Japanese Pushed to Eat More Whale Meat

The meat is then sold on the market and the Japanese government has been pushing consumers to buy more despite international pressure to stop whaling altogether. Because the Japanese population had gradually stopped buying whale meat explains Hiroshi Nakada from Tokyo's Whale Laboratory.

"For 20 years, almost no whale meat was eaten in Japan. The eating culture changed considerably during this time. If we were to serve whale the way it used to be served to young Japanese people, they wouldn't touch it. So we have to make it appetising to them."

Last year, the government's Fisheries Agency created the small laboratory in Tokyo to experiment with whale recipes and encourage restaurants to put the meat back on their menus.

Schnitzels and carpaccio

Sachiko Okubo is the chief chef -- she describes the favourite dishes: "These are breaded schnitzels with shiso leaves and plums. And this is mixed rice with cooked pieces of meat, carrots and seaweed. This is the favourite -- a carpaccio in sesame oil with ginger and garlic."

Since opening, the experimental kitchen has developed over a hundred and fifty modern whale recipes. Seventy have been posted on the Internet and are being used by restaurants all over the country. Moreover, some television presenters have promoted the recipes and emphasised the high nutritional value of whale meat which has increased the interest across the country.

The marketing offensive has proven very successful -- two years ago the Fisheries Agency had to store several thousand tonnes of whale meat. And now the warehouses are empty.

More demand than supply

And since Japanese whale hunters were forced to prematurely end their last hunting expedition because of technical problems the demand is now greater than the supply.

"The increase in appetite for the meat proves that Japan still has a whale eating culture. Otherwise, the warehouses would not have emptied so fast," enthuses Nakada.

However, at fifty US dollars a kilo whale meat remains a treat and on average, each Japanese person consumes only forty grams a year, in comparison to eight kilograms of American beef.

Environmentalists argue that whales are at risk of extinction and are at a loss to understand why the government is encouraging the revival of the whale eating culture among a population which had gradually changed its habits.