruelty, mercury, and Osama bin Laden. But if you choose to shape your views with the input of people who are not 18 years old, and who are not best known for wearing a form-fitting cheerleader’s outfit, you might learn that people eat whales because whale taste falls somewhere between excellent and passable.
You might also be interested to learn that sixty-five years ago, Time reported whale steaks (which were being reintroduced into the U.S., presumably to broaden the American diet during wartime) were set to sell at about 35ยข a pound in the U.S.
Norwegian recipe for whale steaks with herbs here. In lieu of buying illegal whale meat online, check out Carvel’s Fudgie the Whale MySpace page here. Amazon’s Japanese shop sells no whale meat, but does sell a Happy Whale mobile. Celebrate the late Swedish pop group Whale here.
**Panettiere’s opposition to whaling at least seems more rational and genuine than that of this Aussie columnist, who would “eat the sucker” abroad but doesn’t want it sold at home under some convoluted theory of cultural imperialism. His basic argument is that it’s wrong to impose his moral views about food on the world when he’s abroad — which is probably right — but he’s fine with telling his countrymen that they can’t eat what he’s just eaten abroad.
