Arctic Appetizers - more on the Canadian Seal Saga

O.k. here is the latest in my Seal Saga - just after I thought we had heard the last of it, all the hub-bub had died down surrounding Gen Jean’s culinary escapades - I came across this story in the “Nunavut News.” (Where did you think I get this stuff - the New York Times?)

It seems that all the fuss about General Jean has sparked a few entrepreneurial light bulbs a flashing. What’s the old saying “even bad press is good press?” Can’t pay for advertising like that. Inuit leaders want to capitalize on the promotional bonanza offered by images broadcast around the world of Canada's vice-regal munching on a raw slice of seal heart

They have reason for optimism: One Montreal restaurateur says his seal orders have doubled thanks to the media frenzy, and now account for two-thirds of his total appetizer sales.
The premier of Nunavut hopes more southerners follow the lead of General Jean and add to their diet what the locals call "country food" -- not just seal, but Arctic char, caribou, and muskox.

“YEESH” - what ever happened to plain old hamburger helper? You've seen it being eaten on your television screen. Now, people of the Arctic have visions of their food on your plate.

In a region desperate for economic activity -- the employment rate in Nunavut is just 58 per cent -- there are dreams of southern palates, and wallets, opening to the spoils of their land.
There's one big obstacle in getting the food down south: there are no roads to these Arctic communities, and shipment by boat or plane is painfully expensive.

"We have all these wonderful, highly nutritious foods," Premier Eva Aariak said in an interview.
"It's straight from the land. If only we had the infrastructure” Hmm…no preservatives. I would imagine it is Organic as well.

The Governor General can attest to the tastiness of country food. During their stay, Jean and her entourage were treated to succulent musk ox ribs topped in a demi-glaze sauce, and canapes of Arctic char, which resembles salmon or trout in colour, texture and taste. (o.k. I got to quit here….I have not even finished my morning coffee)

But none of those meals captured international headlines like the video of Jean slicing and sampling a seal. Jean said the blubbery mammal had a texture like sushi -- but with a meatier flavor. The premier agrees it tastes like meat, only with a subtle fishy flavor derived from the animal's steady diet of marine life.

“Subtle” fishy flavor?

Although fatty flipper pies are a favorite of Newfoundlanders, seal is a rare find on Canadian menus. One restaurateur who offers seal in unusual appetizers can't believe his good fortune.
Customers have been gobbling up the $13-$15 seal tartar with capers; rare seal tataki; and seal smoked meat from the appetizer menu at Montreal's Au Cinquieme Peche. "It's the most expensive item on our appetizer menu," Lenglet said. "But there's been so much publicity on this that seal now represents two-thirds of our appetizer sales. . . They have doubled."

But building a viable industry would require new infrastructure in Nunavut -- where there are no commercial ports for shipping and no highways connecting the tiny hamlets to one another.
To a visiting passenger, an Arctic community seen from an airplane can resemble a few specks of sand dropped in the middle of a frozen hockey rink.

Airfare even within the region can cost $3,000, and a plane ticket from Nunavut's capital to Canada's capital runs around $2,000. That's one of the reasons so many Inuit rely on hunted food, rather than shelling out more than $20 at the grocery shop for frozen chicken shipped up from southern Canada.

And, just maybe, better infrastructure might drive down the price someday of a seal surf and turf so the rest of us could pick up some Seal steak from lets say Super Store. You know - one gets so tired of Lobster in the maritimes……and I yet to hear any reports of “Mad Seal Disease.”


Til later