(Wall Street Journal)
FEBRUARY 1, 2011, 2:11 PM JST
Whale Meat: A School Lunch Treat?
Rakuten
A screen shot of whale meat advertisement as displayed on Japanese online retailer Rakuten.
Last week, public school children at Azabu Elementary School in central Tokyo's Minato ward got a taste of controversy — and might not have even realized it.
In observance of a national week to commemorate lunches in public schools, Azabu Elementary served whale meat.
In a written statement sent in response to questions about the menu choice, the School Affairs Section of the Secretariat of the Minato Board of Education, the group's official title, explained that each municipal elementary and junior high school in the ward can plan special menus during this week, and include traditional, local, historical, and cultural dishes. The statement didn't say where the meat came from, nor how much it cost — but it said it was chosen as a "special menu," and not because of an "economic reason." Fried whale cutlets similar to those served at the school are currently being sold by Internet retailer Rakuten for 1,000 yen ($12.20) per 200 grams.
Japan continues to face international criticism for hunting whales in defiance of the 1986 moratorium on commercial whaling set by the International Whaling Commission, and protesters like the Sea Shepherd group do their utmost to disrupt the hunt. Japan says the hunts are for research purposes, but some of the meat is commercially sold and finds its way to specialty whale-meat restaurants, supermarket shelves — and school lunch programs.
The meal marked a first of sorts for Azabu Elementary, which hasn't opted before to serve whale to commemorate the week. But perhaps it wasn't the first time in the school's more than 100-year history: Whale was a source of protein in Japan's post-war diet, and some middle-aged Japanese people fondly recall looking forward to whale the way today's children look forward to pizza.
According to the Minato statement, whale isn't a common menu option these days. But lunches with whale meat were regularly on the menu for a while after the war, when serving school lunch was restarted. Hence some schools recreated old menus including whale meat, as an effort to pass "traditional food culture" down to children.
Whale has been served at other public schools in the ward, and the Board of Education "has never got any complaint about it," according to the statement.
Students aren't forced to eat everything on their plates, and parents get copies of school menus in advance. That way, they can prepare for any dishes for which they might have dietary restrictions — or ethical objections.
And what did the children think? This blogger's son said he ate all of it, and reported some of his friends liked it a lot. But he thought it was "only so-so," and didn't want to eat it again.
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