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

CANADA COMMITS IT'S FIRST ACT OF TERROISM!

Earlier this week as the North Koreans were setting off fireworks with no holiday to speak of in site, Canada fired a shot across the mighty warship bow of the world. Led by our illustrious leader, no not Stephen Harper, the other one - our Governor General Michaelle Jean used a traditional Inuit 'WMD' or weapon of mass destruction, an ‘Ulu” and sliced off a piece of seal heart and….ATE IT! Take that world…. ha hahhhh!!!!!

You know its big news when CNN and MSNBC both cover the story. I don’t know if they covered it just to make us look bad (like always depicting Canada with snow on the ground) or if the Americans are just shopping around for a new war, but both networks aired this world shattering event in prime time.

O.k. it was a slow news day, but still…..

We pissed off the Queen too no less. General Jean , is the representative of Britain's Queen Elizabeth II as Canada's head of state. It seems General Jean did not check with her boss before doing this, and well the palace is miffed at this misstep of etiquette, a feau paux of royal proportions it seems, and they were not amused. It was a seal....not a Corgi for god's sake!

Kicking off a week long visit to Nunavut on Monday as part of the territory's 10th anniversary celebrations, at a community festival in the central Nunavut community of Rankin Inlet. General Jean ate a slaughtered seal's raw heart in a show of support to the country's seal hunters, a display that a European Union spokeswoman on Tuesday called "too bizarre to acknowledge."

After cutting through the flesh, General Jean turned to the woman beside her and asked: "Could I try the heart?" She swallowed a piece whole and deemed it tasty, saying: "It's like sushi. ... And it's very rich in protein." Well o.k……..maybe not quite like sushi, but it was near lunchtime and she was probably just trying to be nice after all.

General Jean snacking on a slain seal's raw heart has also sparked criticism from animal rights groups who believe Canada's annual seal hunt is cruel, poorly monitored and provides little economic benefit. Sealers and Canadian authorities say it is sustainable, humane and provides income for isolated communities. General Jean, whose post is largely ceremonial, defended the hunt as an eons-old traditional hunting practice that is not inhumane.

I mean these are not the same guys that run around clubbing baby seals, dodging Sir Paul McCartney and Greenpeace. Its not like they are selling seal flippers or whiskers as aphrodisiacs to the Chinese, seal meat is a dietary staple in the Arctic. What else are these people supposed to do to get the daily requirement of protein.…call Domino's?

Barbara Slee, an anti-seal hunt campaigner at the International Fund for Animal Welfare in Brussels, said she was disgusted by Jean's actions. "The fact that the Governor General in public is slashing and eating a seal, I don't think that really helps the cause, and I'm convinced that this will not change the mind of European citizens

“It amazes us that a Canadian official would indulge in such bloodlust," Dan Mathews, senior vice-president of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, told the Toronto Star. "It sounds like she's trying to give Canadians an even more Neanderthal image around the world than they already have”

Neanderthal? Bloodlust? Holy Muck luck Hannah…who are these people?

EU governments are to sign the ban into law on June 25th after the European Parliament voted overwhelmingly to impose the measure. EU rule has some exemptions. The new EU rule offers narrow exemptions so Inuit communities from Canada, Greenland and elsewhere can continue traditional hunts, but bars them from large-scale trading of their pelts and other seal goods in Europe. EU voted to impose a ban on seal products on grounds that the seal hunt is cruel.

I don’t know if a photo op with a dead seal really falls under the category of “Seal Products.” But what do I know…apparently I am a Neanderthal.

Next week our other illustrious leader, Stephen Harper, is also making a little trip up there. It seems he too will be partaking in a little snowshoe schmoozing, probably worried that his “anti-Michael Ignatieff -he’s not a real Canadian” ads aren’t being picked up on satellite or something. When asked if he too would partake in a little seal heart a spokesperson replied, “Well lets just say that Mr. Harper is not a Vegetarian”.

$100 bucks says he brings his own lunch.

Til later