For years, whale oil was used as lighting fuel, industrial lubricant, and the main ingredient in (yum!) margarine. Whale meat was also on a few menus. But today, demand for whale products is at a historic low. And yet some countries still have a whaling industry. We find out why. (Part 2 of “Everything You Never Knew About Whaling.”)
I've never eaten whale, as far as I know.
Have you?
Yes, I'm afraid if I dare to say that on american radio, but, yes, I have.
Bjorn Basberg is an economic historian at the Norwegian School of Economics in Bergen.
Bergen is the second largest city in Norway.
100 years ago or more, it was the capital of Norway.
And the people in Bergen, they tend to think that they are still the capital.
Basberg recently retired from his teaching position.
Actually, in Norway, it's mandatory, so I turned 70.
That's a mandatory age of retirement.
You have more time for whaling expeditions, at least.
Not whaling expeditions, but maybe expeditions.
I go to Antarctica once in a while to at least study the whaling heritage there.
I've been actually for 30 years now involved with industrial archaeology projects in Antarctica, especially the sub antarctic island of South Georgia that was for many years the center of antarctic whaling.
So Bassberg's primary activity around whaling is research.
But as we heard, he has also eaten his share.
It tastes quite good if you put it on the barbecue on a grill, it's like a beef, so it's tasty.
And you can also eat it in tin slices, raw as carpaccio?
Sort of carpaccio, yes.
When we as kids had whale meat served by our mothers, we didn't like it very much.