Pass on the Seal, Please

Yuck! The New York Times ran an article about a new "fish" that is appearing on the plates of some diners in Canada: seal. French chefs, in particular, are serving up all sorts of cuts and preparations of the "meat" and diners, especially tourists from France, seem to be gobbling it up.

All of which does not sit too well with this writer who has seen some of the brutal videos of the seal hunt in Canada. And while the Canadian government does permit two distinct seal hunts per year, I cannot imagine eating anything worse. And that pronouncement has nothing to do with the taste.

The first seal hunt permitted in Canada is one undertaken by the Inuits in the Arctic. It is characterized as a "small one" and its goal is to provide food for this native tribe. The second is a larger commercial one driven predominantly by the fur trade. Norway, Greenland and Nambia are the other countries that still permit commercial seal hunts. They were outlawed in the United States in 1972.

I actually have no problem with the Inuit hunt. Sustenance is legitimate and those who subsist on what they hunt are usually very judicious in their pursuit, realizing that they need to hunt again the following year. Commercial seal hunting, however, is cruel and inhumane and we certainly have an abundance of food in North America from which to choose. It seems to me we don't have to add seal to the menu.

Some of the chefs who have served it have indeed received hate mail. All have received notoriety, which certainly does not hurt in this tight economy. Still, it seems to me that we shouldn't be encouraging this practice in any way.