>From: Michael Daly <michaeldaly_at_home.com> >Ok, folks. Let's see how many of you kayakers are serious enough about >emulating their Inuit paddling brethern to have eaten blubber? >I had whale (I know it's not PC and all)* > > >Mike Many years back I had the good fortune to be staying in a Inuit community as the first whales of the season were being brought in. Although they now hunt with outboard-powered aluminum Lund boats, the tradition of sharing out the first whales brought back lives on (I think this may have developed because towards the end of the winter everyone's larder was propably getting pretty empty, so the sooner you could refuel the village, the more folks could harvest whales - a sort of social security programme, minus the bureaucrats.) I found muktuk (whale fat) to taste a lot like marinated mushrooms - very rich, and a bit cloying for summer. But I could see how in winter, when the craving for fat becomes so great I've been known to put butter in my tea, muktuk would be the very ticket. The village elders assured me that "green" (fresh) muktuk is not at its best; to really bring out the flavour, it should be buried under the cobbles on the beach to age for about six months, like a fine, stinky cheese. By the way, wouldn't a real test of a kayaker's seriousness to play at being a Inuit be their willingness to HUNT a whale from their kayak, using only traditional weapons? :-) I've always been awed when whales have come up within touching distance of my kayak - no way I'm picking a fight with them! Philip Torrens N49°16' W123°06' *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - All postings copyright the author and not to be reproduced outside PaddleWise without author's permission Submissions: paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net Subscriptions: paddlewise-request_at_lists.intelenet.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************Received on Thu Dec 16 1999 - 08:58:19 PST
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