David @ Tokyo

Another spot of news from Nagasaki - this time an article dated the 14th of April from the Nagasaki newspaper homepage.

Whale cuisine revived in school lunches　17 Nagasaki public junior high schools

Students enjoying the whale cuisine in their school lunches = Nagasaki city Sakuraba Junior High School

Whale cuisine is being revived in Nagasaki city school lunches from this fiscal year, and on the 13th, 17 public schools wasted no time in preparing "kujira jaga" lunches using shio-kujira instead of the usual meat.

Amongst Sakuraba Junior High School's first year room 1 class, most students had eaten whale before. However, the experience was limited to special days involving events such as marriage, funeral and ancestral worship. There were also students who were having whale for the first time.

Specially produced Shio-kujira (salted whale), marinated in soy sauce to remove the smell, with grated onions was used. The students at first seemed bewildered at the unfamiliar whale dish, but they ate it happily, exchanging impressions. Ryo Hayashida (12) said "I only have whale cuisine about once a year, but today's menu was crunchy and tasty."

Whale cuisine had vanished from Nagasaki school lunches for some time, with the reduction in whale numbers. The city, where whale is firmly rooted in the food culture, has worked to bring whale meat, rich in nutrition, back on the menu, and this had been confirmed in February. Besides shio-kujira, tatsuta-age menus are also to be prepared.

A very standard Japanese dish (nationwide) is "niku-jaga" - meat and potatoes, usually using beef. Reading this, I wondered if the dish wasn't originally the "kujira-jaga" dish that is mentioned here.

Labels: Nagasaki, whale meat market, whale meat school lunches