It’s a cookbook! A cookbook!

This weekend’s New York Times has an article on Reykjavik as a travel destination. The collapse of the króna following the failure of Iceland’s three main banks, Glitner Bank, Landisbanki, and Kaupthing, has brough this previously prohibitively expensive destination to come with reach of many, myself included, as a vacation destination.

What stood out in the article was the discussion of food, specifically, the bit about whale:

Grilled whale meat was even more compelling: it had the appearance, texture and heft of beef, but faintly saline nuances that suggested its source was the sea.

After observing a ban on whaling over a decade, Iceland resumed whaling for scientific purposes in 2003, and for commercial purposes in 2006. Both decisions were met with controversy and calls to boycott Iceland as a tourist destination. In 2008 Iceland began selling whale meat to Japan, and in 2009, the government is expected to authorize a catch of up to 400 whales.

As the New York Times article alludes to, whale meat can be found on the menu of a number of restaurants in Iceland. As an American traveling to Iceland, this raises an interesting ethical dilemma. The view of whales as noble near-equals which can not be treated as a food source is a particularly American social norm. I doubt this hang-up and view of whaling as murder comes from any concept of conservation, as Americans routinely eat fish, despite many of the world’s fisheries being on the verge of collapse, and minke whales have never been endangered. I suspect it comes, by and large, from the perceptions of whales as intelligent creatures, capable of complex communication, and possibly even self-aware. There is, perhaps, something to this. The pro-whaling counter-argument is that there is no scientific consensus on the issue of cetacean intelligence and that pigs also possess high levels of intelligence, and are routinely killed as a food source. As a society, I feel like America doesn’t have any claim when talking about humanely taking our food. One merely has to visit a factory farm or a feedlot as evidence of this.

James Michener once said, “If you reject the food, ignore the customs, fear the religion and avoid the people, you might better stay at home.” I think that it is extremely limiting to prejudge a culture in any way, and that food in particular is window into a society. Experiencing foods one would not normally be able to find or eat is an important aspect of the experience of traveling. A historically agrarian and seafaring society, whaling has been practiced in Iceland since the 12th century. In modern times, Iceland banned whaling in the early 20th to allow populations to recover after overfishing, and insists that it has practiced sustainable whaling since the advent of modern whaling. Additionally, I’m beginning to wonder if there is an economic argument to be made in favor of Icelandic whaling. Iceland’s economy is expected to shrink by nearly 10% this year, as the global banking crisis plunges the nation into depression. Will Icelanders return to the sea as the source of their livelihood. If so, with Japan as a willing buyer, will whaling look like an economically sound venture? It may well.

Of course, it’s my understanding that Icelandic society is divided on the issue of whaling, and I’d be interested in hearing opinions on the issue from Icelander’s themselves.

None of this answers the question I’ve posed myself: as I will be in Iceland this time next week, should I eat whale? My answer is that I don’t know if I’d seek it out, but were someone to offer it to me, I’d consider it, and probably try it. In the meantime, I’ll stick with reindeer, puffin, and langoustine bisque.

What would you do?

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