For the sake of diplomacy and good relations, and occasionally a political point, royals and their representatives have regularly chomped on foods not usually found in their pantries. But few have taken to the task with quite the enthusiasm of the governor general of Canada, Michaëlle Jean, as, this week, she cut out the heart of a slaughtered seal and ate it raw.
The Queen’s representative in north America was visiting an Inuit community in Nunavut, in the Arctic, when a couple of dead seals were laid out before her in symbolic defiance of a looming EU ban on seal products. With an ulu blade, a traditional knife, she bent over one of the freshly killed seals and cut along its body. After firmly slicing through the flesh and pulling back the skin, she turned to the woman beside her and asked for a taste. “Could I try the heart?” she said.
A chunk of the organ was duly cut out and handed to Jean, who took a few bites, chewed on it and pronounced it good.
“It’s like sushi,” she said, according to the Canadian Press news agency. “And it’s very rich in protein.”
As she wiped the blood from her mouth and fingers, she said she had done it in solidarity with the Inuit, including those in the community she was visiting, at Rankin Inlet, which is home to 2,300 people. They claim their way of life is threatened by the EU ban on seal products.
Unless bureaucrats figure out how to enforce the vegan religion upon the species I belong to – one which evolved as an omnivore – I intend to eat any animal protein I prefer as long it’s not an endangered species.
#30 – Osvaldo Pinali Doederlein,
Excellent point about the hypocrisy. I’m somewhat guilty of it myself. I have been trying to eat less pig for exactly that reason, but have not yet fully eliminated it from my diet.
(sick humor)
I like pork ’cause it tastes like people!
(/sick humor)
In general, my problem is not so much with the eating of animals, but with our general treatment of them. I buy organic primarily because in addition to the feed, a minimum quality of treatment is at least supposed to be enforced. I see no reason to torture my food before it gets to my plate.
I would love to see better standards across the board for all of the many ways in which we mistreat animals, including research, slaughterhouses, ranches, etc.
Now she has more heart than Cheney.
@ Misanthropic Scott
Seals hunt is one of the most controled hunt in the world. Why do we accept all others kind of hunt (who creates a longest agony and more pain) and want to banish seals hunt???
And we could talk about Spanis bullfight..
It is sad for the european democracy to see how far some activists can go with lies and demagogy.
#33 – Alexis,
I agree with you about bullfighting of course.
But, why do you say that the seal hunt in the maritimes is particularly well controlled? Fishermen essentially go out there and beat the crap out of seal pups until they die. The hakapick is not a human way to kill the pups. And, yes, it is the primary weapon of choice to do so. It’s only the adults that must be shot first.
Besides, finding someone more cruel than the seal hunters does not absolve the seal hunters for their cruelty. It merely points to the fact that there are many cruel people in the world and that we need to work to stop more such cruelty.
Do you see it otherwise? If so, how?