What’s your preference – lean whale tail or tasty tempura?
So what's the going rate for whale meat, parts or blubber?
Who knows. But those who’ve flocked to the Toti beach where a humpback whale beached on Thursday believe it’s a valuable commodity.
Makes sense, as it’s not everyday that a six-ton mammoth of the ocean drops in. Some estimate that they can fetch up to R3,000 for a chunk.
Some regale in stories of how tasty the meat is, with the neck being a particular favourite of an Umgababa resident who told the Sun how he boiled the meat up three times before slowly roasting the edges on the final leg of cooking.
Others relish the prospect the precious meat holds for their muti purposes. Every ailment from gangrene to virility can apparently be treated with this remedy, and even parts of the ill-fated whale’s penis were carted up the dune to be put to good use.
Website, thedailybeast makes a good case for the cultural differences that exist in the world, in relation to eating whale meat. “In the United States, serving whale meat can cost you decades of jail-time, while in Japan it costs about $10 for the whale tempura special.” In some Japanese supermarkets it sells for about $33 a pound.
Japan is set to sell whale meat acquired for “scientific research” directly to individuals and restaurants this year. The Japanese Fisheries Agency also plans to double its distribution of whale meat to school-lunch programmes, despite the high level of mercury contained in the meat, by reducing prices.
According to the Mainichi News, about 100 metric tons of whale meat is served in school lunches per year in Japan.
Time.com says whale meat with its heavily oxygenated, dark red color that suggests lean, high-protein muscle, resembles venison. Whale is high in the fatty acids DHA and EPA and low in cholesterol.
The Japanese typically serve the whale’s so-called lean meat — from the breast and the tail but back in sunny SA, it would be interesting to know just how much of the mammal’s carcass will end up in its final resting place in a hole above the high water mark. It’s bound to be a tenth of what rolled onto the beach on the rising tide last Thursday morning.
