It is good that we had postponed our trip to Busan, now we can take in Whale Meat City (also known as Ulsan) as well:
After all, Ulsan is known as Whale Meat City.
The heyday of whaling in Ulsan, 70 kilometers (43 miles) north of Busan, came in the 1970s and 1980s. Legend has it that even the local dogs running around town would carry a chunk of whale meat in their mouths.
Times have changed.
It’s an open secret among restaurant owners that environmental activists from Greenpeace send undercover investigators to Ulsan every year.
They come to check the origins of the pricey whale meat served in local diners.
A news report last week revealed that local police had raided two unlicensed warehouses in the city’s main port, Jangsaengpo. The cops found 60 tons of minke whale meat.
The case closed the town’s strip of seafood restaurants selling whale meat for more than 10 days.
To avoid illegal trading in whale meat, the authorities are making a last-ditch effort.
The Whale Research Center at the National Fisheries Research and Development Institute recently announced that it is offering a 10 million won ($10,670) reward for any sighting of a gray whale, dead or alive, in the area. The gray whale was last seen in the East Sea in 1964.
The same institute is also offering 5 million won to anyone with a photograph or videotape of a live gray whale in the sea.
The turmoil over whale meat, however, is not strong enough to overpower the appetite of culinary nerds.
Ulsan still attracts busloads of tourists on gourmet trips every year to taste a sample of Korean-style whale meat.
The city consumes 80 percent of the country’s total whale meat ― about 150 tons, according to the city’s annual report in 2005.
These are the most interesting things to learn, fascinating in fact:
Whale meat is eaten either raw or cooked in Korea. It’s said here that no part is wasted except the bones and teeth.
It’s true. A typical plate of steamed assorted parts includes stomach, viscera, tail, skin and fin.
The most popular part is the viscera, or the guts. The smell can be overwhelming for first-timers, but veteran whale eaters like the chewy texture.
The locals’ favorite is obegi, steamed tail seasoned with salt. Just 20 years ago, a popular saying in Ulsan went, “You can’t call it a party without obegi on the table.”
The way to eat steamed whale meat is simple: Dip the meat in anchovy sauce and eat it with garlic and vegetables. If you are not an adventurous eater, locals suggest whale stew.
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One of the most fascinating items in the archives is a thesis on gray whales by Roy Chapman Andrews.
This American naturalist is supposedly the inspiration for the movie character Indiana Jones.
Andrews came to Ulsan in 1912 for extensive research on whales. His writings reveal that mother gray whales found in the local sea contained a rare gelatin in their stomachs.
Gelatin comes from seaweed and is produced after the cows give birth. It’s an intriguing fact ― it could be connected to the Korean tradition of feeding seaweed soup to women after they have given birth.
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