鯨 (Kujira) is the Japanese word for whale. I asked on Twitter what others thought about eating whale. Got replies from neil, kaitensoshi and marisolita. Everyone had a slightly different opinion; a rainbow of answers from “no thanks, but might try to be polite” to “don’t think eating whale is wrong, just not in excess” to “no problem with it at all”. Actually, those were all the three answers I got.
Me don’t have much problem with eating whale. I wouldn’t order it, but If it’s on the table, I’ll probably pick it up. Had whale twice. Both times fried because the meat wasn’t sashimi fresh. Texture felt just like liver.
My general impression is that most Japanese do not have whale on a regular basis, if they consume any at all. I’ve heard from some that even though Japan might have consumed whale since way back in history, it was only during the postwar period when regular meat like chicken or pork was expensive and whale was cheap that it become more commonplace. The situation seems to have changed though. Whale is more expensive and not a whole lot of places carry it on their menu.
Probably Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home played a part too. ^^.
Btw, is there a term for whale meat? Like what beef is to cow?
Here’s an interesting read from The Washington Post.
So, how do you feel about eating whale?
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Missed out on your Twitter poll, so here’s the deal: Whale is delicious and I wish I had more opportunities to eat it. As it stands now, I haven’t had any since it popped up last semester in a school lunch. We had Whale Curry with a naan-like piece of bread. I used to frequent a Hawaiian-themed cafe in Kobe where the staff knew me and they would include some whale meat as a personal favor, but those days are long gone. I’m sure there’s plenty of good restaurants out there that have it, but I simply wouldn’t know where to begin. Whether it’s changing tastes or a simple lack of interest, few places seem to publicize their whale meat availability.
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I missed the twit too. I feel eating whale is bad if only because it promotes killing whales on a large scale commercially without regard for them. Had they been sustainably harvested from the start, it would have been no problem, but now worldwide, the problem of whales disappearing is growing ever larger, to the point where some species are likely already unable to recover from their losses thanks to commercial whaling.
I am fine with eating it, but I would not have it on even an occasional basis because of that.
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I have to agree with Panther there, and I’d never touch it myself. Then again it’s a given since I’m a vegetarian.
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I don’t have a problem with people like the Alaskan Natives eating whale meat. And no there isn’t a term for whale meat. We get the term beef from the French word for beef which is ‘boeuf’. You see a long time ago a French duke conquered the Anglo-Saxons of Britain and the Anglo-Saxons had to hand over their land to the French noblemen who came over to rule them.Thus they had french words for the food on the table and anglo-saxon words for when the food was alive and roaming the grounds [mainly because the anglo-saxons were the one who did the farming]. Some of the terminology exist today such as pork for pig meat. Short history and I probably missed alot but there you go. This was before whales were discovered.
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The texture of liver? No thanks. I was jokingly offered whale several times when I was in Japan this past spring, but every time I said yes, they would laugh and never bring up the subject. I guess they weren’t willing to pay for me!
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