Whale burger on menu at fast food chain

[Guest guest]

[Definitely not buying anymore Japanese products.

Rick.]

 

 

 

 

Whale burger on menu at fast food chain

 

Thu Jun 23,12:05 PM ET

 

Source >

http://news./s/nm/20050623/od_nm/japan_whaleburger_dc;_ylt=AnWp5LltJmkU\

d7UNJZy2pf4PLBIF;_ylu=X3oDMTBiMW04NW9mBHNlYwMlJVRPUCUl

 

TOKYO (Reuters) - With Japan under fire for plans to

expand its whaling program, a fast food chain is

offering a new product aimed at using up stocks from

past hunts -- whale burger.

 

The 380 yen ($3.50) slice of fried minke whale in a

bun went on sale Thursday at Lucky Pierrot, a

restaurant chain in the port city of Hakodate on

Japan's northernmost island of Hokkaido.

 

" The taste and texture are somewhere between beef and

fish, " said Lucky Pierrot manager Miku Oh. " People in

Hakodate have a long history of eating whale, so

customers are looking forward to trying it. "

 

Japan's plan to expand its scientific whale hunt to an

annual catch of 900 minke whales were dealt a blow

Wednesday when the

International Whaling Commission passed a resolution

at a meeting in

South Korea urging it to instead cut back on the

catch.

 

" We are not going out to catch whales because we want

to eat them, we are just using up meat from whales

that have been killed for experiments, " Oh said.

 

Asked about customers' reaction to the whale burgers,

a worker at one of the restaurants said: " We get a lot

of tourists here and even children who had never eaten

it before said it was good. The grown-ups said the

flavor made them nostalgic. "

 

Whale meat was a staple of school lunches in Japan

before a moratorium on whaling was introduced in 1986.

($1=108.78 Yen)