Every Guilty Bite

Green peace / animal loving people stop reading now. Hiroshi wanted to go to a restaurant called Kujiraya in Shibuya to eat kujira, which is an old Japanese traditional food. And that traditional food would be whale. I was up to trying it because it is a cultural thing and figure I should try different cultural foods while I'm here - hey, gotta work up the courage to try things like cuy in Peru (Guinea Pig).

So we are checking out the menu sets out front and there was something that looked like big chunks of blubber and I'm thinking uhhhh maybe I'm not into this. There was also whale sashimi (raw fish) which also had me second guessing. But we walk in and were seated and Hiroshi ordered. He got the sashimi set, and I decided on the deep fried whale set. I wanted it cooked and disguised! We also ordered whale steak.

Soon the sets arrive and the things that look like big hunks of blubber are actually the deep fried whale! It is lightly fried maybe? I don't know. But it certainly wasn't golden - it was white! So I took my first tentative bite which was ok because the white stuff was just flour and not blubber, and it tasted like non-fishy yellow tail. (Yellow tail is a strong flavoured fish that I sometimes cook at home). And then...

..the guilt hit. Suddenly I'm envisioning whales swimming and jumping in the ocean. Second bite - I see myself going whale watching in South Africa (one of the things we are planning to do for the world trip) and seeing a whale come up and look at me with its big, sad, black eye as if to say "You ate my mother!".

This was just a horrible, horrible feeling. My chest is heavy, my stomach feels queasy and I can't get over the guilt! Even a double cone at Baskin Robbins (or 31 as it is called here) of chocolate macadamia nut and cinnamon roll (very delicious!) ice cream did not serve to ease the guilt. I felt aweful all evening. And every five minutes I'm having "whales in the ocean" flashes.

So, whale itself tastes ok. It actually isn't fatty like I thought. It is like a dark fish (not white fleshed fish) - maybe a little like tuna. However, the guilty and horrible feelings after eating it are just not worth it. I killed Willy! *cry*