Sealing, In Good Taste

You know what I think of when I see a photo of a seal? Dinner.

There’s nothing like a feed of seal flippers in the spring. Nothing tastes like seal - it’s dark, rich, fishy, oily. And that dark gravy over mashed potatoes? Oh boy!

Those who don’t like seal meat or think the mammals are too cute to eat will no doubt label me a barbarian. But what’s the issue really? Is a seal’s life any more valuable than a cow’s? A chicken’s? A pig’s? For those who don’t eat meat, it’s all the same. And for those who do eat meat, it should still be all the same.

Why kick up such a fuss over hunting a thriving population of wild animal? Because a celebrity in some distant sphere of their own has chosen seals as their cause célèbre? Because the anti-sealing movement has been successful at making “saving seals” trendy? You know what’s also trendy? Free range food is trendy. You can’t get more free range than living wildly on a moving ice floe. Organic is trendy. There are no hormones or antibiotics injected into seals to make them more profitable; nothing genetically modified about their meat; no pesticides sprayed on their food sources. Omega-3 fatty acids are trendy. Seal meat is rich in essential omega-3 oils, and the meat is a good source of dietary protein and iron.

Granted, seal meat is an acquired taste. Most of my friends can’t stand it or, more commonly, have never tried it. But I don’t give them a hard time about it, and they don’t go all crazy on me for eating it. We’re still friends and nobody gets hurt. That’s just sensible, isn’t it? - By Janice Stuckless, Downhome Editor