What does whale taste like?
June 25 2012 by Dr. Andreas Eenfeldt, MD![Dr. Andreas Eenfeldt, MD]()
in Meat
in Meat 
When on Iceland recently I had a local speciality for dinner: Whale. Interesting experience.
When the waiter came with the food I first thought there’d been some mistake in the kitchen:
Whale?
I was expecting something fish-like and apparently got a steak. But whales are mammals, so they actually don’t taste like fish either. What did it taste like? Fairly similar to horse, I’d say.
What’s the strangest animal you’ve eaten?
PS: As far as I understand mink whale is not really endangered.
Taste like chicken.
Would prefer a steak.
Emu is my strange food. It's good! Like turkey but really gamey.
Love Emu, Ostrich, 'gator, and 'roo which has to be young and cooked quick in lots of oil. Eel is also great especially when the skin is crispy.
All those years of living just south of Thailand and I never did get up there to try dog or kitten or live monkey brains and of course fried bugs. If I lived there still... I still wouldn't. Double yuck.
Whale sounds good and I am here in Norway now. Next visit to Oslo maybe. Thanks for the info, you've got me interested now.
http://tristopia.blogspot.fr/2012/04/tasty-elephant.html
(my only blog post)
By the way Doc, I like the moderate portion of potato on your plate. To often people just eat potato as quantity food on the plate, and not as a quality side order.
im with sea shepperd(yes i know theyr dumb americans) on the whale thing lets preserve them.
http://highsteaks.com/forum/general-discussion/what-is-for-what-was-f...
Basically, turns out it's only like 2% fat so had to add bacon and eggs.
Not bad, not much taste to it really, texture is part way between chicken breast and thigh.
I don't really see many uses for it, now I get why it's typically served in a curry or whatever, I think that's about where it belongs.
That for me is reason enough to be wary about eating it, to say nothing about whether the hunt is sustainable or not. It's true that Norway has limits on toxin levels allowed within whale meat sold to consumers, but what have they based that level upon?
I see you eat potatoes. What is approx. the amount of carbs you consume per day? (g) I ask because I am kind of torn between the two worlds. I am tempted to follow diet according to Phinney/Volek - 50g/day, but this menans really careful choice of food.
I also read Primal Blueprint, which is also low-carb, but doesn't really limit fruit etc. and aims for about 100-150g a day.
I need to be on top regarding mental state, because I need to study a lot, every day. I am not sure who is right. Blueprint points out likely deprivation of nutritious food on really low carb, while really low carb says it's dangerous to be under 150 g, but still not in ketosis, because the brain supply suffers...what is your opinion on that? Is it risky to be somewhere in between? And which diet according to your experience is more effective for improving body composition if a person is already on it's normal weight?
It's similar to reindeer or moose. Like these meets, it usually needs very short cooking. Whale is usually served straight up with little or no seasoning. For those who find its unrefined flavor off-putting, whale is often marinated, or slathered with a flavorful sauce.
Test for some time and see how your body react and modify your diet if needed.
sandhilll crane
armadillo
peacock
I never count grams of carbohydrate but I guess I eat from 50 grams a day and up. Berries and sometimes a fruit. Some potatoes sometimes. Rarely bread or pasta. Almost never refined sugar or candy except for an occasional piece of really dark chocolate.
I'm in between most days and I see no apparent problem with that. On the other hand I interviewed the Swede who has all the Swedish memory records, taken during day-long competitions. He eats very strict low carb during competitions, to achieve an even and long-lasting concentration (and presumably stable blood sugar). So maybe you should test what works best for you.
That's not really my speciality. I specialize in people with metabolic problems. For healthy normal weight people I'd guess either way though. Weight training etc. is probably more important for body composition in that situation, not counting every last gram of carb.
Obviously, even intuitive freestyle lowcarbing with lots of fruit, some dark chocolate...is a huge improvement and will get anyone very close to their ideal bc and weight...it's also really comfortable to follow...this is just a specific path for specific results.
Eating potatoes or eating whale - which shocks his audience the most? Isn't it strange to run a low-carb website and not actually be low-carb?
What does LCHF even mean once you've added potatoes?
low-carb is not the same as no carb, but coming from you, I doubt you'll be able to grasp such a subtle (not) distinction.
PS: If I get some toilet paper made with such comments anyone want to buy some? Need the cash so I can import some whale and have a BBQ...
I was going to give you the obvious reply, but it seems like gallier2 and Brad beat me to it.
Basically the low-carb world is not black and white. Some people have major weight issues / metabolic problems. For them I recommend strict low carb, long term. Meaning as low as they feel comfortable going, below 20 grams a day is good. This is also a good option for quickly losing some excess weight, without hunger.
If you're happy with your weight and health, like I am, there is probably not much point in staying below 20. You might do equally fine at 50 or 100 grams a day, perhaps even more if you're really active, providing you eat slow quality carbs. Some healthy and slim people might still feel that strict low carb is still a good option for them, but most will probably not find it worth the sacrifices.
If we should base what we eat on intelligence, then please stop eating the pig....! By every whale we eat, we probably save 100 pig lives, if we go by weight of meat produced per animal.
So PLEASE eat more whale!
As long as the whale hunt is sustainable, and they euthanize the whale as efficient as posssible, I see no problem.
"jeff reagan
After learning of you eating whale meat I can assure you that I will NEVER EVER visit your website again."
Meat comes from animals and if you love animals then treat all animal lives equal!
It does not matter if it is a chicken or a whale, they all deserve a decent natural life like the whale had before it saved the factory produced pigs!
See the point? you only allow your self to be a hippocrat if you justify to sacrifice the wellbeing of other animals to save what you judge higher on the scale.
Unless you are vegan of course, which I hope you are when you allow yourself to judge others?
Hurrah hurrah.
BTW, lots of silliness here but happy to see intelligent heads prevailing.
This was the 1980s but even then elephant-hunting was mostly frowned upon, at least in the United States. To this day I don't know how the friend acquired it.
Over the years I've had rabbit and frog but I guess the weirdest one I've eaten as an adult would be alligator. And you must eat it freshly cooked: no sticking the leftovers in the fridge overnight to have for lunch the next day. Otherwise it gets rubbery.
Given a choice I'd rather not have whale or elephant. Whether or not they're endangered, there aren't that many of them. Whereas we've got cattle all over the world, no lack of that whatsoever. I feel human beings need meat whether they want to admit to it or not, so we might as well eat from what's plentiful, rather than what is rare or has the potential to become rare. It's not really about the intelligence though. Us being smart doesn't stop bacteria from eating us once we're dead, you know? And if we really cared about creatures for their intelligence we ought to stop destroying their habitat before we worry about how often or whether we eat them.
Just my opinion--your mileage may vary, and probably does.