Saturday, September 26, 2009

A Tale of Whale

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I have the dubious distinction of being the great-granddaughter of a whaler. Dubious because it is now politically incorrect to even talk about killing whales. Yet at one time there were about ten commercial whaling stations operating in the Caribbean, in St. Vincent and the Grenadines, in Barbados, Trinidad and Grenada. Today under international agreement, Bequian whalers can harpoon no more than two whales per year. The whale is caught by traditional methods of hand thrown harpoons in small, open, sailing boats. The catch is not sold and is exclusively used for local consumption. It is given away to family and friends.


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How does something like this end up on my breakfast table? Simple. The men in my family are seafarers. I would hesitate to call them romantic but for some reason they romaticize a meal of whale meat.

These are taciturn men. Men who can spend all day looking out across the bay with a pair of binoculars without saying a word or it would seem even moving an inch. They are men of slow grunts and uhhms for conversation. The ship captains among them have permanent squints from staring for hours on end at vast empty horizons. Apart from an almost a voyeuristic love of listening to VHF channel 16 and its call and distress conversations - silence and monotony are their thing. That is unless there is whale meat on the table. Then they come to life. They become animated. They trade stories about their adventures at sea. To hear them, you'd swear that they battled the beast themselves. And while they don't actually beat their chests and say 'Arrrgh', as cousin A put it, "The way they carry on it's like, hoist the flag fellas we gah(got) whale!" You'd swear they sat in that boat themselves like the late, Athneal Ollivierre risking life and limb to bring it to the table.

11 comments:

  1. ya know what's sad? i'm so naive, i had no idea that people ate whale. sad. what you've done with it is extremely colorful! incidentally, "flense" is one of my favorite random words.

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  2. Your blog is super. So are your photographies. They make me hungry. I have spent a nice moment when seeing them. Thanks a lot.

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  3. The first photograph, is that of fresh whale meat or it is cured? When/if it is cured, is it cooked pretty much the same way one would cook salt fish?

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  4. Grace - a few aboriginal peoples have permission from the IWC (International Whaling Commission) to hunt whales as their small catch is not seen as a threat to whale populations. The variety seen here is humpback which is listed as a whale species of least concern...Japan is the biggest consumer of whale meat and have been accused of hunting threatened and endangered species.BTW Thanks for the vocab lesson I did not know that:-)

    Elenora. Thanks for your kind comments

    Cynthia - the first picture is of the blubber which I am told is boiled to get the oil which is supposed to be good for you (like cod liver oil). I held back on the pic of the raw meat itself as it was pretty gross looking in my opinion. What we got was a salted piece of whale and yes prepared in a similar manner to saltfish but don't expect a fish taste since it tastes like beef.

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  5. While I'm an animal-lover type and I hate hunting, I don't have a problem with it when the kill is actually going to be consumed entirely and it's not purely for sport or to satisfy some "delicacy" niche as with the Japanese whale-hunting.
    I had never seen a slice of whale before so there's an education in what blubber really looks like. I love your description of the whalers, it reminds me of a line in a movie where one character tells the other that his problem is that he has two modes of expression: silence and rage. I bet you must have a whole different perspective on "Moby Dick".

    PS: Only try the puff pastry when it's as cool as it can be where you are, I wouldn't torture myself with it if I lived where you do otherwise.

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  6. This is one of the most interesting food posts I've read in a very long time. I had NO idea -- well except for the fact regarding Japan. Definitely "food for thought."

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  7. What a fascinating read! I wonder what it is about whale that turns them from the silent types into such talkative creatures! :)

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    1. Its the reliving of their seafaring stories, I think

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  8. I think it's the fact that eating whale is a special occasion that brings them to life. The mighty whale! You tell a good story - I like how you led up to it. Very sweet.

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  9. Wizzy, ahhh, how I enjoyed that description of the taciturn men.

    I'm going to dip into this blog some more this weekend, it sure looks delish.

    Give Moby Dick to your whale-loving relatives this book to read.

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  10. Intriguing post. Extremely well-written and my first insight into eating whale meat. And yes, I do imagine it's rich in omega-3s, those so-good-for-us fatty acids.

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