Whale meat back on Osaka school lunch menus

[Rob Pongi]

http://mdn.mainichi.co.jp/news/20021...fp018000c.html

IKEDA, Osaka -- Children at public elementary schools in Ikeda will be feed whale meat with their school lunches for the first time in 23 years, education officials said Saturday.

Officials said they chose whale meat because of its high protein value and to teach children about whaling, which they claim has made a significant contribution to Japanese food culture in particular through the ages.

If children show a liking for it, whale meat will remain on the menu throughout the 2003 academic year that runs from April 1 next year to March 31, 2004.

Whale meat was last on public school lunch menus in 1979, but stopped after that with the International Whaling Commission's ban on commercial whaling.

Thumbing its nose at criticism from much of the rest of the world, Japan catches several whales yearly, claiming it does so for research purposes. Ikeda's school lunch center applied to the Japan Cetacean Research Center for permission to use meat taken from whales ostensibly caught for research on its menus.

Most of the whales caught for "research purposes" end up being eaten.

The center gave the go ahead and Ikeda decided to use whale meat again from Nov. 18. Whale meat is slightly more expensive than beef. (Mainichi Shimbun, Nov. 30, 2002)

[Andocrates]

Hopefully they will hate it and the high fat content will make them sluggish.

[Anonymous]

yes he we go, sneak the whale meat back on the menu for the most impressionable minds. relive the "glory" days of whale hunting and how it saved Japan and promote it on TV.

Some students of mine said last week..."did you see the whales on TV?"

"OH I feel sorry for the whales" ......"BUT the fishermen love the whales" "Yes the fisherman love the whales"

this was the feel good message of the program.

Give it 3 years and full scale hunting will resume

[cstaylor]

It's all about money. Under current Japanese laws meat that has as little as 10% whale meat can be labelled as "whale meat". The question is: what's in that other 90%?

[Taro Toporific]

Originally Posted by Andocrates

Hopefully they will hate it and the high fat content will make them sluggish.

Actually, grilled whale is great. It's dolphin that really sucks. Oh, do NOT eat the whale "bacon"---it's terrible.
(Of course after eating whale, I'm thinking suckling babies might taste yummy.)
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