Canadian diners give their seal of approval to an emotive appetiser

Published on Saturday 4 July 2009 19:54

ONE evening last week, almost every seat was occupied at Au Cinquieme Peche, a bistro in the bustling Montreal neighbourhood of Plateau. And almost every table was sampling an appetiser plate that included a speciality of the restaurant's French-born chef, Benoit Lenglet: a seared, rare loin, dark red in colour, with a texture and taste akin to fillet steak. But the meat was not beef. It was seal.

Across town, at Les Iles en Ville, Andree Garcia, an owner and chef, has elevated seal from an occasional speciality to a regular feature. The most frequent preparation, Garcia said, is a filet-mignon-style cut of seal that is pan-seared, then roasted briefly in the oven and finished with a cranberry sauce. She has noticed a pattern among the customers who order it: Many are tourists from France. "The French are against seal hunting," Garcia said, "but when they come here, they want to eat it."

Denis Painchaud has served seal dishes since he opened Auberge Chez Denis a Francois in Havre-Aubert, Quebec, 20 years ago, but he has learned patrons prefer it as an appetiser rather than a main course. His seal starter is marinated in wine, spices and herbs, and is served with caramelised onions. "I would say 90 per cent of the people like it very much," Painchaud said. "It's very, very seldom when someone says, 'I don't like it at all.'"

The handful of restaurants in Canada that serve seal received an unexpected boost last month, when the European Union banned imports of commercially caught Canadian seal products after a two-year debate that threatened to erupt into a trade war.

Just days after the ban, Canada's governor general, Michaelle Jean, who as a representative of the Queen acts as the ceremonial head of state, nibbled on a piece of raw seal heart during a visit to an Inuit community feast in Rankin Inlet, in the far northern territory of Nunavut. Jean's widely publicised snack seemed a direct retort to the European Union, an impression she did not try to dispel.

"Take from that what you will," she said, when asked if she was sending a message to Europe.

The episode, which prompted extensive news media coverage in Canada, also cast a spotlight on seal-serving chefs like Lenglet.

With the attention has come an increase in orders for Lenglet's seal dishes, but also death threats, in the form of e-mail messages from Europe, where seal hunting protests have been most intense. Lenglet said he was not surprised. "In the polemic, there are always people who are for and against something," he said.

He continued: "It's only a few messages. I am not afraid." His brother, Benjamin, the restaurant's manager, added: "They don't break the windows or steal the flowers or burn his car."

Other Canadian chefs and retailers appear divided over whether seal deserves a place on the table.

Martin Picard, the chef at Au Pied de Cochon in Montreal, who is known for featuring audacious dishes like bison tongue croquettes, has so far stayed away from seal.

"It is a little controversial," said Gaelle Cerf, the restaurant's manager. But if enough customers request it, "perhaps we will have to offer it," Cerf said.

Gilles Gourdet, a veteran chef and instructor at Le Cordon Bleu in Ottawa, a branch of the French cooking school, said, "I have never had occasion to cook it, but why not?" Despite the European ban, Gourdet, a native of France, said he was curious to know more about seal cuisine. "We have to learn again," he said. "The more you know, the more you can create the dish."

Canada allows two distinct hunts each year: a small one by Inuits in the Arctic, mainly a subsistence hunt for food, and the much larger Gulf of St Lawrence hunt on the Atlantic coast, driven primarily by the fur trade.

In the latter hunt, which has been the focus of protests by animal rights groups, fishermen are allowed to kill 280,000 seals out of a herd that Canadian officials estimate at 5.6 million. About 15,800 Canadians hold seal hunting licences.

"This activity is part of the way of life of thousands of people in our country," Jean said after her visit to northern Canada. And she was not just referring to Inuit traditions; she was also defending the commercial seal hunts. Besides Canada, the only countries still conducting commercial hunts are Norway, Greenland and Namibia, according to the Humane Society International, Canada. The United States banned commercial seal hunting in 1972, according to the society.

Christian Archambault, a second-generation fishmonger at the Atwater Market in Montreal, flatly refuses to stock seal, but he acknowledged a distinction between urban diners simply exploring a new trend and Inuits following a tradition. "They have a right to eat it locally," Archambault said.

The Canadian humane society also does not oppose the small hunt in the far north. Its main objection to seal dishes in restaurants, it says, is that the cuisine deflects attention from the bigger hunt, which the society has been working to end. "If they're selling meat, they're promoting the commercial seal hunt," said Rebecca Aldworth, director of the society in Canada. "The restaurants aren't the story here. The seal hunt is the story."

Aldworth added: "If the restaurants believe the hunt should end, they should not be serving seal meat. Most countries are taking steps to end the hunt, not promote it."

• Ian Austen contributed reporting from Ottawa.