I know they are extremely popular dishes in Japan and Norway. I've never had them before. Are they red or white meat? What type of whales are normally harvested for these? Do they taste more like other fish or are they similar to your average poultry (chicken, beef, lamb, pork, etc). Even though I have never tried them, I am definately not against the consumption of such animals.

You are in luck - it is Japan's whaling season!
Japan intends to kill a broader variety of whales this season for secretive 'research' purposes, before the meat is harvested and sold. Perhaps you could contact the Japanese Government's whaling agency via a website, or find info on the places where people choose freely to eat whales.

If whale meat, which reportedly is not very tasty, was extremely popular, wouldn't fishermen from other countries also be illegally killing them to supply the extreme demand?

I am against the killing of whales, supposedly protected species, for industrial-scale food production.

Interesting question, but I think you will need to travel to one of these countries to find your answer.

Can I quickly butt in here and say that although whale meat is certainly eaten in Japan, it is not 'extremely popular'. You'll have a job finding somewhere in Tokyo that will serve it to you.
Ther's a rec here: http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showt...88#post5588588

Most of the people I know who've ever eaten it only did so because of some program that encouraged(/s) schoolchildren to try it.

It's not 'extremely popular' at all, not with the general population.

My guess is that it isn't 'extremely popular' for similar reasons to why horsemeat isn't, even with people who feel no qualms about eating them. Unless you developed a taste for it growing up, it's probably not that great a culinary experience. Which could be why the government wants to expose children to their 'culinary heritage'. I actually don't really understand what the real agenda with pursuing an economically unviable and unpopular food such as Whale meat is for the Japanese government.

Blue fin tuna is overfished, it's found in the most exclusive restaurants and the price is high.

Whale meat is overfished, yet there is a restaurant in Shibuya that offers it as part of a 2,000yen menu, it's served as lunch to children at schools and you can get pieces of whale jerky for your dogs.

Any guess as to which tastes better?

Why not try some beer fed, hand massaged wagyu beef instead?

I'm not saying I am keen to sampling whale meat. Just curious to the contents and ingredients of where it came from.

Huh? Carbon? Water? Salt? Plankton??? And milk if it's young enough.

Anyway...
Lots of photos in that link I posted a link to:
http://www.kujiraya.co.jp/dish/list.html
Click on the images for more

Answers a lot of your questions (especially about colour - which will vary depending on what part of the animal is used, most will be a deep red, the skin/blubber will be white. I know Narwhal skin is rich in vitamin C, I have no idea about other whales, the only interest I have in this is tied up with learning about the traditional diet of the Inuit and other Northern peoples. If anyone knows why the traditional knives of the Inuit to slice mammal flesh are the same shape as the plectrums used to play the Biwa/Koto I'd love to hear from you!)

Has anyone tried whale milk? (Or other sea mammal milk?)
What does it taste like? How about whale milk shake?
I am definitely not against the consumption of such delicacies.

Just as I am not against the Japanese and Norwegians from consuming Whale, I am also not against Koreans consuming dogs nor Peruvians consuming Iguanas nor Texans consuming Armadillo, nor Aussies consuming Kangaroos.

Reason why whale meat is red is due to the whale not being bled. They can't bleed the animal because of its inherent size at sea.

The whale white meat is actually more fat (blubber) then meat.

As LapLap mentioned, it was kind of "forced" fed on you as part of a traditional lunch program in public school. Regular Japanese folks feel the international heat over whale killing and many of the younger generation don't feel its cool to eat it at all.

Great! Are you going to start threads on those too?

Around half of some whale species killed by Japanese in the Antarctic were pregnant.


Some research findings: What do dead foetus whales taste like? I suppose they are sold and consumed too, after the scientific testing has been completed.

What other protected species should we discuss as popular dishes?

This will remain news while a court case is run. I learnt a few things from this article, primarily that Japanese research is being run for the purpose of providing evidence to resume commercial whaling. Silly me, I thought it was for some other purpose!

There was a whale sighted near Sydney harbour today, one of the last of this year's whale watching season.

Whale watch news items here, for those who prefer to not eat this protected mammal, hunted almost to extinction.

I guess all the comments regarding whale meat is that some people ate whale meat forcingly meaning they ate it without knowing that it was whale and that the meat itself isn't healthy afterall. Doesn't make me want to try so anytime soon even though if the Japanese and Norwegians continue to include whale as part of their diet, I still have no objections.

:doubletake:

What comments are you referring to when you say that "some people ate it without knowing that it was whale meat"???

Are you looking at a different thread?

in japan i ate whale meat the first time in my life and i have to admit i love it.
it was fried (like から揚げ）

it tastes really good, better than chicken .

http://blog.livedoor.jp/numazucat/ar.../50908983.html

here is a restaurant serving fried whale! its super delicious.

anyway, to all the greenpeace activist here, dont worry in japan whale meat isnt very popular as many people were forced to eat it in school when they were young. as it was poor times when whale was served in school a lot people dont want to eat whale to remember the time when japan was poor.

but i have eaten whale, horse, dog (and dog was a bit aciddently) but its so supertasty that i would eat it again without a blink.

about dogs, you think that you can eat all dogs.. right. no, the dogs you can eat are the ones which are very similar to fox. and well even i had to really concentrate the first time i ate it... it was still better than beef .

but still if you know its dog its hard to get your mouth to open

Well, Im actually Norwegian, and yes, I have tasted whale meat several times. I guess it used to be real inexpensive back in the days, while it is EXPENSIVE today... Anyways. Doesnt taste really good, I would describe it as liver...

EDIT: And its not that common. Probably as common as liver, which isnt common in the US nor Norway.