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I tried Minke whale when I was in Iceland. Unfortunately for them, they taste very good - Maybe the best meat I've tried. It's like a cross between beef and tun

I tried Minke whale when I was in Iceland. Unfortunately for them, they taste very good - Maybe the best meat I've tried. It's like a cross between beef and tuna but with a deep, complex (and very slightly gamey) aftertaste. It was surprisingly cheap too. In spite of this, I'm not sure I would eat it again though; while eating it, I kept getting flashbacks of a video I saw of a whale being harpooned and pulled out of the water with blood everywhere. Rationally though, I don't know if eating whales is more immoral than eating other animals. On the plus side, if you kill a single whale, you can feed a lot of people; you could save several dozens of cows... Not to mention that you're saving the lives of millions of krill that would have been eaten by the whale that day. So if you're a shrimp sympathizer, then you should consider whaling a good thing. Personally, I can relate to feeling small and defenseless in this world so I can sympathize with the shrimp on some level.

paavoova 8y ago
I wouldn't eat whale simply due to its mercury, PCBs, and other bioaccumulated pollutant content: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5519659/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5519659/ For a 60 kg person, consumption of 100 g of whale meat with the highest concentration of Hg (i.e. MeHg) found in this study (0.49 mg/kg w.w.) would lead to an intake corresponding to 51% of the provisional tolerable weekly intake (PTWI) set by JECFA (1.6 µg/kg bw) or 63% of the tolerable weekly intake (TWI) set by EFSA (1.3 µg/kg bw) 100 grams of meat is very little as far as protein and calories are concerned, but already puts you at risk. Not safe to eat in any sufficient quantity.
ObsoleteNerd 8y ago
As someone with experience in animal farming (through family and friends), the whale issue seriously does confuse me. The way commercial meat farming is done is outright fucking disgusting. It's one of the biggest environmental issues of our era. Endangered species should be protected, absolutely. But if we're going to rag on countries for fishing un-endangered whales, it's very much hypocritical. "The IUCN Red List labels the common minke whale as Least Concern.[30] The Antarctic minke whale is listed as Data deficient.[31] COSEWIC puts both species in the Not At Risk category [1]. NatureServe lists them as G5 which means the species is secure on global range [2]." (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minke_whale https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minke_whale) For reference, I try eat as little meat in life as I can in general, and when I do eat it, I try to as ethical as possible. I'm not perfect, but I'm always trying to be better. I try not to judge other cultures on their eating habits though, when we're systematically destroying the planet so our cheeseburgers can be $1.
starpilot 8y ago
Minke whale population is super sustainable. They're cows of the sea.
emodendroket 8y ago
Yeah, it is definitely pretty tasty. I'm not sure that the harpooning is really much more gruesome than what happens to other animals we're going to eat.
pvaldes 8y ago
You would be saving the lives of millions of krill but sealing the fate of related millions of barnacles and whale lice...

paavoova 8y ago

I wouldn't eat whale simply due to its mercury, PCBs, and other bioaccumulated pollutant content: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5519659/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5519659/ For a 60 kg person, consumption of 100 g of whale meat with the highest concentration of Hg (i.e. MeHg) found in this study (0.49 mg/kg w.w.) would lead to an intake corresponding to 51% of the provisional tolerable weekly intake (PTWI) set by JECFA (1.6 µg/kg bw) or 63% of the tolerable weekly intake (TWI) set by EFSA (1.3 µg/kg bw) 100 grams of meat is very little as far as protein and calories are concerned, but already puts you at risk. Not safe to eat in any sufficient quantity.

ObsoleteNerd 8y ago

As someone with experience in animal farming (through family and friends), the whale issue seriously does confuse me. The way commercial meat farming is done is outright fucking disgusting. It's one of the biggest environmental issues of our era. Endangered species should be protected, absolutely. But if we're going to rag on countries for fishing un-endangered whales, it's very much hypocritical. "The IUCN Red List labels the common minke whale as Least Concern.[30] The Antarctic minke whale is listed as Data deficient.[31] COSEWIC puts both species in the Not At Risk category [1]. NatureServe lists them as G5 which means the species is secure on global range [2]." (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minke_whale https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minke_whale) For reference, I try eat as little meat in life as I can in general, and when I do eat it, I try to as ethical as possible. I'm not perfect, but I'm always trying to be better. I try not to judge other cultures on their eating habits though, when we're systematically destroying the planet so our cheeseburgers can be $1.

starpilot 8y ago

Minke whale population is super sustainable. They're cows of the sea.

emodendroket 8y ago

Yeah, it is definitely pretty tasty. I'm not sure that the harpooning is really much more gruesome than what happens to other animals we're going to eat.

pvaldes 8y ago

You would be saving the lives of millions of krill but sealing the fate of related millions of barnacles and whale lice...